Choosing the type of flooring is one of the most sensitive areas that people consider when they want to replace or install a new floor. If you decide to go with a floor tile you have to consider a few important things before you choose the color of the floor, otherwise you might put the floor down and it will look nice for a little while and then after a few years you might need to replace the floor or live with a damaged tile floor.
You never start to choose a tile according to the shape or color. There are hundreds of different types of tiles that can be installed on your floor and you need to consider some conditions before you are choosing the floor:
1. The area that you are going to install the tile floor: the area that you will install the tile floor, the kitchen, hallway or basement are totally different and you first must look at the types of tiles that go to each place. There are a few different thickness and strength within tiles, and if you go with cheap floor tiles on a kitchen floor for instance, a pot or pan that might fall on the floor could easily crack a tile. Get advice from the seller and manufacturer with regard to which tiles are recommended for which area.
2. The traffic in the area where you are going ot install the tiles: are you going to install the tiles in your home, office building stairway? There are tiles that are made for high traffic area, so if you will have 500 people walking by the hallway in your building or you have a banquet hall for parties and will have several hundred people walking on your floor every night, you need a different type of floor tile considering the area, including if those tiles will be for indoor use or for outdoor use.
3. When you already know the area and the type of tiles that need to be used for that area go with your design and tell us how you want to accomplish the flooring in terms of shape. Some tiles cannot be installed in a certain way and if you install them incorrectly they will become broken on the edges or corners, become loose or fall apart in a few years. You need to consider if there are any spaces between the floor tiles, how big the spaces are between the tiles, what type of tile grout you will use. For example in the kitchen area where you will be using oils, you may want to use grout that won’t stick to dirt and oil so the grout will not get dark and will always be fresh and clean (repairing grout is a whole new story especially if you have to repair just the grout without a new tile installation).
4. What does your sub-floor look like: Is it a hardwood floor, laminate, old tiles, just plain plywood? Considering this will give you a good indication of cost, tile and materials as a different floor requires a different preparation, different materials and a different process of floor tile installation. For instance, if you have a concrete floor like in a basement and you want to put down floor tiles (which is the right think to do because a basement might get flooded, water or in general its an area with high humidity) you first need to level the floor and then install floor tiles with premium thinset so even if your basement gets flooded the tiles will still stay stuck to the floor.
As always please feel free to contact us for any tile floor repair or installation and we would be happy to stop by and advise at no cots.