6 Important Pointers to Consider while Choosing Tiles for Your Home

floor tileWhen you plan to install tiles for different parts of your home, you will have no shortage of colors, materials, designs and textures. However, you’ll have to choose only those tiles which will be perfect for your space. Here are some pointers you would like to consider.

1. Choosing Backsplash Tiles

Backsplash is a very important part of your kitchen and needs tiles that are beautiful to look at and tough enough to bear whatever they are exposed to. For choosing a perfect backsplash tile, you need to consider many factors. For example, you can choose between different backsplash heights from up to the bottom of your cabinet or first shelf if you just want to give a hint of tile to counter to ceiling installation to make the tile a focal point in your kitchen. Also, you can choose between materials like ceramic, handpainted, bricks and more, whether the tiles and countertop material go with each other or not, and also various shapes and patterns from classic to fun.

floor tile

2. Hardness

Hardness is an important point to consider while choosing floor tiles. Moh’s scale measures the ability of the tile’s material to bear foot/wear traffic and also scratches. The Porcelain Enamel Institute issues the ratings which are based on careful laboratory testing. This scale can be used to choose a product that can be the best for your purpose.

Class I: No foot traffic. Perfect for only walls.

Class II: Light traffic or application for interior walls. Best for spaces where there is soft-soled to normal foot traffic, without scratching dirt; examples are bathrooms and bedrooms without exterior access.

Class III: For light to moderate traffic, and also for walls and countertops. Perfect for areas with regular foot traffic and bits of scratching dirt, thus all rooms of a home, barring entryways, kitchens and spaces with high foot traffic.

Class IV: Moderate to heavy traffic. All spaces in a home, including halls, kitchens and entryways.

Class V: Heavy to extra heavy traffic, and scratching dirt, thus perfect for any room of a home and even commercial spaces.

bathroom floor tile

3. Porosity

Another factor to pay attention to is the porosity of tiles. It’s the ratio of air pockets in a tile to solids. This affects the quantity of water it can absorb. If you are considering moisture-prone spaces like bathroom or kitchen, consider this rating.

Impervious: Water absorption 0.5% or less. So, recommended for bathrooms and kitchens.

Vitreous: 0.5% to 3% water absorption

Semi-vitreous: 3% to 7% water absorption

Non-vitreous: More than 7% water absorption so not recommended for flooring use.

4. Slip Resistance

Most tiles including marble tiles are slippery. A homeowner with children and elderly people in the family should essentially choose the most slip resistant tiles. Especially bathroom floor can become very slippery; so, it’s important to install slip resistant tiles there. For this, you’ll have to consider COF (Coefficient of friction). Also, you should take care to install tiles smaller than 4×4 size and avoid 6×6 or more.

slip resistant floor tile

5. Choose Light Colors to Make the Space Appear Larger

In a room that is not very large or doesn’t receive a lot of natural light, choose tiles with light colors, like cream, beige, sand or white. The best choice would be marble or porcelain/ceramic tiles.

Another factor is size of the tile as larger tiles make a small room look larger. By installing the same materials on walls, you can further add to the illusion of bigger space.

light colored floor tile

6. Budget

Before starting to go through all the materials, patterns and designs, set a budget and try to stay within it so as to choose the best floor tile without being short of money for further renovation.

Considering these pointers can help you choosing just the right flooring tiles for your home to make it beautiful and functional.

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