Tile size and laying pattern - Tile Advice

[sajid78]

Hello - we're in the process of choosing tiles for our bathroom and I'd really appreciate some advice on what type of laying pattern works best for tile size/type. My wife would ideally like large format tiles on the wall, in a brick bond pattern. I've read on here that its important to consider how flat / bowed the tiles are when deciding laying pattern, so my questions were:

• Would a brick bond, or staggered brick bond, generally work with wall tiles 600mm x 300mm tiles, long side horizontal? And would rectified tiles work better or it doesn't help?
• In general, are porcelain tiles less likely to be bowed than ceramic tiles, and thicker tiles straighter than thinner, or no such general rules of thumb?
• If we're having dark tiles on the floor with dark grout, and white/light grey on the walls with white grout, is matching grout lines relevant or only really matters if the grout lines are the same colour floor to ceiling?

The substrate is sand/cement render on some walls with cement backing boards on others, so I'm able to choose thicker and heavier tiles if they're more likely to be straight.

Any advice much appreciated! Thanks

 

[Joe8189]

Hello - we're in the process of choosing tiles for our bathroom and I'd really appreciate some advice on what type of laying pattern works best for tile size/type. My wife would ideally like large format tiles on the wall, in a brick bond pattern. I've read on here that its important to consider how flat / bowed the tiles are when deciding laying pattern, so my questions were:

• Would a brick bond, or staggered brick bond, generally work with wall tiles 600mm x 300mm tiles, long side horizontal? And would rectified tiles work better or it doesn't help?
• In general, are porcelain tiles less likely to be bowed than ceramic tiles, and thicker tiles straighter than thinner, or no such general rules of thumb?
• If we're having dark tiles on the floor with dark grout, and white/light grey on the walls with white grout, is matching grout lines relevant or only really matters if the grout lines are the same colour floor to ceiling?

The substrate is sand/cement render on some walls with cement backing boards on others, so I'm able to choose thicker and heavier tiles if they're more likely to be straight.

Any advice much appreciated! Thanks

Hey Sajid
I've just done a couple of jobs with 600x300 rectified porcelain tiles, both customers decided to have them stacked and they looked great. They were similar to what you are thinking of using. The floor tiles were a mid Grey 600x600 and I managed to align the joints to the wall tiles. The rectified tiles give a much better/ tighter joint. If you use a good wedge leveling system there is minimal distortion to the eye.
If the joints are not going to line up then it would be better on the eye if the grout is the same colour.
I take it you are going to do the tiling?

 

[hk940]

Hey Sajid
I've just done a couple of jobs with 600x300 rectified porcelain tiles, both customers decided to have them stacked and they looked great. They were similar to what you are thinking of using. The floor tiles were a mid Grey 600x600 and I managed to align the joints to the wall tiles. The rectified tiles give a much better/ tighter joint. If you use a good wedge leveling system there is minimal distortion to the eye.
If the joints are not going to line up then it would be better on the eye if the grout is the same colour.
I take it you are going to do the tiling?

I have done a lot of the large format tiles and have had to screw down one end to keep it from poping up when I pushed the other end down, These were 6"x48" border tile around 24"x24"field. I have even done some that recommended not doing a 50% brick joint

 

[Joe8189]

I have done a lot of the large format tiles and have had to screw down one end to keep it from poping up when I pushed the other end down, These were 6"x48" border tile around 24"x24"field. I have even done some that recommended not doing a 50% brick joint

Screw down one end??? Sorry I'm not getting this. If your adhesive bed is correct, then using levelling wedges should split the lippage of your tiles. If your tiles are that bad I would suggest returning them to the supplier.
Joe

 

[hk940]

Screw down one end??? Sorry I'm not getting this. If your adhesive bed is correct, then using levelling wedges should split the lippage of your tiles. If your tiles are that bad I would suggest returning them to the supplier.
Joe

There was nothing wrong with the adhesive bed, those tiles (the 6"x48") were warped. One would think there would be no question about returning faulty material, but when the house in question is in WV, USA and the owners who are having it built Live in FL USA and a designer is involved that is not always an option.
This was no budget job. The house was about $6,000,000.00. I worked on it for about a year. It was massive amount of tile. The kitchen alone was 500 sq.ft. of 6"x48" wood grain tile, and set on a herringbone diagonal.
The owners were complaining about some cost over runs, yet the designer wanted the kitchen tile to have only a 1//8" joint. When I explained that the length of the tiles dived by the width would determine the joint size (which was closer to 3/16+). The designer asked me could be done, I told her there were two options, set it with the bigger joint, or cut down the length to make the joints 1/8". It was a rectified edge so cutting them would not be a problem.
Guess what she chose, cut them down. Over 125 pieces cut down 5/16".
As we neared the last 30 sq,ft. on a Friday we put up keep off signs and caution tape. (you know how well that works).
On Monday when we arrived it was obvious someone had walked on the tiles, creating lippage in many places.
Now the problem was taking them up with out damaging the electrical heat mats they were set on (there were 6 separate heat mats).
Well that did not go well as the mats were damaged in the process and it took me two weeks to repair them.
It was a tedious process as the heating wires were about the thickness of a human hair and needed to be soldered then covered with heat shrink tubing then metal braid.
I was glad to leave that job!

 

[Joe8189]

There was nothing wrong with the adhesive bed, those tiles (the 6"x48") were warped. One would think there would be no question about returning faulty material, but when the house in question is in WV, USA and the owners who are having it built Live in FL USA and a designer is involved that is not always an option.
This was no budget job. The house was about $6,000,000.00. I worked on it for about a year. It was massive amount of tile. The kitchen alone was 500 sq.ft. of 6"x48" wood grain tile, and set on a herringbone diagonal.
The owners were complaining about some cost over runs, yet the designer wanted the kitchen tile to have only a 1//8" joint. When I explained that the length of the tiles dived by the width would determine the joint size (which was closer to 3/16+). The designer asked me could be done, I told her there were two options, set it with the bigger joint, or cut down the length to make the joints 1/8". It was a rectified edge so cutting them would not be a problem.
Guess what she chose, cut them down. Over 125 pieces cut down 5/16".
As we neared the last 30 sq,ft. on a Friday we put up keep off signs and caution tape. (you know how well that works).
On Monday when we arrived it was obvious someone had walked on the tiles, creating lippage in many places.
Now the problem was taking them up with out damaging the electrical heat mats they were set on (there were 6 separate heat mats).
Well that did not go well as the mats were damaged in the process and it took me two weeks to repair them.
It was a tedious process as the heating wires were about the thickness of a human hair and needed to be soldered then covered with heat shrink tubing then metal braid.
I was glad to leave that job!

Hey bud
Understood now, sounds like you had a real challenge.