Just check them. Sight down the edges to make sure they don't have significant "bowing" to the,. That's a deal-breaker.

I would agree that the advantage is easy returns. I am having a flooring nightmare with a defective product I bought from Cali Bamboo and I am soooo grateful that I bought it through Lowes since the company is giving me the run around and not being very customer oriented in their service. I'm not sure if there's much that can be defective with tile, but I can tell you that if it is, and the company is anything like Cali Bamboo, you'd be happy you bought it through a store like Home Depot or Lowes who make sure they take care of their customers.

Good luck with your floors!

There is a problem with tile from the big discount stores like HD and Lowe's that may be trivial for you: they have no pattern persistence, so that means if you want more next year, that's just might not be an option, even with special ordering. Daltile/Marazzi is a Texas company so it's not like they have to order it from Italy of the like!

I have bought much tile from both of them and the thought of spending ten dollars a foot on floor tile gives me hives. However, they have, like every other tile store, both lots of junk and lots of good buys.

They seem to hold their own in the unglazed color body porcelain lines, but they also sell a lot of extremely low priced glazed ceramics that are un-square, un-flat, and deathly slippery when wet. With wood-grain painted porcelain you have a thin color layer and very often a glaze that makes it slippery too, and if it chips from something dropped the scar can be glaring.

I find that "fancy" does not map directly to "durable". Durability is a combination of decent tile and decent installation.

This post was edited by cold_weather_is_evil on Sun, Mar 30, 14 at 1:40

I've bought tile form Lowes and found the size to be a bit inconsistent. At the time I bought though we were more focused on a move across the country that was 6 months away and selling the house and for that purpose, it worked great. :)

I've bought a lot of items from both Home Depot and Lowe's over the years. I've found them to be customer oriented, easy to do business with, and they carry a wide assortment of products. I've had doors installed, carpet installed, bought appliances, tons of tools, hardware, you name it.

I'm looking at vinyl tiles at both stores right now, and carpet at Lowe's. I pay close attention customer reviews. Other than that, I have noticed that they carry a wide price range of items within a product line, to suit what their customers want. In researching the vinyl tiles, I've noticed that H.D.'s store brand has a lot of excellent reviews. I have also noticed that both stores have the bottom of the line, inexpensive varieties that have problems. But I think that's more because of the PRICE and not because it's at H.D. or Lowe's. Some of the vinyl tiles have complaints that the top layer will scratch off, pieces not be squared, the tiles iwthin a box won't match in pattern, etc. So I think if you inspect in person, and buy something that is not the bottom of the line, it should be fine (paying attention to customer reviews).

I don't know about ceramic tile, but for vinyl tile, I was able to buy a single tile, or pick up a sample, and take them home for color inspection, and scrape them with a knife to test for durability.

The one thing that surprises me, but which I think is the case, is that if there is a manufacturing defect, and the tile has been installed, I'm not so sure the big box stores will credit you. They may serve only as an agent with the manufacturer for you. You'd have to check on that, since I'm not sure. But then all stores would be this way. I love the big box stores. So easy to do business with them.

We just installed these same tile. I looked everywhere for wood look tile I liked for our tiny bathroom. And landed on these tiles from home depot. We got them in the gunstock and then got unsanded grout from lowes in chocolate. I love how they turned put. They look and feel like hand scraped wood. I just snapped a picture from my ipad for you so you can see. Since it is an ipad picture it isnt super clear but you can get the idea. I am really happy with the quality of these tile. That isnt always the case with home depot but these tile seem top notch and in the 3 boxes we got there wasnt any broken or warped tiles. My husband was able to lay them quickly.

Lizdc - Those tiles are beautiful! Perfect for your bathroom. Are those ceramic or vinyl tiles?

Thanks I love them. They even feel like wood. They are Ceramic tile. Same ones mentioned in first post. Marazzi in gunstock from home depot for 2.39 sq foot. In a small bathroom it was less than $75 with the grout.

Here is a link that might be useful: Marazzi tile in gunstock from homedepot