Floor tile buy at Box store? tile store?
Any pros or cons ? price lower at box store but does the quality suffer?
Any pros or cons ? price lower at box store but does the quality suffer?
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Replies
In general, cheap tile is just that- cheap. If you're comparing the same tile from a tile store and HD, more than likely it's the exact same stuff (despite all of the conspiracy theories about HD getting identically named stuff at a lower quality), but it's not often that you're comparing apples to apples in the first place.
The other downside of buying tile at HD is that they seem to stop carrying things the day after you buy it- I normally buy around 10% more than I think I'll need just to be safe. While it's never happened to me personally, I know several people who bought tile, flooring, etc., for a project they were planning to do in a few weeks, and when they ran short on material and ran back to HD to pick up some more, they heard "that was a clearance item" or "that was a one-load promotion- we don't have that anymore". Now that sucks.........
"The other downside of buying tile at HD is that they seem to stop carrying things the day after you buy it"On the other hand, I have a customer who has been getting the same tile from HD for a few years now. First he did a central hall in tile. Then he did the upstairs bath in the same tile. Now he as had the kitchen done in the same tile......and HD still has it on hand. I think it is called Atlantis. 12" square, cream or tan colored. He plans the large back entry/mudroom for this winter.
Rich Beckman
I have been renovating for over a year and bought my tile for the master bath in Jan of this year. I will finish this week, and have bought another box of tiles a couple of days ago (HD). The colors matched. The only problem I have had is that the dimensions can vary by about 1/16" for a nominal 12" tile. I have had the same experience at tile specialty stores. If you make allowance for the variations, they are not really noticeable in the end.
I can't say that it was just a HD problem, but I did ~500 sq ft of their tile a couple of years ago and it was a real wreck. The HO picked the tile (a light tan) and wanted it laid on the diagonal with 1/4" grout seams with black grout.
I got everything laid out and started laying the tiles. It went well for a while, but then I found myself fighting to keep my 1/4" spacing - and keep the corners lined up right. The more tile I laid, the worse things got. The next day, I looked at it with fresh eyes and realized that the last 40 - 50 sq ft just wouldn't cut it (it was in the entry way), so I ripped it out and went for more tile.
I finally got smart and checked the tiles for square by measuring the diagonals. I was amazed to find that they were "off" by at least 1/16" and as much as 3/16". I got them laid so they looked ok, but not all that great.
A few weeks later, i was talking to a guy at a "real" tile store who told me that that was a real problem with tile made in Central and South America. They're ok for small areas, but for large open spaces they can be a real hassle.
They're ok for small areas, but for large open spaces they can be a real hassle.
Or larger grout joints. Diagonal layout for some reason can be a pain and I have experienced that drifting effect more than once. It helps to stop looking at it as a diagonal and look at it as much as possible as a square layout.[email protected]
I don't have any problem "seeing it" as a rectangular v.s. diamond layout, but wide AND contrasting grout lines make square tiles mandantory.
My master bath tile is laid diagonally with 1/4" grout lines. The grout, however, blends with the tile so all the little goofs are pretty well unseen.
I've got about 400sq of HD 18x18 tile to lay in the next couple of days. I'm not looking forward to how far outta whack it's going to be.
I haven't tried this myself, but a "real" tile guy told me that it sometimes works better to begin the layout in the middle of the space by marking two perpendicular lines at the center of the planned grout lines.
You do the room in quarters and leave the tile spacers in the truck - each tile is eyeballed for the best spacing.
I guess that the theory is that it's better to have each tile a tiny bit "off" than to have perfect spacing that gives you a larger error as you go.
Yeah, I think the spacers are a great "suggestion"...not an absolute.
Edited 11/16/2007 8:57 pm ET by TBone
Thats how I've always done it Dave. I can't use those spacers. Every time I've tried, the lines looked like doggy doo doo. FKA Blue (eyeddevil)
Do not use spacers.
Snap grid lines.
For 18" tiles, snap lines every two tiles plus two grout lines. If you're using 1/4" grout lines with 18" tiles, that'd be 36-1/2" squares. See the pic below.
View Image
You can work from either corner, I prefer the bottom left. I set my first tile in the bottom left of the grid, set tight to the two green lines.
My second tile goes above #1, set tight to the left line but 1/4" above tile #1. In a perfect world, that'd leave 1/4" between the top of tile #2 and the grid line above it.
Tile #3 goes next. Set tight to the bottom grid, but gapped 1/4" from tile #1, which should leave a 1/4" gap between #3 and the right grid line.
#4 goes next, gapped 1/4" from #3 and #2.
Make sense?
