Tile Buying Guide — How to Choose the Right Tile

Six decisions in order

1. Where is it going? Wall or floor, indoors or out, wet or dry. This eliminates most of the catalogue immediately — a wall tile cannot take floor traffic, and a non-porcelain tile cannot go outdoors at all.
2. How much traffic? Domestic, commercial, or heavy commercial. This decides the body: GVT for homes, double charged for commercial, full body for heavy commercial and anywhere the wear is concentrated.
3. Will it be wet? If yes, the slip rating becomes the governing specification and rules out every polished finish, regardless of how it looks.
4. What size? Larger reads as more continuous and makes rooms look bigger, but needs a flatter substrate and a better setter. Smaller suits shower falls and complicated layouts.
5. What should it look like? Only now. By this point the field has narrowed to tiles that will actually work, so choosing on appearance is safe.
6. How much? Measured area plus ten per cent, fifteen for diagonal or herringbone layouts. Order it all at once, in one shade batch.

Reading a technical data sheet

Calculating quantity without getting it wrong

Measure each area in square metres — length times width — and add them up. Do not subtract for small obstructions like a WC pedestal or a kitchen island; the tile you would have saved is smaller than the waste those obstructions create by breaking up full rows.

Add ten per cent for a straight layout. Every cut wastes the offcut unless the room happens to be an exact multiple of the tile, which it never is. For diagonal or herringbone layouts add fifteen per cent, because those patterns generate two cut pieces for every edge tile instead of one.

Then keep whatever is left over. This is the part people skip and later regret: a tile damaged in year three cannot be replaced invisibly, because the production batch is gone and the nearest equivalent will be a slightly different shade. A box in the garage is the only reliable repair.

One more quantity trap: order all areas at the same time even if they will be laid months apart. Two batches means two shades, and the difference shows exactly where two rooms meet.

Tile size guide · Tiles by room

Mistakes worth avoiding

• Polished tiles in wet areas — the most common and most dangerous error. Showrooms are dry; bathrooms are not.
• Small tiles in small rooms — the opposite of the received wisdom. More grout lines make a small room read as smaller, not larger.
• Ordering short — a top-up order will not shade-match, and the difference will be visible.
• Ceramic wall tile used on a floor — it will crack. Floor tiles can go on walls; the reverse is not true.
• Ignoring the substrate — large format over an uneven screed gives lippage that no amount of good tiling can hide.
• Contrasting grout by accident — grout colour changes a floor more than most people expect. Tone-matched grout makes a floor continuous; contrasting grout draws a grid.
• Skipping movement joints — a large floor without them will eventually tent.

Frequently asked questions