Wall tiles for floor tiles??????

[maggieb]

Hi, I am new here and I was so pleased to find this forum as I am in need of advice.
We are doing up a shed as a studio and where excited when we found some tiles going cheap from a place that was closing down. We purchased 60 m2 of 600x330 white tiles. On arriving home with them and looking at them closely we noticed they are wall tiles, not floor tiles. Then discovered we could not return them.:mad2:
My question is....Can we still use them as floor tiles. They have A grade on the box, no PSI stated. And if we can use them as floor tiles, what adhesive do we use. We are thinking flexi.
Can someone please advise me on what to do. The tiles are glazed with a matt finish.
Cheers, Maggie **yawn**

 

[Deleted member 9966]

what thickness are the tiles in mm? Floor tiles are usually at least 8mm in thickness.

 

[maggieb]

what thickness are the tiles in mm? Floor tiles are usually at least 8mm in thickness.

Thank you for your question...They are quite thick, thicker than the floor tiles we have in the bathroom area.

 

[Andy Allen]

I wouldn't use a wall Tile on the floor the biscuit will be to soft and it will chip and crack very easy. .

 

[Qwerty]

As above.....liable to wear quickly

 

[Stef]

Again as above, you can use floor tiles on a wall but you can't use wall tiles on a floor.
I wouldn't risk it as they won't take the strain of a floor tile.

 

[peterwhayward]

If they could be used on a floor, the manufacturers would be only too happy to put it on the box.!. Sorry.

 

[WetSaw]

If you're "doing up a shed" and it's yours for your own use, I'd use them. But only if it has a solid floor i.e concrete. Only you know how you're going to use the building and how much traffic the floor is likely to have and what sort of thing you'll be getting up to.
By the way, I'm not a tiler!

 

[maggieb]

If you're "doing up a shed" and it's yours for your own use, I'd use them. But only if it has a solid floor i.e concrete. Only you know how you're going to use the building and how much traffic the floor is likely to have and what sort of thing you'll be getting up to.
By the way, I'm not a tiler!

Thank you for your info...yes the floor is concrete and there wont be a lot of traffic on it. In your opinion would it be best to use a flexi adhesive or a rigid one. We were thinking of the flexi that you mix up.

 

[WetSaw]

Primer the floor first (not with PVA). 3 mm spacers and back butter the tiles to ensure a solid bed. If you have flexi adhesive already then use it, I tend to use flexi anyway.
Be careful about the choice of grout colour as light colours on floors can get dirty quickly.
By the way, I'm not a Tiler

 

[Andy Allen]

Think you should listen to the tilers...
Theres a reason why its called a wall tile.....its ment to go on the wall not the floor.
Floor tiles are graded 1to 5 grade 4 and 5 are suitable for most rooms in your house...grade 2 and 3 light traffic areas only ie bathrooms or bedrooms....I doubt your wall tiles are a grade 1 if that....infact I dont even think they grade wall tiles....still its your money so good luck..

 

[Qwerty]

Spend the money on some cheap floor tiles. This will at least last rather than wasting your time and cost of materials when it fails

 

[WetSaw]

Think you should listen to the tilers...
Theres a reason why its called a wall tile.....its ment to go on the wall not the floor.
Floor tiles are graded 1to 5 grade 4 and 5 are suitable for most rooms in your house...grade 2 and 3 light traffic areas only ie bathrooms or bedrooms....I doubt your wall tiles are a grade 1 if that....infact I dont even think they grade wall tiles....still its your money so good luck..

Absolutely!
But as it's only a shed being done up by the owner for their own use, and they've got the tiles already, I still say it's worth a punt. Certainly wouldn't advocate it normally but I would do the same in my shed if I was in this situation.

 

[Andy Allen]

The op asked the question can a wall tile be used as a floor tile. ...imo the answer is no..

If you feel its worth a punt then great.....I think it will be a waste of time and money....

 

[m3fitter]

the adhesive / grout will cost you more than the tiles ! the glaze is too thin, and will wear off, chip... don't waste your time and money, as someone said, if they could be used on the floor, the manufacturer would have advertised it.. your call... also a wall tile biscuit cannot take weight as designed not to be load bearing and the tile will crack under pressure..

 

[TJ Smiler]

Have to agree with all the other tilers, it's a wall tile, not a floor tile. It may last for a short while but eventually (probably just months) the surface will start wear off and it will chip and crack incredibly easy. If your not bothered about any of that then get em down but i would as someone else said buy some cheap floor grade tiles and put them down, i would then consider insulting the inside of my shed then putting some suitable boarding up then using the cheap wall tiles on them instead.

 

[Stef]

Go into a Topps tiles & you will get a floor tile for less than £5m2, this will save a lot of hassle in the long run.
I fit these tiles in rental properties for a woman I do work for & although they aren't great at least they are floor tiles & will last.

 

[Ajax123]

Purely as an educational thing what is the difference between wall and floor tiles in terms of manufacturing standards...e.g compressive, flexural strengths, surface abrasion resistance, slip resistance etc etc...

 

[peterwhayward]

Purely as an educational thing what is the difference between wall and floor tiles in terms of manufacturing standards...e.g compressive, flexural strengths, surface abrasion resistance, slip resistance etc etc...

All of the above I would say, although the slip resistance bit is not always a priority. Some of the tiles I have fitted to bathroom floors (by request) I would consider to be down right dangerous.

 

[Stef]

Purely as an educational thing what is the difference between wall and floor tiles in terms of manufacturing standards...e.g compressive, flexural strengths, surface abrasion resistance, slip resistance etc etc...

Some johnsons tiles I have fitted to floors haven't in my eyes been suitable.
Some of their ceramics I would say are only suitable for walls as they have snapped far too easily over my knee.
I'm not too sure about flexular strength or that Alan but you do get a feel for tiles over the years & some I would say aren't suitable for application.

 

[cam_low]

sell the tiles on ebay and purchase floor tiles. no need for flexi adhesive onto a concrete base...waste of money going flexi....

 

[WetSaw]

At least the OP has got some great advice now;-)
Just looked at how expensive adhesive is in Topps, I pay €5 - €7 for standard up to €9 for porcelain flexi.....

 

[Dan]

Just bumping some of the older popular (sometimes not so popular) threads. Probably wont be current discussion these days but I just need to do it. So just ignore the thread if it's not current for you.