TRADITIONAL CERAMIC WALL TILES.
Before you buy your tiles, here are some very pertinent points you may find helpful...
Traditional ceramic wall tiles have a cushion edge on them for a very good reason. The slightly rounded over edge, makes the tile very forgiving when it is fixed over any slightly uneven surface. It also emphasises the joint of the tile which has always been an inherent and very important part of the effect of tiles. This design feature also helps disguise any slight lipping when the tile is fixed because they do not meet edge to edge.This means that...
A tiler can achieve a fair standard of work onto reasonably good preparation using a basic adhesive and a fairly simple set of tools at a predictable cost.
Take that simple but very clever design feature away and all the problems it solved come back.
With a vengeance.
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Since Roman times, tiling has been hand fixed in a mortar and the tiler had around half an inch of bed to work with and therefore could get the finished walls flat. Floors were also laid in a mortar and the tiler would screed the floor himself and lay the tiles directly into the mortar, again, getting it flat was a fundamental part of his skill.
Since the introduction of ‘thin’ bed tile adhesives about forty years ago, others became responsible for getting things flat. Aided by that cushioned edge, the tiler simply had to fix the tiles onto it straight and level. This speeded up the process of tiling and removed an essential skill of the master craftsman.
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You can imagine how the cost cutting benefit of adhesives out-weighed the actual drop in the standard of work the tiler could now control and produce.
Tiling became a cheaper option and more affordable.
There are now a lot of tiles on the market that have very square edges which cannot be fixed with the thin bed method. These products require new fixing techniques and adhesives and it is when the cost of this is pointed out and compared to old typical costs, that real customer confusion arises.
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These new square edged products recomplicate tile choices for the customer, and can increase installation costs considerably.
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True 'ceramic' tiles, with a proper edge on them are definately the best value for money product choice for domestic wall tiling on the market.
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A couple of other useful tips...
Avoid tiles that have a red or dark biscuit, which is the body of the tile that is under the glaze. When you cut these tiles and set them against corner trims on external angles the red body invariably shows through where the grout can’t cover it . This can happen months after the tiling is finished as cleaning etc wears down the grout covering the edge of the cut tile. It looks dirty and can make an otherwise good job look a bit Heath Robinson.
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Coloured wall tile grout is also a choice to avoid. We have seen no end of tiling ruined with coloured grouting. The problem is that you can only see a tiny fraction of the actual joint, so Ivory for arguments sake, simply looks like dirty white grout and the new tiling then looks old and shabby. If you do fancy coloured grout, make sure it is a fair contrast to the actual tile.