Why am I being told not to like the floor?

[user1958493]

Please help me understand this.

I have moved house and am redecorating the whole house. I want to put tiles down through the entrance, kitchen, cloakroom and utility room. My parents (dad is doing a lot of the work in the house for me) are telling me this is a bad idea.
They aren't really giving me a solid reason why, just a few mentions of "people don't have large areas tiled", "will be cold", "if one gets damaged you can't replace it"

Is it a bad idea to tile an area like this? I dont know if this makes a different but I have 2 kids under 5.

Thank you

FFS, I meant TILE the floor

I wouldn't do it either. Especially not with young children.

I'd do a LVT tile or similar flooring. More hardwearing, easier to change, softer if you drop or fall on it, easier to clean.

I have a large area tiled. I wouldn't have it again. Someone drops something, it chips, a bit of water on it, it gets slippy 🙄

I live in Aus and they're fab in summer for keeping the house cool. But I'd prefer wood/good quality laminate if I were doing it now

Depends what the floor is
If it’s concrete go for it
But if it’s floorboards then gaining access to any pipe work either water or gas under the floorboards will be impossible without ruining your tiling

The tiles can crack but they would also be very unforgiving to little heads falling on them. But you must have considered that and ruled it out as a concern? I had wood and covered as much as I could with rugs when dc were tiny.

It's very Mediterranean! I think it's just opinion on your parents side. It's not usual to tile whole area like that.

I've known friends who have tiled their whole downstairs and it looks really nice.

I'd say if you like that then go for it. Just use good quality hard-wearing floor tiles.

Our entire downstairs is tiled and I hate it. It's cold. A teeny bit of water on it and it's slippery. Drop anything and it chips/breaks. Constantly nervous as my toddler runs around. But way too expensive to change it

Surely most people have tiles in. Kitchens cloakrooms and utility areas so it’s just the hallway that’s extra. We have this and it looks great.

I’m a big fan of tiles. Especially with young kids. So easy to clean. Go for it!

If you (not your parents or other guests) find it chilly, get lots of cheap area rugs.

Or spring for underfloor heating. It is life changing!

@BootsScootsAndToots

I have a large area tiled. I wouldn't have it again. Someone drops something, it chips, a bit of water on it, it gets slippy 🙄

I live in Aus and they're fab in summer for keeping the house cool. But I'd prefer wood/good quality laminate if I were doing it now

I’m with you on this. It’s pretty cold to have tiles in winter, and our winter only ever reaches lows of about 6-7oc at the VERY lowest!!

My entire downstairs level is tiled.

Benefits:
Easy to vacuum (especially when you have pets who shed)
Can wipe up spills easily
Cooler in summer

Drawbacks:
Need to mop frequently for them to look decent
They do chip pretty easily - mine have chipped in quite a few places and I don’t even ever remember doing any damage to them
The chipped areas constantly look dirty!
Much harder to replace than laminate or carpet

The areas you’ve mentioned you want to tile seem reasonable to tile though - especially a utility room and a kitchen.

Tiled floors are cold.

I agree with the above comments and your parents. They chip, they crack, they are absolutely freezing, if you need to get under the floor to the pipe work the lot has to come up. When you get fed up of them, as you invariably will do, maybe not now, the mess to remove and replace the flooring is a nightmare.

I hate mine in the kitchen, and they all cracked in the bathroom. I would not have a ceramic floor anywhere every again.

Karndean is my preferred choice now,

The whole of our downstairs is tiled, we've been here over 10 years and not particularly careful and the tiles look as new

If you like it go for it but it's worth getting really good quality tiles, they have to be thick and well made to stand the test of time (this is the brand we used www.porcelanosa.com/uk/

I have tiles in my utility, kitchen, hall and dining room. I love them. It's not cold at all unless you go around barefoot all the time. I wear slippers. It's easy to clean and hardwearing which is great when you have a big muddy dog.

We have a tiled hall, breakfast room and kitchen, bathroom & ensuite, all the same tiles it flows well, through our property. The bedrooms & lounge are carpeted. The disadvantage is of course
if you drop something in the kitchen, it smashed, can’t begin to tell you how often that has happened. I don’t find the coolness of tiles are problem. The are easy to clean with a steam cleaner and look smart. Go for whatever you want OP, it’s your home.

We're buying a house with a lot of tiled floor. The surveyor commented that tiles on timber underfloor are a bad idea because there is movement in the timber which will eventually cause the grout to crack.

I had tiles in my old kitchen and thIs kitchen. I was in the old house 15 years - no chips, cracks etc the tiles here have been down 22 years....no chips, cracks etc in both situations I think the tiles are layer on a solid concrete base. I have no issues with slips, bangs etc But...my parents moan every time they come here how cold they are.

Tiled kitchen is cold over a void so slippers in the winter. Hallway karndean scandi pine almost white, rarely mopped. I love it. With two dogs five grandkids carpets just not practical.. karndean is warm on the feet

I love tiles. So easy to clean. Only go for porcelain or natural stone, which you can get relatively cheaply these days. Slate particularly and travertine are less hardwearing. The hardest are marble and especially granite, If you go for these, they won’t show any chips. But are difficult to cut for the edges. Porcelain would be the second choice as it is also pretty hard wearing.

People are correct, tiles are very cold though without under floor heating and electric heating mats are expensive, require level floors (levelling compound is not cheap) and need to be installed by an experienced electrician.

We have a lot of tiles at home. Whatever you decide, my advice is to not use white or off white grout, it’s a bugger to keep clean and pristine and you will find yourself on your hands and knees to get it looking good again.

We’ve had our tiles removed and replaced with LVT. Love it!

I have tiles through most of my ground floor. Easy to keep clean. So cold in the winter though. If I could re-do the floor (which I won't because it would be a huge, messy and expensive job) I would go for amtico or karndean.

I have never had a area that big tiled so cant comment on the coolness of chipping.
My 1st thought was is it your DH that will be laying them ? It sounds like a very time consuming job and lots of tile cutting , could it be that he just doesn't want to do it ?

I hated the tiles that were in this hoise when we bought it. Eventually we got around to replacing them when we remodeled the downstairs but it took years to organise and make it happen and I learned my lesson not to buy a house that has "projects" that need doing before it's a nice place to live. It would likely be a deal-breaker for me for any future house purchase.

If this is your forever home so you'll never need to care about resale value and you have lived with tiled floors before and know you actually like living with them, then go for it. Otherwise, don't.

I think it might be OK if you have underfloor heating but otherwise it's so very cold even in summer. Plus the very hard surface makes a very echoey atmosphere which is my number one design crime when people renovate!

I’ve got 30sqm of polished porcelain tiles downstairs, I love it. Easy to clean and looks great.

I will never go back to carpet now.