Ceramic Tiles

[RML]

What in general is the difference in quality between ceramic floor tiles costing $.99 and those costing $$3.99?

Is there a reason to avoid cheaper tiles?

[gfretwell]

It is the grade of the tile. That means the 3.99 tile will be harder and will have better finish. The difference in the hardness will be whether that dropped coffee mug chips a tile or not. Labor and supplies is still going to be the biggest expense, using cheap tile is false economy.

[dpb]

Read the information at

and you'll see some of what is behind price differences and the various tile available (and why there's so much other than just color and size).

The point is to buy tile suited for the purpose. While the differences may not be apparent superficially, in general, the old saw of "get what you pay for" is applicable.

The long term service of the tile you choose may come back to haunt you if you choose poorly.

[HotRdd]

Honestly if you have to ask the answer is probably, NO Difference. Once you've laid a ton of tile you'll really start to notice the difference in quality and finish. Some of the cheap tiles literally look like the pattern has been painted on and then glazed into the tile. Better tiles are harder, wear better have texture and colour that is realistic. Get 1/2 dozen of each price range and ask yourself which ones look better. OR take a trip to your local Home Depot or Rona and look up on the wall, without looking at price walk around and pick six styles that you love.

[gfretwell]

Better to go to a few real tile stores. HD generally will not sell anything better than grade 2 or 3 unless you go to Expo.

[HotRdd]

I was trying to make the point that if they picked a tile based on the look and quality they would soon find out that they are the more expensive tiles. For some reason people always pick the high quality stuff and then after looking at the price convince themselves that all of it looks the same.

[Bill]

If you are laying them yourself, go for good quality flat tiles that have a consistent size. Many very cheap tile deals are seconds and as such they can vary slightly in size, and quite often they have slight twists in them. A good tiler can minimize these faults, but an amateur has no chance.

[Richard J Kinch]

Prices are noisy at Home Depot.

They seem to have very nice porcelain stuff for $1.xx/sf from time to time, and many of the $3.xx/sf choices are very poor.