Square or rectangle tiles

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Hey,

Found a kitchen floor tile we both like, but can't decided on rectangle tiles or squares!

Whats everyone's feelings?

Ta!

 

[fobose]

I suppose with rectangles, you would lay them in a brick pattern. Squares you have that option to but could just lay them so they all fall in line. How level is your floor?

 

[BennyC]

Rectangles flow quite nicely if you have adjoining utlity and hallways.

I've 60x30cm in a brick pattern in my kitchen/diner/hall/utility.

Spoiler

Ignore the charge pipe

 

[Midlife Crisis]

one thing to watch with rectangular tiles is sometimes they are not flat, so laying them at a 3rd bond instead of brick bond makes for a flatter finished job,
also looks good as well.

 

[arknor]

Rectangles flow quite nicely if you have adjoining utlity and hallways.

I've 60x30cm in a brick pattern in my kitchen/diner/hall/utility.

looks really professional and well finished to my untrained eye, but rectangle tiles always trigger the OCD in me.

all the different lengths along the walls just hate it.

more annoying is when its those small rectangle tiles on someones bathroom wall, in a brick pattern.

reminds me of public toilets in the 90s, the council owned ones that used to exist around town centres

 

[200sols]

more annoying is when its those small rectangle tiles on someones bathroom wall, in a brick pattern.

I have no idea why those metro tiles became so popular, they are awful.

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Rectangles flow quite nicely if you have adjoining utlity and hallways.

I've 60x30cm in a brick pattern in my kitchen/diner/hall/utility.

Spoiler

Ignore the charge pipe

Thanks, its only just the kitchen, the dining room has wood down.

I think i'm convinced by the rectangles now, just seems a bit more 'modern' or I could be imagining it.

I guess its different from the current tiles, which is another vote in its favour.

Thanks all!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

one thing to watch with rectangular tiles is sometimes they are not flat, so laying them at a 3rd bond instead of brick bond makes for a flatter finished job,
also looks good as well.

That's interesting too, I seen some done that way last night and quite liked it!

 

[BennyC]

Thanks, its only just the kitchen, the dining room has wood down.

I think i'm convinced by the rectangles now, just seems a bit more 'modern' or I could be imagining it.

I guess its different from the current tiles, which is another vote in its favour.

Thanks all!

I like them in the traditional format in shower enclosures (60x30) but in a brick fashion for flooring

 

[HungryHippos]

I've gone for Rectangular myself in a brick pattern.

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

I've gone for Rectangular myself in a brick pattern.

Looks lovely

 

[HungryHippos]

Looks lovely

Thanks!

They are 600x400 rectangular tiles from Wickes. Got them in a flooring sale + trade discount so more like £15 per sqm.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Stone-Mix-Silver-Porcelain-Wall+Floor-Tile-600-x-400mm/p/143059

In a larger room i actually really like the larger tiles, and I would go matt finish over shiny easier to keep clean/looking good.

I can also recommend Tile Mountain (online only but they send samples). Used them for my bathroom tiles really good service.

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Thanks!

They are 600x400 rectangular tiles from Wickes. Got them in a flooring sale + trade discount so more like £15 per sqm.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Stone-Mix-Silver-Porcelain-Wall+Floor-Tile-600-x-400mm/p/143059

In a larger room i actually really like the larger tiles, and I would go matt finish over shiny easier to keep clean/looking good.

I can also recommend Tile Mountain (online only but they send samples). Used them for my bathroom tiles really good service.

Never heard of Tile Mountain, will have a look, cheers!

One of the reasons we are changing is due to the shiny finish on the current tiles, we just don't like it. (and there are at least 3 chips in the tiles, 1 caused by us!)

Been eyeing up these in B&Q, not too dissimilar to the ones you picked (they are on the wall in the ad below):

https://www.diy.com/departments/per...ack-of-5-l-600mm-w-300mm/5010921633336_BQ.prd

Cheers again

 

[HungryHippos]

Never heard of Tile Mountain, will have a look, cheers!

One of the reasons we are changing is due to the shiny finish on the current tiles, we just don't like it. (and there are at least 3 chips in the tiles, 1 caused by us!)

Been eyeing up these in B&Q, not too dissimilar to the ones you picked (they are on the wall in the ad below):

https://www.diy.com/departments/per...ack-of-5-l-600mm-w-300mm/5010921633336_BQ.prd

Cheers again

No problem

These are the ones I got for the bathroom: https://www.tilemountain.co.uk/p/stoneline-grey.html

My pic is on that site under the customer photos section, with the grey bathroom suite in it.

The tiles there are fantastic wouldn't hesitate to use them again, they are also massive at 800x400 but in a good way.

 

[arknor]

you guys did the tiling your self? or just sourced the tiles then hired a guy?


I'm curious how hard a DIY job it is if you properly research and prep for it.

also what if your floor is not completely flat? its just a self leveling compound job?

 

[HungryHippos]

It's the kind of thing you could tackle yourself but I didn't, need to do some cutting so probably need some tools, not really looked into it.

Concrete floor with levelling compound on top of that on my end in the kitchen.

 

[fobose]

Most of it is about the prep work. The floor really needs to be as flat as possible without any slight bumps in it as that will cause the tile to rock or angle up on one of the edges. With the brick pattern it exaggerates the imperfections and you will no doubt be forever stubbing your toe on it. If the tiles are not supported properly underneath with enough adhesive, they will crack too.

