Purchasing Tips for Buying Tiles and Glass Tiles

To prepare for your project, the first thing you’ll need to do is measure the area where you will be installing tile. After getting floor and/or wall measurements, it’s best to add 10% to the total square footage to allow for waste that happens when you have to cut around toilets, light switches and other unusual shaped spaces. Also, if you’ve never installed tile before, you will make mistakes and accidentally break a few tiles. You also want to have extra tile on hand for future tile replacement in case a tile becomes damaged. Tiles are very durable but dropping a heavy sharp object on them can break them.

You can purchase tiles separately or on sheets where tiles are glued onto a sturdy backing that makes it easy to align the tiles quickly as you put them in place. You would want to purchase the tiles separately when planning to create a mosaic or other intricate design of your own choosing to have limitless creative design possibilities. But for most projects like a kitchen wall or backsplash or a bathroom floor or shower wall, tile is purchased by the sheet.

This is not to say that you have to settle for boring plain walls when you choose to purchase tile sheets. You can arrange and cut the sheets to make a huge number of interesting geometric patterns and multi-color custom designs of your own.

Tile comes in all sorts of colors, textures, finishes, shapes and sizes so set your imagination free and you will come up with a one of a kind wall or floor design.

You can choose several colors that coordinate with the rest of your room or if you are completely starting from scratch, you can add bright fun colors or peaceful cool colors to any living area. The look and feel of your room will be determined by the color combinations you pick.

In addition to using multiple colors to create a unique pattern, you can also mix and match tile materials. Some examples might be to combine glass and metal tile in the same project for a classical look or you might want to include stone and wood tile in one project for a rustic affect.

An important thing to remember is to buy all the tile you think you will need at one time to avoid getting tile with a different hue or color shade that sometimes happens when purchasing from two separate tile lots.

When buying tiles, consider what color grout you want to show between each tile. White grout is the most common but to make a design pop, you might to consider black or another color.

We recommend getting a sample of the tile you are thinking of purchasing. This way you can see exactly what they will look like along with other room elements. It’s far better to take the time to view a few samples and take your time choosing the right one that wishing you had chosen a different tile after the project is underway.