Frequently Asked Tiling Questions
FAQs
Tiling Advice
You can if your tiles are sound (no cracked or drummy tiles). ARDEX sell a primer that will allow adhesive to stick to other tiles. You will need to confirm with a staff member what area is being tiled for a full product recommendation.
Floor tiles are suitable on both the wall and floor, but the glaze on wall tiles aren’t strong enough for the floor.
As a general rule – Anything that is porcelain can be used for a floor or wall. Most ceramic tiles are wall quality only, or soft shoe only. There are always our helpful staff instore that can show you the difference!
You can use most tiles for a splashback. However, it worth considering the texture and cleaning ability, any small areas (such as under a window), and where the grout lines will fall.
You do not need to seal glazed tiles. It is a good idea to seal full bodied tiles without a glaze and natural stone. Sealing the grout is also recommended.
Click the below link for a great tiling checklist from the Australian Tile Council of things to check before installation
Customer Service
For most tiles, we consolidate all the orders and send them off every Monday morning by 10 a.m. The tiles will arrive here ready for collection by Friday afternoon.
We do this to save on freight, keeping the price low for you. If you need something urgently, we can send in a truck for your order, but there will be an additional charge.
At Tile Warehouse, we do not have “sales”, we keep our prices fair all year round. We do however have clearance items on sale instore from time to time that is always well worth the look.
We are a retail store and unfortunately do not have a team of tilers, however, we do have a list of tilers we see regularly that will be able to help you out. Just follow this link. Find a Tiler
No. You pick up your order from our warehouse which is located just down the driveway from our Showroom.
Our warehouse houses all of our glues, adhesives, tiling tools and accessories, and our Trade section.
Selecting Tiles
When a run of tiles are produced they are given a “batch”, “shade”, or “dye lot” number. Batches can vary depending on a number of things, the humidity on the day they were produced, materials used, dyes used for the glaze etc. As a result, there may be slight differences in coloring and sizes. We recommend having your tiler double check all measurements before ordering to avoid falling short have having to order from a different batch.
Rectified tiles are cut to size and have a straighter edge. These are more true to size (.5mm variation). Cushion edge tiles (pressed tiles) are made out of a mold and can vary a number of millimeters. To account for this wider grout joints are required to allow room for adjustments when laying.
There are many factors that affect costings of tiles. They can be the materials are used, the quality of the glaze, the size of the tile, the country of manufacture, whether it is rectified, and heaps more.
A full bodied tile is a tile that has one colour all the way through the biscuit (base). The colour and pattern you see on the top of the tile is all the way through to the bottom. Full bodied tiles are usually fairly plain with not a lot of pattern. Some full-bodied tiles have a sealer/glaze but most don’t and we would recommend sealing them. A tile with a matched biscuit base has a base colour similar to that of the glaze. These tiles do not require sealing.
Slip resistant tiles aren’t commonly used on a residential bathroom floor. If your bathroom is for commercial use, for disabled use, or needs to comply to certain slip regulations you can use slip resistant tiles. Keep in mind that the more slip resistant your tiles the harder they will be to clean.
- On my bathroom floor? – In most residential bathrooms a Matt or Lappato finish tile is used, these finishes are still easy to clean without being super slippery.
- On my bathroom wall? – Most finishes can be used on a bathroom wall. Gloss, Matt, Lappato and Polished finishes are all commonly used.
- In my living areas? – Matt, Lappato and Polished finishes are commonly used. You can use most finishes in the living areas.
Lappato finish is a semi polished finish.