Laying Tile Straight or Diagonal

aloha2009

8 years ago

Though I've read several threads on the positives and negatives of laying square tiles, there is an issue I haven't seen discussed.

I am looking at placing tile in the entry, baths, hallways, dining, dinette, kitchen and laundry areas. The rest will be carpeted. Open concept.

The issue in our home is that the house has a LOT of diagonal walls in EVERY room (even closets), except the kitchen & laundry rooms. Though I prefer the look of tiles laid diagonally, I'm concerned that the busyness of the walls and diagonal floor will be too much. Just an added note, no matter which way the tile is laid the entry will be different from the rest of the house because of the layout of the house (entry comes in at an angle and then "straightens" out throughout the remainder of the house.

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aloha2009
Original Author

8 years ago

No tile picked out yet. I'm a tad nervous about an installer getting rectified laid properly without too much lippage.

My concern though is about the business of the walls and the "business" of laying tile on the diagonal. I definitely prefer tile laid diagonally but in this situation, I'm not so sure.

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Comments (10)

Annie Deighnaugh
8 years ago
I think it depends on the size of your space...laying tile on the diagonal will help elongate and widen the room. Laying them square will not.
aloha2009
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Annie, thanks for responding.

If instance the dinette is at the end of the kitchen with a nook of 3 diagonal wall. The following pic doesn't have the diagonal walls we have but does show the openess and quasi floorplant we'll have....eventually.

textured eclectic great room · More Info
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Diagonals can indeed look great. I'd simply advise you to do a mock layout with pencil and paper. And probably an eraser too. You don't give the dimensions of your room, and that can be the deciding factor. How the pattern lays out and how you shift it against the walls will dictate your cuts, waste, etc. If your diagonal fights you in terms of you not being able to get a decent or efficient pattern from wall-to-wall, you might be able to get good results by centering a diamond pattern made from full and half-sized tiles in middle of the floor and using a border to bridge the gap from the diamond inset to the walls.
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I can't answer your question, but I found this picture on Houzz. The tiles are laid out differently on the floor compared to the walls. Running bond on the walls and herringbone on the floor. Looks fine to me. But I love variety. Your walls will need to be extremely flat to do the large format tile with tight grout lines. 12x18 tiles laid on the diagonal seem awkward to me with the dimension of the backsplash space available. Draw it out on graph paper, to scale, to see if you'd like it. Herringbone in that size might work, but you might not have enough space to really pick up the pattern effectively. Again a drawing would be very helpful to you to decide. [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by San Francisco Media & Bloggers Lucy McLintic This one might have tiles in your size, but its really hard to tell: [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Kailua Architects & Building Designers Archipelago Hawaii Luxury Home Designs This post was edited by enduring on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 1:23
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I vote for diagonal. Well, I just like diagonal ;-), and in addition, according to all the rules I just learned in this thread, your cabinets are traditional and it looks like your floors are wood (?) and straight. Nice tiles, btw. And nice job on the cabinets! As for that rule about not doing diagonal on both the floor and backsplash - wow. That could have implications for me - I'm definitely doing a diagonal floor, and I've been deciding between a diagonal backsplash (4" or 6" tiles), and a mini-brick. I guess the mini-brick would be preferred under the rules... It's going to be a pretty contemporary kitchen with wide shaker cabinets. I love the mini-brick, but since it's a long, narrow galley kitchen, I don't want to emphasize the horizontal too much - that's why I was thinking diagonal, to make it seem more vertical and like there was more vertical space between the countertop and the cabinets. Is this really a rule???
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mcmd - thanks for your response. It's beautiful! organic_nettie - no other photos worth posting right now -- we're very much in a state flux! I would have chosen the same look even if we were staying. I'm enjoying the fairly neutral background. I think that I, or the next owners, will enjoy making occasional changes to accent pieces to change the look from time to time. The colors that are in this granite are cream, black, gold and several shades of brown, with lesser amounts of orange/rust and taupe. The "jewels" in it are some iridescent specks of white that remind me of mother-of-pearl, some grey-green shiny spots, and some burgundy garnets. Sounds like a lot of colors, but the overall look is a warm light cream-brown. Gold would certainly work as a wall color. I'm pretty sure that when we move, we'll do something similar to this. (What we have: white raised-panel cabinets; ORB cabinet knobs and matching hinges (to come); black conduction cooktop & appliances; black Silgranit sink; Price Pfister tuscan bronze Marielle faucet & black reverse osmosis faucet; refinished white oak hardwoods (StreetShoe water-based finish, to come). So far, we're liking it. perqqderqq - you're right, in this photo it looks as though the grain points directly at the backsplash, but there is really an overall diagonal flow. I do like the color variation for the backsplash, so I'm not considering any inserts. I'm hoping that we'll be able to work with the tile installer and end up with a pretty good color distribution.
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gyr_falcon
8 years ago
One advantage of straight is that there is less waste; diagonal edge tiles all need cutting.
writersblock (9b/10a)
8 years ago
It also depends to some extent on the size of the tile and how you're grouting it. I like 18" laid diagonally, but if you're doing 20" or larger, especially with narrow grout lines (like a rectified tile), you don't gain as much interest and I don't think it's worth it.
Annie Deighnaugh
8 years ago
What I did was make a scale drawing of the floor and then sketch in the tile to see which I liked better. Or you can go to houzz.com and see if you can find pictures similar to what you're thinking.

It will depend on the width of the grout lines too...the heavier the grout lines, the more the direction will matter. If laid with narrow grout lines, then they will matter less. Also if the grout matches the tile they will blend in more vs a contrast grout which will show more

IAC, a competent tiler should've dealt with a lot more complicated situations than angled walls.
Annie Deighnaugh
8 years ago
Here's a diagonal floor in an open space.

KITCHEN DEN · More Info

If you do diagonal, you almost need to get square tile. If you want rectangular, a pattern, or those with different sized tiles, it almost has to be straight on.

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Karenseb
8 years ago
It would be nice to see a layout of the area to be tiled and how the diagonal walls are related. We laid a large area of tile ourselves in our previous house in a lower level family room, hallway and bathroom. I believe the tile was a 16 inch square. We laid it on the diagonal and we had two very small walls flanking the entry that we angled to the rest of the room. The gas stove was also set on an angled platform. It looked great, but most of the walls were in square rooms. If a lot of your walls are diagonal, then your tile might end up perpendicular to most of the walls.
maggiepatty
8 years ago
Previous homeowner tiled our foyer and part of the basement with square tiles laid straight. Light tiles, darker grout. I would not have chosen either of those features though maybe the straight layout would bother me less if the grout were less distinct. The foyer especially looks bad and boxy with the straight layout. It reminds me of a warehouse floor or some kind of floor that should have a drain in it--very utilitarian looking :(
arcy_gw
8 years ago
Diagonal is more interesting IMHO and preferred--but as stated it costs more in labor and tile due to cutting needs, lay out takes longer to install.

Laying Tile Straight or Diagonal

aloha2009
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Annie Deighnaugh

aloha2009
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Laying Tile Straight or Diagonal

aloha2009Original Author

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