Am image would be required to speculate. Daltile makes sooooooo many tiles it's pretty hard to guess.

This'll have to do, I do not own a camera good enough to take a picture of a space on a 2x6 tile only 5/16" thick where 1/8th inch of glaze is missing.

So pretend like the gray area is the ceramic part and the red area is where the glaze has been applied. Also pretend that the glazed area is of uniform thickness as it should be, LOL!

On the right is a normal, real bullnose with glaze all the way around that curve.

On the left, the stuff Home Despot has in stock - see how the glaze does NOT fully cover the lip of the bullnose?

What POSSIBLE function could that serve? I do not see how that isn't a flaw and I also don't see how that could possibly be called bullnose. It's rounded like bullnose, but it sure isn't GLAZED like bullnose.

And daltile doesn't make that much bullnose, plus Home Despot only carries the one kind. PLUS it doesn't matter which particular daltile it is because I'm talking about a TYPE of tile. What the SKU is is immaterial, its the way it was made that is at question. I'm talking about something labeled and marketed as bullnose that isn't properly glazed.

Daltile makes a bunch of trim pieces for Semigloss or Rittenhouse Square. They are special order.

I have noticed similar glaze on the bottom edge of the cove Base but that is meant to be set with the floor tile butted against that edge.

I haven't seen tile like you are describing but Iagree. I am not sure what the purpose is.

I have run into an issue with Adex’s ocean tile. Their “finished edges” tile cannot be used as a finished edge because there is a tile line that is not in a consistent place on the edge of their tiles. They basically glaze the edge of the tile without cleaning off the edge. While it is not labeled “bullnose” except on the dealer’s manufacturer-supplied price list, I expect that something that is labeled as a “finished edge” would be a piece that could be used to finish the edge....nope. The dealer thought we were getting bullnose per the price list. Half the tile is done, and I am somewhat stymied on how to proceed around a window with no wood extension jam.

I wonder if this is a defect or a new technique of Dal-tile's? I have some 4x4's and 2x6 Dal-Tile semi-gloss white purchased from HD last year that have the full glazed bullnose.

@zmith - yeah, I've never seen this before EVER, in 40 years of various tiling projects. Went to a Floor & Decor last weekend and ALL their bullnose is proper bullnose. They are a Daltile distributor and they didn't have any of this stuff in stock.

But it seems to be the only stuff both Lowe's and Home Despot carry. In every color that they carry, at every store in my region. *I* sure have no use for it! And they TOTALLY blew me off when I questioned it. But then what do you want from minimum wage slaves who don't even know what a PEI rating is and think "all tile can be used for any purpose".

I guess I'm going to have to call Daltile and try to get the straight skinny. Maybe this actually IS defective tile and the know-nothings in this region just don't have the expertise to recognize that there's something wrong with the stuff. Apparently I'm the only one who's seen this stuff - so far.

@palimpset - yeah, I have no idea what special order stuff may look like. I'm talking about the regular stuff you find on shelves, apparently intended for countertops and backsplashes, most of which I wouldn't use anyway because all the stuff I've actually been able to check is PEI 0 - dry areas, walls only. This stuff is too slick for floor tile even if the sizing weren't wrong. I also considered the idea that it was supposed to be mortared over, but the unglazed area is so thin, I don't see the functionality in any case.

I've heard that the Daltile at box stores is the stuff that doesn't quite make it through quality control. That could be the reason! But that is why the price is so low too.

I can't believe Daltile would risk their reputation by selling seconds to what is probably a very large chunk of their customers.

I'd guess that the bullnosed tile in question were defective, but I don't know what line they were from or how many were examined.

I just called them (Daltile) and got blown off. When I asked whether they were making it this way on PURPOSE, he claimed that they were - but then could not or would not provide me a link to the actual product showing the true specs. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, he claimed the guy was at lunch.

It's 1:30 in the afternoon in Texas. If his boss actually IS at lunch at 1:30 in the afternoon, that could be the source of the problem right there.

Seriously though. I spoke to someone in the "home depot/lowes" contact department first and THEY thought it was weird and had never heard of such a thing. It was the TECH guy who blew me off. Note that he COULD NOT explain to me the purpose of having an unglazed line on a piece of 2x6 wall tile presented and marketed as finish trim. I'm not talking about floor tile, this is their lowest rated wall tile (PEI 0). He kept yammering on about mortar. WHO MORTARS THE CURVED EDGE OF BULLNOSE ON A WALL? This isn't supposed to butt up against ANYTHING, or if it is, Home Depot needs to change the way they are marketing it. Though frankly I cannot imagine any scenario in which you would butt a curved bullnose on a wall up to more tile. And if you're butting it up against say cabinets (even though this stuff is NOT rated for kitchen use) then who would use anything but more regular tile?

I'll pick up a piece of this tomorrow and take it to a real tile store and see what they think. I'll post back with the actual SKUs and hopefully store links tomorrow, and what the real tile guys say about it. There may be some use for this, but so far no one here knows what it might be and the daltile guy was just flat out uncooperative. If they are manufacturing this on purpose then they should be able to provide me with a link to the specs for it and its intended use. Telling me they make FLOOR TILE with an incompletely finished edge to butt up against more floor tile doesn't help when I've repeatedly said this is 2x6 wall tile being marketed by Home Despot (and Lowes) as finish trim.

As for how many have been examined - I went through EVERY SINGLE PIECE on the shelves at every Home Despot (there are 4) and Lowes (only one) in my city. They're all this way, and some are actually worse than others in that on some that unglazed portion on the curve is not only unglazed, but also bumpy and rough, uneven. So HUNDREDS of pieces have been examined. If there's a use for this stuff, I'm pretty sure your average Home Despot shopper isn't going to know what it is OR want it for that use, and not a single Home Despot employee could explain it to me, they just insist its normal and shrug. AND they are telling people to buy this PEI 0 rated tile for backsplashes and counters, LOL!

Hmm. I tried to return my tile a few months ago, thinking I'd get a store credit because it was over 90 days and they still stock the tile. But instead of full price they were giving me .01 per piece. 1 cent! I had alot of it leftover, so I kept the tile. Now I wonder if it's because they now carry this different product. I'm curious enough to check my local store's bullnose tile and compare to what I have in the garage.

While I totally sympathize with your problems, zensojourner, I don't at all understand this:

It's 1:30 in the afternoon in Texas. If his boss actually IS at lunch at 1:30 in the afternoon, that could be the source of the problem right there.

What is odd about someone being assigned a late lunch hour? Here in FL where I live it's totally usual for businesses to do lunch from 1-1:30 or 1 to 2, even the employees start at 8 am.

In your situation I would have gone to the local daltile/olean distributor with a couple of samples and asked them about it, I think.

Schluter.

Yes, box stores get less than first quality materials. They are allowed a 30% cull rate where tile from a dealer is allowed a 5% cull rate. It’s easy enough to sort boxes on a line for that. Not “seconds”. Just not 100% first rate quality. Not bad enough to get trashed, but not good enough for most tile professionals. Just ask any true tile contractor (not a “tile guy) their opinion of box store tile.

Get out of the box stores and have your tile Pro buy better quality from his to the trade sources. And learn to love Schluter. It comes in 12-15 colors, and the Jolly is perfect for any wall tile application.