Choosing The Right Tile For Your Home

22 Aug Choosing The Right Tile For Your Home

Tiling a room is a big job and a big commitment. After all, you will likely be living with your choice for a very long time. By answering a few questions and giving it enough thought, you can enjoy your tile without regrets.

Start by answering three questions:

1. Where is the tile going to be placed?
2. How much and what kind of use is this tile going to get?
3. What is my budget?

By answering those three questions, other details such as shape, color options, and scale will begin to narrow down. For example, it doesn’t make sense to pick a color you love only to realize it’s not even an option in the material you need. 

Since budget is pretty self-explanatory, let’s take a look at the first two questions above in greater detail.

Where is the tile going to be placed?

Countertops: Natural stone, metal, porcelain and ceramic are all great materials for countertops. You won’t want to use your countertop tile as a cutting board but it should be durable enough that you can set pots and pans and cooking utensils on it. This means it should be glazed and scratch-resistant.

Floor: Glazed tiles shouldn’t be used on the floor where water, oil or grease is consistently present. It is also generally not recommended that you use glazed tile on exterior applications. Forty five per cent of all accidents happen in the home and 95 percent of those accidents involve slipping and falling. A high COF (coefficient of friction) will keep floor tile from being too slippery which you’ll definitely want to take into account in the bathroom. Good materials for floors are natural stone, metal, quarry, porcelain, and ceramic.

Wall: Either as an accent element or a functional backsplash, wall tile will probably receive less abuse so you can feature the beautiful hand-painted tiles here. Walls are also a great place to use striking glass tiles which are waterproof, stain proof, and easy to clean. Metal tiles are also a creative choice for wall spaces, especially a wall behind the stove. 

How much and what kind of use is this tile going to get? 

It’s important to choose a floor tile that can stand up to the daily wear and tear of your household. All possible types of wear should all be taken into account. This is especially important for floors in high traffic areas.

While there’s no set industry standard for tile durability, most tile is classified using PEI (Porcelain Enamel Institute) ratings, which are:

1: No foot traffic.

2: Light traffic

3: Moderate to light traffic

4: Moderate to heavy traffic

5+: Heavy to extra-heavy traffic

A lot of porcelain tile is classified as a 4 or a 5 making it a great choice for any surface in any room of your home.

We hope that these ideas helped get your creative juices flowing and provided some inspiration for your next tile project.

The team at Dahl Custom Homes is here to help you with any and all of your Corridor custom home needs, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can answer any questions or provide you with more information.

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