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

He is right and has given clear reasons… it’s cold and impractical

Get LVT or similar

@MistyElla it's just listing the various negatives, I suspect in warmer countries tiles are more beneficial but they just seem a silly choice in this country so it's easier to dwell on the numerous negatives.

I have a tiled kitchen, you definitely need your slippers on in winter.

He is right and has given clear reasons… it’s cold and impractical

And yet others have said different so I would see this as opinion rather than fact.

We have marble tiles with underfloor heating through our hall, dining room, kitchen, utility. Very easy to keep clean. Not cold.

We have tiles in those areas plus the bathroom.

They aren't shiny or slippy.

My friend has wood effect tiles in her hall and ginormous kitchen diner. They’ve been down for years and look fab. They’re textured so not slippery and she uses a steam cleaner on them once a week. She has underfloor heating so it’s never cold. If we ever redo our floors downstairs I’m going to copy her!

I have a tiled floor from the entrance to the kitchen utility and cloakroom. It is very cold and hard looking, not welcoming and the grout is hard to keep pristine. It is very unforgiving for little people falling too. I wouldn't have it again (didn't choose it) and much preferred my karndean in the hallway and cloakroom in my last house.

Invest in underfloor heating at the same time. Cold argument disappears. It doesn't sound too much as you aren't actually doing living areas. Have what you want. You are the one living there.

Easy to keep clean.

One broken tile can be replaced far more easily than a whole hallway of lino / Karndean.

You can put rugs down if coldness bothers you - or just wear slippers.

I have marble throughout my ground floor and love it. I have a couple of rugs to break it up. It is easy to clean and will last a lifetime. Being marble it is thick and I don't think it would be easy to break a tile.

For everyone saying vinyl - some people just don’t like plastic flooring. And if you have a high end property it’s a disadvantage when trying to sell. Buyers expect good quality and factor in what it would cost to replace with tiles or wood.

Should have said that I don't have white grout but a grey to match the tiles making it much easier to keep it looking good. I wouldn't put white grout on the floor.

I have tiles in utility, boot room, kitchen, downstairs loo ,conservatory and a beautiful hallway with original victorian tiles. All the rooms lead off the hall.
They are a warm colour and fantastically practical. We had 2xboys and 2 large retrievers . Easy to live with, easy to clean. I expect that a huge area of something white-ish and very shiny might look cold. It woukd also be a pain to keep pristine.
My father in law had carpet in the kitchen and bathroom so opinions differ

Someone else has already said it but be careful which grout you choose. We used light grout in the kitchen and I’m forever scrubbing it.

He has a good point. Tiles do crack and chip easily. If they are textured they also retain dirt easily. They also show the dirt.

I have tiles in a lot of my downstairs and love them. We have dogs so it makes things so much easier. They still look new, a few years on.

That said, you have to really like and be sure of your choice as if course it is much more work to change up you get fed up with them!

The previous tiled floor I absolutely hated. It was a hideous colour (previous owner laid it). I put up with it for years - if it had been laminate etc it would have been changed much earlier!

Bamboo flooring is lovely and hard wearing

We had a tiled kitchen (already down when we bought the house) and absolutely hated it. It was cold and slippery, several of the tiles cracked and it would have been a major job to replace them, our dogs couldn't walk on them and small children running/slipping/falling on tiles is a serious accident waiting to happen. We ended up putting a huge runner over them until we could replace them (with Flotex, which I also hate >< ).

Most of our downstairs is tiled. Easy to keep clean but I’ve lost count of the amount of times my children have slipped over - I have too. The thing I hate the most, however, is if something is dropped in the kitchen, it smashes into smithereens and the fragments fly across the entire downstairs. It’s a bloody nightmare and I always start ranting that I want Lino putting down. Still haven’t due to costs but it really would be so much easier.

With underfloor heating , fine. However they can be very slippery, so in a hall or near door/bathroom any surface water can be hazardous especially for pets and children. Keeping them looking clean and shiny is a never ending task.

Tiles do crack and chip easily

Only if you use the wrong sort. Proper floor tiles won't.

As an aside... you can get grout protector which you paint on, which stops the grout getting dirty.

(Wish I had done that!).

Also have tiles - our's are heated though. But I wouldn't have them again - if anything drops its smashes into a million pieces - think tiny bits of glass everywhere. Also been very hard on my feet. I would go for wood next time.

I have ceramic tiles in the largish kitchen and downstairs loo. We've been here 15 years and they haven't cracked and are not cold or noisy.