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How to know what tiles are high quality?

2 years ago

I want some beautiful patterned tiles for my kitchen backsplash. My contractor told me to go to The Tile Shop and they just let me wander around without even talking to me. There are so many options online that I can’t help but assume most are low quality. How do I know what to pick?

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Comments (4)

kculbers
2 years ago
I can only comment on my Italian porcelain wood look tiles that are manufactured by Energie Ker. They are grade 4 tiles, the strongest. My tiler said they were a pleasure to work with and cut beautifully. I had them installed in my hallway and bathrooms. Porcelain tiles are also quite water resistant. When you find some tiles you like, google them to find out more about their quality and strength on the manufactures website.
barncatz
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Can you google something like "tile shops [your location]." That should pull up some non-chain shops. In my area, there are several and they offer tiles from quality makers from around the country, or you may find you're in an area with a high quality tile maker with their own retail presence.

Many quality makers have an online presence. They will have their own websites and catalogues generally i.e. not sold in a big box store.

I am not dissing The Tile Shop but there are indeed many other options.
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We used 12X24 size tile in our bath. Not sure if tests for good quality porcelain is the same for all sizes. But our tile guy put one of the porcelain tiles on a flat service (I bought a sample) - glass topped table - and he looked at whether the flatness was even - the corners seemed to be particularly important. I think the main point he was looking for was minimum "lippage" - so if tiles are flat on all sides - that means you can have a very flat wall - something we wanted. If you have home made rustic tiles (or something like that) - I don't think you would care about flatness but then they probably wouldn't be porcelain either. I'm not a tile guy so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt (kind of) but this is what I saw him do for testing and this is how I understood what he was looking for. The end product for our porcelain tile wall is VERY flat which has a very nice quality look, IMO (though I'm a little biased.) I don't know anything about the tile shop. I do know my tile guy requested that I shop locally for tiles so he could actually make the purchase and inspect the boxes before accepting the product at the store/warehouse. If your tiles aren't totally flat, there are methods for laying the tile that can minimize the fact that the tiles aren't flat on all four corners but I think I'm done with everything I know on this subject. There are tile forums such as John Bridge where you could get more precise info from some experts. That's one place where my tile guy hangs out and his work is very high quality. p.s. our 12X24 tile was very cheap, $1.99 sq ft from Floor and Decor - they get left overs from some quality tile sources so cheap doesn't always mean poor quality. This post was edited by elphaba on Wed, May 1, 13 at 1:39
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Some tiles are not rated for the floor, because of the resistance to abrasion, slippy-ness factor, and maybe other reasons like strength of clay body and thickness. Also some floors are not stiff enough for tile. There is an equation for that. Here is a page from The Tile Counsel of North America: http://www.tcnatile.com/resources/published-articles.html there may be some articles to help. Other wise a link below to Houzz has some helpful information on tiles. I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but I think these sites are helpful in general. Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz article on tile characteristics[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/your-floor-how-to-shop-for-tile-stsetivw-vs~508253)
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Lindsey - All the houses I have seen around here that flooded (there are many, including my own) had to rip up the tile. the contaminated floodwater gets under the grout and it cannot dry. The flood under the ripped up tile is nasty and growing mold after just a few days. Some friends tried to 'save' their tile, but after 4 mos and not being able to get rid of the mold smell, they tore it up and had to powerwash and bleach their slab before reflooring. We are going to build 4' up, and are considering LVP. I don't want the hard and cold feel of tile. Haven't looked at brands though as we are just getting bids for the dry in.
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@calidesign glad to hear you think that because I was just staring at the space today (see purple drywall below) and that's just what I was thinking! @Lady Driver, I am all ears on glazing techniques in case we go back to paint. Alas! We received the sample Blue Mose tile today and were disappointed. The color was much darker than what we're seeing in photos, including the photos of customer reviews. Wondering if I should order another sample? Try a sample from Wayfair instead? I think HD and Wayfair are the only sellers of this crazy tile.
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functionthenlook
2 years ago
I got my backsplash tile from The Tile Shop. What I liked was I was able to buy single tiles to take home to see which one worked with my counters and cabinets. You can return the tile that you don't like. In my mind what I thought would look good in the kitchen turned out not so good when I got the samples home. Get some patterned tiles to see how patterned tile looks in your kitchen. Then if you like the look you can shop around. I don't know how high of a quality tile you need for a backsplash since your not walking or putting furniture on them. One of my big requirements was that it would be easy to wipe up any splatter.

FYI The same tile from The Tile Shop was cheaper when I bought them on line and had them delivered to the store, than buying them directly in the store.
mxk3 z5b_MI
2 years ago
I've gotten tile from The Tile Shop in the past and it was fine, although some will say that it is lower quality -- well actually that was specifically referring to Floor & Decor, ok to get inspiration there but look elsewhere for the materials. IME both of these places tend to focus on the latest trends with a smattering of classics thrown in.

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