Flooring tiles

If you are bored with linoleum and vinyl for utility-room floors, try glazed tiles or quarry tiles for a distinctive and practical floor. Quarry tiles are plain, matt-surfaced tiles, but they come in a range of colours and can be arranged in attractive patterns. They will give a permanent and ageless look to any style of room, but are a particularly suitable way of providing a hardwearing, water- and fireproof floor for a kitchen or bathroom.

The weight of the screed and the tiles can create serious weight problems on a timber floor, but it is possible to lay tiles on timber provided the floor is strong.

Before deciding to lay ceramic tiles, consider the following points carefully. Tiles laid on a solid floor will usually raise the floor level by at least 25mm (lin). With suspended wood floors, a concrete base should first be laid. The effect of this is to raise the floor level, usually by at least 63mm (2|in). This means that there will be a small step between the rooms, which can be hazardous; it is advisable to slope the other floor up to the level of the tiles. If the doors open inwards to the room being tiled, the bottom of the door will have to be cut off to allow the door to swing over the tiles. And if you tile a kitchen which has a number of fitted units at working surface level, the addition of tiles on a suspended wood floor will effectively reduce the working surface level by at least 51mm (2in). You can avoid this by removing the units, laying the tiles all over the floor, and then replacing the units on top of the tiles. You could use chipboard instead of tiles under the units to save money and weight, but then you can't move the units later.

The combined weight of the tiles and the cement screed on which they are set is considerable. You must therefore ensure that the floor is sound, that the span of the joists does not exceed approximately 3.6 m (12ft). If it does, it is inadvisable to lay tiles unless the floor is first strengthened.

Glazed ceramic tiles are available in a much larger range of colours, and often have patterns embossed on them. They will make an attractive floor to an entrance hall, or any room where more visual impact is required than can be given by quarry tiles.

Glazed and quarry-tiled floors should last a very long time; quarry tiles in particular are virtually indestructible as there is no glazing or pattern to be worn away. The extra work involved in laying ceramic tiles, rather than other types of floor coverings, is well worth the effort. Both types of tiles have to be fixed firmly on a sound base, or they may come loose or crack; the ideal method is to lay the tiles on a screed of concrete as thick as the tiles themselves and to grout, or fill in

There are numerous tiles to choose from and the price range is wide. Quarry tiles are at the cheaper end of the range. They are made from clay which has been fired but not glazed; the finish is flat but hardwearing. Although other colours are obtainable, the most readily available is red, or reddish brown. The surface is normally smooth, but tiles can be obtained which have a non-slip, ribbed or studded surface .The normal shape for quarry tiles is square, but tiles in hexagonal and octagonal shapes are also on sale. The commonest type of all is the 152mm (6in) square tile, which is mass-produced and therefore constant in size. Some other sizes and shapes are hand-made and may therefore vary slightly in size. Quarry tiles usually have plain square edges, so that they can be fitted edge to edge, or round edges for use where the tiles end, for example in a doorway. Coving is also available. These L-shaped tiles enable you to make internal corners, and so take the tiles a short way up the wall to create a skirting board. The corner is rounded to make it easy to clean the sides of the room.

Glazed tiles are more expensive. They can be obtained in a wide range of colours and the surface may be plain or have a pattern embossed on it. They are usually obtainable in 150 or 200mm (nearest inches equivalent: 6in or 8in) squares, and the thickness varies from 6mm Grin) and 9.5mm (fin) for wall tiles to 13mm Qin) and even 16mm (Ѓin) for floor tiles. Always ensure that you purchase floor tiles and not wall tiles by mistake. Coving and corner pieces are available to match the commoner types of glazed tile. Some manufacturers, however, produce coving and edging strips in a plain colour that matches the background of their patterned tiles.

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