Wood Effect Floor Tiles

rampantbunny

I'm in a house at the moment where floorboards creak no end so I'm strongly considering tiles for bedrooms in new house.

Apart from the creaking, from what I hear, UFH in bedrooms would perform better with a tile, rather than underlay and wood.

Two questions really:

1. Has anyone installed tiles in their bedrooms, with UFH..
2. Has anyone installed wood effect tiles (in any room) - how realistic are they?

BarneyMc

I'm going to lay laminate floors throughout. This would be much warmer (when UFH not on) than tiles. I saw the wood effect tiles and initially liked them. On reflection I turned off them and think they would bug me. Anyway that's my thoughts RB.

rampantbunny

BarneyMc wrote: »

I'm going to lay laminate floors throughout. This would be much warmer (when UFH not on) than tiles. I saw the wood effect tiles and initially liked them. On reflection I turned off them and think they would bug me. Anyway that's my thoughts RB.

Just out of interest, what thickness have you allowed for flooring including underlay Barney?

BarneyMc

rampantbunny wrote: »

Just out of interest, what thickness have you allowed for flooring including underlay Barney?

15mm in total RB and that's the same for laminate and tiles..

Laminate (12mm + 3mm underlay)
Tiles (10mm + 5mm adhesive)

I think I've got these makeups right but it's 15mm in total either way (there's a 8mm laminate but I won't be using that... well maybe in bedrooms).

rampantbunny

BarneyMc wrote: »

15mm in total RB and that's the same for laminate and tiles..

Laminate (12mm + 3mm underlay)
Tiles (10mm + 5mm adhesive)

I think I've got these makeups right but it's 15mm in total either way (there's a 8mm laminate but I won't be using that... well maybe in bedrooms).

Thanks...working from same figures here.

Stoner

I popped them in my porch last month , happy with them, sliced them in half and used them for skirting too.

Three months ago I had amtico oak effect tiles installed in my kitchen and hall. Very happy with it . Far warmer than tiles

kev1.3s

As a ceramic tiler I've used various timber effect tiles, some are awful and some are wonderful it all depends on you're budget. They are something that are coming into fashion and as a result there is quite a good selection of tiles available now.

rampantbunny

Stoner wrote: »

I popped them in my porch last month , happy with them, sliced them in if and use them for skirting too.

Three months ago I had amtico oak effect tiles installed in my kitchen and hall. Very happy with it . Far warmer than tiles

Thanks for the reference stoner.
Any chance of a few pics when you have time (of hall/kitchen)?
I'll have to see them in the flesh myself, but when you say far warmer than tiles, are they still porcelain, but with a rougher surface?

Can you remember the thickness of tiles?

rampantbunny

kev1.3s wrote: »

As a ceramic tiler I've used various timber effect tiles, some are awful and some are wonderful it all depends on you're budget. They are something that are coming into fashion and as a result there is quite a good selection of tiles available now.

Would you be able to PM me names of some you'd consider wonderful Kev?
What thickness tile are we looking at usually or do they vary much.
I've to decide screed levels soon so choice of floor finish will have knock on effect.

BarneyMc

rampantbunny wrote: »

Thanks for the reference stoner.
Any chance of a few pics when you have time (of hall/kitchen)?

+1 pics would be great!

rampantbunny

Stoner wrote: »

I popped them in my porch last month , happy with them, sliced them in if and use them for skirting too.

Three months ago I had amtico oak effect tiles installed in my kitchen and hall. Very happy with it . Far warmer than tiles

rampantbunny wrote: »

Thanks for the reference stoner.
Any chance of a few pics when you have time (of hall/kitchen)?
I'll have to see them in the flesh myself, but when you say far warmer than tiles, are they still porcelain, but with a rougher surface?

Can you remember the thickness of tiles?

Just had a quick look at some Amtico tiles...they're not porcelain right? 5mm thickness, and a picture shows them bending so presuming they are plastic type (linoleum-ish) material. Not being a snob, but I'd prefer porcelain.
A 5mm thick floor, if it were ever to be replaced would be a hassle I'd think as wooden or porcelain tiled materials would be 10mm +.

