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!

 

[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!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

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

Looks lovely

 

[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

 

[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...

 

[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!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

I got the smallest amount of clear mastic on our shiny floor tiles when I was sealing around the counter tops. I don't often fall over but almost went flying when my sock hit the dried sealant (which I thought I had removed with some paper towel).

I actually quite like the orange tile, I bet in natural light it looks even better. My wife has a very nice set of sauce pans which are a teal ish type blue colour. In our last house we got a glass splashback just for the cooker to match which looked very nice. Thought about doing the same here but for now just went with the teal coloured blinds

Does your GF help with the DIY jobs? My wife hasn't any interest in it or patience when helping me so I end up doing everything on me own. I've got loads of gloss work to do so will make her sand skirting boards and door frames with me

Ha, sounds like an event! I didn't fall, but I've cut my knee whilst crawling about, no idea when or on what exactly tho! :/

We actually both chip in, both playing to our skills! She mostly removed the old tiles and the wooden base, I put down the base, put down and cut tiles then she handled the grouting. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I wanted the tiles done right. I gave it another once over today too, ensuring all was ok, tiles had no staining, even grout and that kinda thing!

Finished result:

Quite happy with it, feels nice under feet... unlike the old glossy ones. Seems to make the small kitchen feel a bit larger too, probably due to the length of the tiles