If things are off a bit, you can fudge the spacing 1/16" here and 1/32nd there. But grid lines will keep the overall layout looking pretty darn bueno, and prevent the layout from running away when using slightly off-sized tiles and rigid tile spacers.
This is a requirement with non-rectified tiles. With rectified tiles, they're usually dead on in sizing so you could possibly get away with using spacers. But still, on floors I always recommend snapping gridlines.
Mongo
That is more or less what I do. I typically only use the spaces as a minimum, not as an absolute. I have been known to leave the spacers in the truck when I find the tiles to be too far out of whack.The worst I've had, at least recently was marble that was cut down to 6x6 from an 18x18 (they were given to me as 6x6). After throwing a few rows on the wall and trying not to tear my hair out I tossed a square on some that still had the factory edges from the 18x18 and found some of them almost an 1/8th out of square. That job darn near killed me. The customer is still unhappy about some stuff (same job, unrelated to me).
Hey Mongo,
WRT lines: I have done my share of tiling and having always wondered about this. How do you see the gridlines once you put down the thinset?
This is my method too. I'll have reference lines every 4-6' so that I know the layout is going right. Without them it's too easy to get a 1/4" off one way or another as you go--then you're screwed the rest of the way out.
As to seeing the lines, I lay down thinset as I go and apply only up to the line so's I can see it when I lay down the tiles.
What Waters said. Another cool trick is to use a line laser. Spread thinset, line is still there!Bill
I use an inklne, and if that won't take, I'll highlight it with a sharpie.Spread the thinset, then when I comb it with the notched side of the trowel, the lines peak out where the teeth of the trowel scrape the substrate clean.Depends on the area to be covered, too.If I can go fast, I'll thinset a large area, thinsetting over the grid lines, and tile away using the lines revealed by the notched trowel after I comb the thinset.If going slowly, I may just thinset one grid at a time, thinsetting right up to the line but not covering the line.Mongo
Wondered about that too as I've always applied enough thinset for several pieces at a time and there is no way I can keep a drawn lines visible for very long.
Seems I've always been sweating the idea of too little thinset and a cracked or popped tile down the road from my lack so I opt to waste time cleaning the thinset out of the grout lines.
But that's a diff 'tween the experienced tilers and the amateur like myself who does the occasional job.
Watching experienced tilesetters can be quite a thing to see once they get in their groove and the rhythm starts. Freaking takes half the time to do a job than I and they end up with wonderful results.
So far my work has always ended up not laser flat but passable enough to make the clients happy and I get to walk away a hero
but there is so much more and better ways to achieve the goal than my little peashooter attempts.
It would be great to spend a few jobs working as the tender alongside a pro to watch how they go about their techniques.
Always learning.
edited to add: well ya, duh, a sharpie!
be like I said...always learning. ;oP
Edited 11/17/2007 4:15 pm ET by rez
I "tended" a tile setter for awhile, swapped work with him.
Watch ? You must be kidding!! Get more tile, spread the thinset over there, here cut this on the line, mix more thinset your gonna short us, too wet, too dry, haul those boxes of tile around the corner they are in the way, mask the base in there, wash these trowels off, haul more thinset in here, I need the trim tiles , nail off the rest of that wonder board, here I will lay it out and you snap the lines, sweep and vacunm that room for me.. Damn I had no time to even look much less learn anything Paybacks are hell though , after "tending him" he had to come help me frame ;-)
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
ROAR! Now that's funny right there!
ok now, I feel better :-) I'm not he only one.
Thanks all, I've always used lines, always started in the middle and worked myself to the edges to minimize "runout" error.
Now you've all giving me some useful tips to see them lines better... thanks!!
Selection is generally better at a tile store.
It's not just the tile to be concerned about. When I was doing my kitchen backsplash in March, I bought Mapei grout and a tube of their color matched sanded caulk for the joints at the countertop at Lowe's. After looking at it again, I realized one tube wasn't going to be enough. Guess what, Lowe's dropped the Mapei line for Laticrete in the three days since I bought the first tube and all old stock had already been returned to Mapei. Who knew a big box could be so efficient?
After looking around, I found that Menard's stocked the right caulk and all was right with my world.
Lesson learned - always buy more than enough grout and caulk. Unopened packages can always be returned.
The tile for that project (6 types of tumbled marble, travertine and other stones) was purchased from a tile showroom. At the end of the project, they let us return individual tiles for a refund since it was a stock item. Let's see one of the big boxes do that.
I have returned individual tiles to both HD and Lowe's numerous times, as long as ten years ago and as recently as last week.
I've found that especially natural stone from the big box is really poor. Off sized and not square. I've seen slates from HD that are 3/16" out of square on a 12x12.