Eddie,
That looks great! Do you remember what brand/color tile you used?
Thank you. This was a few years ago and I don't remember the brand. Here in Tyler, we have dozens of flooring stores competing with Lowes and Home Depot that are mostly more expensive then the box stores. One is cheaper, and they get a lot of my business. They had this tile, which was new to them. It was 36 inches long and 9 inches wide. Six tile per box, and it was almost too heavy to pick up!!! I'm guessing that I laid around 1,200 square feet of it in their house and of that, I had to break out and replace about a dozen of them. Being that long, some of them would rise, or bend up at the ends over night. The gap is just 1/8th of an inch, so any difference in height was very noticeable. When I told my supplier about the problem, he admitted that they where having the same issue. The only way to make sure they remained flat was to put weight on each end of the tile overnight. I did this with each piece I replaced and never had any more issues.
Nobody who has been in their house realized it was tile. Even when told, they touch it and still doubt that it's tile. It's really nice!!!
I've done some bathroom remodels using other brands and have learned that some is horrible, and other, newer stuff is better.
This picture is from a bathroom that I did just before my parents house. It's about the same sized tile and beautiful looking, but it's surface is so rough that it's very hard to clean. My clients likes it because it was so "not slippery" when walking on it after taking a shower, but the little grooves on the surface trapped dirt that is impossible to get clean.
This is the floor of a job I did over the summer. The tile came from Home Depot and I'm guessing it was around 30 inches long. Maybe less. It went down nicely without any problems, and it looks amazing!!!! It's got enough texture not to be slippery, but smooth enough that it cleans easily.
Tile is one of those things that changes constantly. Whatever you buy, be sure to have a case extra for repairs. Even if you can get the same exact tile that you already have, but it's a year or two later, it will be different. Dies used to create the tile change with each batch made, and the longer apart in time you are from the last batch created, the more difference you will see in the tile. Home Depot and Lowes are constantly updating what they carry. They are at the front edge on what's popular. I always tell my clients to look there first. Then go to the specialty flooring and tile stores to see if we can get a better price, or something similar that they like even better.
Tile is where my clients stress out the most. It's very permanent and there are so many trends that it's easy to get caught up with what's popular right now, and end up with harvest gold toilets. There was a time when that was all the rage, now nobody wants a yellow, gold or brown toilet. The same is true with tile, be careful in not following a fashion trend.
. One thing that we are still debating is hardwood or tile that looks like wood flooring. We have two dogs and a kid on the way. All of which are pretty hard on flooring. The upgrade will cost some $$$, but it might be worth the peace of mind...