I personally wouldn't recommend tiling with large tiles as your first DIY job though! You will need some tools, mainly a tiler cutter that is big enough to cut the longest length of your tile! I also use a grinder and a diamond file. I haven't laid any floor tiles myself but I have done my old bathroom walls and recently in my new house, the kitchen splash back (14 sockets, absolute PITA) and recently the utility room splashback:

Finished tiles with grouting complete:

I used a 10mm drill bit to drill through where I wanted the cut outs to meet. Then used a grinder (carefully!) to cut towards my drilled hole. This works well unless you only have a small strip of tile around a socket, then the vibrations from the grinder will crack the tile. When I did my kitchen, I had to use a tile saw which allows for intricate cutting.

Lastly, this is where I used a diamond file. I had about 4 small cut outs around the cupboards and I wanted to avoid any chips. The file is also good for neatening up after the tile cutter or grinder is used (if the tile is not going to be hidden by a socket or by grout/corner piece).

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Most of it is about the prep work. The floor really needs to be as flat as possible without any slight bumps in it as that will cause the tile to rock or angle up on one of the edges. With the brick pattern it exaggerates the imperfections and you will no doubt be forever stubbing your toe on it. If the tiles are not supported properly underneath with enough adhesive, they will crack too.

I personally wouldn't recommend tiling with large tiles as your first DIY job though! You will need some tools, mainly a tiler cutter that is big enough to cut the longest length of your tile! I also use a grinder and a diamond file. I haven't laid any floor tiles myself but I have done my old bathroom walls and recently in my new house, the kitchen splash back (14 sockets, absolute PITA) and recently the utility room splashback:

Finished tiles with grouting complete:


I used a 10mm drill bit to drill through where I wanted the cut outs to meet. Then used a grinder (carefully!) to cut towards my drilled hole. This works well unless you only have a small strip of tile around a socket, then the vibrations from the grinder will crack the tile. When I did my kitchen, I had to use a tile saw which allows for intricate cutting.



Lastly, this is where I used a diamond file. I had about 4 small cut outs around the cupboards and I wanted to avoid any chips. The file is also good for neatening up after the tile cutter or grinder is used (if the tile is not going to be hidden by a socket or by grout/corner piece).

Nicely done, looks spot on! Ta for the advice too

We have done some tiling before, when we had the flat we done the kitchen walls above oven and around to sink in a nice long L shape, turned out lovely. We have a few tools, the only lacking one was cutting the 600mm tiles when needed, but that was being picked up this morning.

With the advice from here, willingness to get started, we have been working on it over the past few evenings (i'm working from home at the moment). So far, so good...

 

[fobose]

So far looking very good! Makes me want to smash all my floor tiles up and replace them. Mine were here when I moved in, and cover the floor in the kitchen, utility and downstairs loo so quite a big job to change them all. I only change the splashback as it only had a 70mm upstand before and the walls would always get messy. I wasn't sure if I was going to re do the kitchen completely (it still looks brand new in a 7 year old house) so I went with some very basic white tiles that had a bumpy effect which the light catches very well and makes them look more expensve (I think anyway) than they are. All in, all materials for the utility and kitchen cost me £165 which I thought was quite cheap. Will post some pictures up in a min, dont have any of my kitchen.

I'll leave this pic as full size so you can see all of the sockets. There are actually 14 in total, not 16. Still a lot!

Spoiler: large pic:

behind the integrated fridge freezer:

this is the reason I wasn't sure about ripping the kitchen out and starting again, random island on the other side of the room where the only cutlery draw is... very badly laid out but such a shame to re do the kitchen because of that.

*extra edit*

This is the only 'before' splashback picture I have, which is of the utility room. I actually had some one in to put the new utility in as I could not bear to have the wife moan about not having a washing machine whilst I spent ages getting everything perfect

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

So far looking very good! Makes me want to smash all my floor tiles up and replace them. Mine were here when I moved in, and cover the floor in the kitchen, utility and downstairs loo so quite a big job to change them all. I only change the splashback as it only had a 70mm upstand before and the walls would always get messy. I wasn't sure if I was going to re do the kitchen completely (it still looks brand new in a 7 year old house) so I went with some very basic white tiles that had a bumpy effect which the light catches very well and makes them look more expensve (I think anyway) than they are. All in, all materials for the utility and kitchen cost me £165 which I thought was quite cheap. Will post some pictures up in a min, dont have any of my kitchen.

I'll leave this pic as full size so you can see all of the sockets. There are actually 14 in total, not 16. Still a lot!


behind the integrated fridge freezer:

this is the reason I wasn't sure about ripping the kitchen out and starting again, random island on the other side of the room where the only cutlery draw is... very badly laid out but such a shame to re do the kitchen because of that.

*extra edit*

This is the only 'before' splashback picture I have, which is of the utility room. I actually had some one in to put the new utility in as I could not bear to have the wife moan about not having a washing machine whilst I spent ages getting everything perfect

Looks awesome, job well done! I'd have done similar with the 70mm splash, no where near enough. It's a lovely large space you have and can understand how doing all three rooms would be a bit more of a job!

We only have the kitchen using these tiles, the dining and living room are on fake wood, so taking them elsewhere wouldn't suit.

Unfortunately for us the kitchen was looking lovely and white when we bought and moved in two years ago, but last year some of the kitchen cupboard doors and drawers started cracking their covers (only from 2014 too). One actually went pop whilst we were in the living room, so have replaced all the unit doors with the dark grey you see. Then we decided we didn't like the shiny look of the tiles, and my gf slipped once coming in the back door! I think part of this is lockdown boredom, she always has to be doing something!

This was what we done in the flat, considering a dash of colour in the kitchen too eventually... perhaps a few months down the line at least!