Floor tiles- cheap and cheerful? Or worth paying more?

[wishfulthinking1]

Hi all- can anyone advise on floor tiles.
We've bought a house that we're renovating. As usual, lots of things are going over budget and we're looking for things to cut back on.

We're having the entire ground floor retiled (currently it's uneven bare concrete and a not-yet-built utility extension.

We'd like terracotta colour tiles throughout kitchen / utility and whilst I like the idea of the same tile throughout, DH fancies having a beige travertine style tile in sitting / dining room. Approx 50 sq m in total.
I've seen this tile...
m.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod1375/Cora-Terracotta-Floor-Tile.html?productid=1375
That's cheap- have picked up a sample and it looks fine to me. Is the perceived wisdom that cheap tiles can be 'got away with' or is it something is regret not spending more on? Prices seem to vary so massively!

Also- any idea how much a tiler costs?

Thanks!!!

we have also just had this dilemma. It will cost us approx £1750 for 35m2. This includes a latex self levelling layer though.
good luck!

I would have the same tile throughout and not have any colour changes. This will make the space look bigger. I think there are some problems with cheap tiles if they look too uniform and not like real stone or terracotta. Also I think tiles feel really cold in a sitting room. I have tiles in my kitchen which has an opening (large) onto the hall and this looks brilliant in a limestone lookalike tile. Few people can tell the difference and we used 4 sizes of tile. This looks a lot better than one uniform size in a large space. If you do go for a uniform size, go for large format and not lots of smaller tiles which looks a bit bitty. Look at the Mandarin Stone website for ideas. The stone is often not much more than ceramic but is more difficult to keep clean. Tillers vary, but £120 a day! Only compromise on cheap tiles if you really like them, not just because they are cheap!

I think it might be worth paying more.

We ran out of money and went for cheaper option a few years ago, only to end up doing it all over again when I could afford it. It was a false economy as I absolutely hated them.

I did it myself. And I've done quite a good job!

The only experience I have of floor tiles are the ones we have in our kitchen. They were basic B&Q slate-look ones, put down ourselves 10 years ago. They are now starting to chip from the odd dropped crockery, I think I'd call that not bad value though considering they were cheap as chips and have looked good nearly 10 years. I suppose it depends how long you want/expect them to last!

I would avoid very cheap tiles. I would also stick with one colour and style. But I would very much warn against putting tile in a dining room or living room. Its fine for hot countries but I would think it would put most people off a house in the UK. Its a very cold look (and feel!).

In the UK I'd only do tile in kitchens, bathrooms and maybe hallways.

Firstly I wouldn't have tiles in the whole of the downstairs rooms (thats just personal preference though) because they are cold underfoot without under floor heating and I think grout often starts looking grimy regardless of which colour you go for which makes the whole thing look pretty tatty. If you do have tiles, I also think it would be probably be worthwhile getting more expensive ones. We had beige tiles (also from Topps Tiles) in our kitchen they were probably put down 2 years ago, maybe 2.5 years ago and they now need replacing. We are quite a clumsy household (2 clumsy parents, 3 clumsy children) so they do come in for a fair battering, but they have chipped quite badly (revealing a drak / black layer underneath) so the whole floor just looks stained / dirty.

I personally wouldn't have tiles again.

I would be very happy with an all tiled downstairs though we are going for tiled kitchen, dining room and hall but wood in the sitting room. I would also go for the same colour throughout and love terracotta, though I have also seen some very nice rosy limestone on ebay that wasn't much more than those prices and came in different sizes.

Have you looked here. We used them for our polished porcelain, they were loads cheaper than anywhere else and the tiles are lovely. We have a large hall, cloakroom, kitchen/diner and utility done in them and it looks lovely, however they are very very cold underfoot, so have a serious think about having it throughout. They still look lovely 5 years on despite a dog and a child and loads of things getting dropped on them.
In contrast we spent a fortune on Porcelanosa floor tiles in our bathrooms and they still look amazing too, but do however get less wear and tear.
If you find something you like then go for it, I would necessarily say more expensive tiles are better. I would say don't compromise, as you will have to live with it everyday. If you prefer more expensive, get them.

We've just tiled our kitchen/diner extension in a fairly cheap tile from Topps Tiles. Overall, I would say that I'm happy with it, although there are a couple of things you may want to consider.

Firstly, our tiles are very obviously 'printed' to look like a real stone, such that the pattern repeats itself on lots of the tiles. If you just glance over them, you might not notice, but it doesn't take much to spot that the same wiggly line appears on at least 50% of the tiles, albeit in a slightly different place.

The other issue that our tiler raised was that the cheaper tiles are less even in their flatness, so you need to place tiles in straight lines, rather than overlapping (in a stretcher bond design - like a wall). We chose rectangular tiles, planning to lay them overlapping, but we were advised not to do so, because we would end up with ridges where the corner of one tile met the mid edge of another. The tiles you've posted are square, so perhaps not an issue, but one to consider if you look at other designs.

Have been told by both tile shops & interior designers that you should always go for porcelain floor tiles rather than ceramic - porcelain is MUCH stronger and is hard to chip, unlike ceramic.