BarneyMc

kev1.3s wrote: »

As a ceramic tiler I've used various timber effect tiles, some are awful and some are wonderful it all depends on you're budget. They are something that are coming into fashion and as a result there is quite a good selection of tiles available now.

Could be the future but could also be a fad :pac:

stickybookmark

I'm going for the wood affect tiles in a lot of my house: the sitting room, and all the bedrooms. There's a very big selection of them available now and they are getting more and more wood-looking I think

BarneyMc

stickybookmark wrote: »

I'm going for the wood affect tiles in a lot of my house: the sitting room, and all the bedrooms. There's a very big selection of them available now and they are getting more and more wood-looking I think

Interested to know why you'd prefer tiles in bedrooms over laminate. Surely tiles are much more expensive?

rampantbunny

stickybookmark wrote: »

I'm going for the wood affect tiles in a lot of my house: the sitting room, and all the bedrooms. There's a very big selection of them available now and they are getting more and more wood-looking I think

Wood-effect? What is the base material for these tiles, actual porcelain or other?

stickybookmark

rampantbunny wrote: »

Wood-effect? What is the base material for these tiles, actual porcelain or other?

12mm porcelain tiles that look like wood

stickybookmark

BarneyMc wrote: »

Interested to know why you'd prefer tiles in bedrooms over laminate. Surely tiles are much more expensive?

Coz I have UF heating

rampantbunny

stickybookmark wrote: »

12mm porcelain tiles that look like wood

Any chance you could PM me a link?

Is your floor 12mm tile and 5mm adhesive?

stickybookmark

rampantbunny wrote: »

Any chance you could PM me a link?

Is your floor 12mm tile and 5mm adhesive?

I haven't picked which tile or purchased yet. I intend to put 12mm porcelain wood affect tiles in the bedrooms and sitting room. There are heaps of different types if you just go to any tile shop. They are very common these days.
Was just checking there and I've only allowed 3mm for grout under the tile. I must have got that figure from the builder.

rampantbunny

stickybookmark wrote: »

I haven't picked which tile or purchased yet. I intend to put 12mm porcelain wood affect tiles in the bedrooms and sitting room. There are heaps of different types if you just go to any tile shop. They are very common these days.
Was just checking there and I've only allowed 3mm for grout under the tile. I must have got that figure from the builder.

I'm not an expert but 3mm sounds very lean.
Are you going with a flo screed product? Again, no expert, but I imagine it would have less undulations than a sand/cement screed due to it being better at self leveling, so maybe 3mm is fine.

stickybookmark

rampantbunny wrote: »

I'm not an expert but 3mm sounds very lean.
Are you going with a flo screed product? Again, no expert, but I imagine it would have less undulations than a sand/cement screed due to it being better at self leveling, so maybe 3mm is fine.

My GF is poured, FF being poured next week. AFAIK it's just standard sand and cement screed

Stoner

Amtico flooring is the real deal, 20 year industrial guarantee. Its not about being a snob I could have bought tiles for a lot less saved myself money. We paid about 7K on ours, I'll get you a picture. I got them for the easy cleaning surface, superior grip and huge warranty. The guys used levelling compound on my old tiles then laid the other tiles over them.

Being slim is the only thing this shared with lino. You can get custom boarders and designs

There are cheaper versions of the tiles , even Amtico have a specia product. We went for the signature range, as its made in England not China and the saving was not enough to cover the longer guarantee and the thicker wear layer on the signiture range, we read a lot of reviews on it and made that decision. If you can see past the slim tile there are about four layers of material on each tile, it is very well manufactured and it does not have an equivalent

The floor I have will see me out , I won't need to change it. My sisters friend has it for 25 years in her kitchen and it still looks as good as it did on day one.

Apparently getting a professional to install it is the key, there are some expensive hidden costs that can be frustrating when they stack up, like the boarders, adhesive and resurfacing.

Also if it's a new build the concrete needs to have dried for 8 weeks or you add more product and cost to install it straight sway.

Overall I'm very happy with it. It's pricey so I went for the best in the range as it was going to be expensive anyway and it was a dirty job (the screed) so I made sure it would only need to be done once.