Am I going to regret putting in tile floors???

[KIN]

We are replacing the old vinyl flooring everywhere on our first floor except the living room. Wood was my first choice, but we have wood cabinets, wood trim, wood doors, and the wood flooring just didn't work in any color or style. We've decided to go with tile flooring. Are there any negatives to it besides being cold and having everything shatter when it drops?

[Denisemomof4]

people LOVE tile. I love all the new styles. Installed right, it will last forever.

 

I just can't do tile anywhere. We have mostly wood downstairs and some vinyl. Tile *kills* my problem feet. When I visited my parents in AZ, I was in severe pain for about two weeks from walking around on the tile flooring - in my shoes! I'm not sure why the wood doesn't bother me as much, but I simply can NOT do tile.

 

If I didn't have severe foot pain, I'd love to get some.

[catz]

people LOVE tile. I love all the new styles. Installed right, it will last forever.

 

I just can't do tile anywhere. We have mostly wood downstairs and some vinyl. Tile *kills* my problem feet. When I visited my parents in AZ, I was in severe pain for about two weeks from walking around on the tile flooring - in my shoes! I'm not sure why the wood doesn't bother me as much, but I simply can NOT do tile.

 

If I didn't have severe foot pain, I'd love to get some.

 

We have all hard floors - wood and tile. I have foot pain if I walk around barefoot on them all the time. I love our hard floors though! I'd recommend investing in a good pair of hard soled slippers. Maybe a pair of slip on sandals when it's warmer. That makes all the difference to me!

 

I love these ...

http://www.rei.com/product/803180

They are expensive, but I've found them cheaper at sierra trading at times. Considering the hours I spend wearing them, it's worth it!

[TX Bluebonnet]

All of our flooring is either tile or wood. The wood has dents all over but dh says that add character. The tile looks great everywhere except for the kitchen. The grout in the kitchen is pretty dirty and I can't get it clean no matter what. I've tried bleach, vinegar and baking soda, scrubbing with a brush and it's still yucky.

 

In our next house we plan to have stained concrete. I love the way it looks and it has no grout lines!

 

As previously mentioned you will want to wear shoes on the hard floors or you will end up with foot pain.

[Sherry in OH]

Choose a colored grout. We had white grout in our bathroom. The grout looked dirty even when freshly scrubbed.

[Meriwether]

All of our flooring is either tile or wood. The wood has dents all over but dh says that add character. The tile looks great everywhere except for the kitchen. The grout in the kitchen is pretty dirty and I can't get it clean no matter what. I've tried bleach, vinegar and baking soda, scrubbing with a brush and it's still yucky.

 

In our next house we plan to have stained concrete. I love the way it looks and it has no grout lines!

 

As previously mentioned you will want to wear shoes on the hard floors or you will end up with foot pain.

 

At our previous house the grout and tile were "very" dirty. The tile was - rough, for lack of a better description. There was dirt in the pits and against the jagged edges. I spent 30 hours scrubbing the floor when we first moved in. I finally realized the previous owner had sealed the tile without cleaning the floor. The dirt on the tiles was grout.:glare: If I was going to install tile flooring, I would get one of the smooth tiles, used a dark grout, and make sure it was clean before sealing it.

 

I do love tile flooring, but I'm partial to wood.

[Dobela]

ASk which is strongest for the most daily wear. Some tiles break easier than others. I can't remember what type it was, but my parents put in something because it was less expensive but by the time the tiles broke and they had to replace the floor, it wasn't so cheap after all.

 

Try to stay away from trendy colors or designs and patterns that will date the tile sooner.

 

Even after being sealed the grout lines can stain and look dirty. In addition, I hate sweeping our tile. The dirt just goes into the grout grooves. Swiffers and such don't work either.

[Medieval Mom]

It hurts a LOT more when little people fall.

 

Some tile floors are available WITHOUT grout-- just tile against tile. My dh's parents had this, and it was a beautiful floor to clean. (Just DON'T fall!) ;)

[TX Bluebonnet]

At our previous house the grout and tile were "very" dirty. The tile was - rough, for lack of a better description. There was dirt in the pits and against the jagged edges. I spent 30 hours scrubbing the floor when we first moved in. I finally realized the previous owner had sealed the tile without cleaning the floor. The dirt on the tiles was grout.:glare: If I was going to install tile flooring, I would get one of the smooth tiles, used a dark grout, and make sure it was clean before sealing it.

 

I do love tile flooring, but I'm partial to wood.

 

That is the kind of tile we have. It's really pretty but so hard to clean. My dh installed it so I know it was clean before he sealed it.

 

30 hours scrubbing? I would want to hurt the person who did that! lol.

[bookfiend]

I would never get it because I used to stand on a tile floor in the kitchen and more than just my feet ached. After a day on that floor, my entire leg throbbed.

 

However, we do have tile bathroom, and I wanted to let you know there is a new expoxy style grout that claims to be impervious to mold, mildew and dirt.

[Hen]

we have tile in our kitchen/dining room- it's a big area. I love the look, my only grudge is cleaning the grout. I hate the grout, it's a colored grout too, but still always looks dirty to me..let's face it- 5 kids running around, I'm busy..it is dirty.

 

I am trying to talk dh to put in stained concrete instead, that is my dream..no grout. He put the tile in himself about 6 years ago, so I'm hoping soon it won't be such a personal hurt to make him tear it up and put in the concrete. I'm thinking/hoping that next year I can start bugging him:D

[Alyce]

First they're very hard on the feet and as others have said the tile is hard clean. We looked at hardwood but it we just had too much brown and thought it would back the kitchen look too dark. Have you considered linoleum. We found some that looks just like tile and has padding on the back. It is very smooth and cleans well plus it's comfortable to stand on. If you saw it and even walked on it you'd never guess it wasn't tile unless you bent down and touched it. Mine is in various shades of light brown. My sisters is black and white squares.

[Denisemomof4]

First they're very hard on the feet and as others have said the tile is hard clean. We looked at hardwood but it we just had too much brown and thought it would back the kitchen look too dark. Have you considered linoleum. We found some that looks just like tile and has padding on the back. It is very smooth and cleans well plus it's comfortable to stand on. If you saw it and even walked on it you'd never guess it wasn't tile unless you bent down and touched it. Mine is in various shades of light brown. My sisters is black and white squares.

 

I've had people comment on my pretty tile. I love that they have little grout imperfections to make the vinyl look realistic.

[Liz CA]

Yes, the texture has a lot to do with ease of cleaning.

If you choose glazed tile, it should clean well.

 

I love tile and will soon have the entire house tiled except the bedrooms and the upstairs loft which has pergo.

[unity]

for my kitchen/foyer/hallway area and it has been a disaster. It cracks so easily. If I drop a heavy plate, the plate AND the tile will both break. There are so many broken tiles on my 2-year old floor that the whole thing would need to be redone to look right. It cleans up fine but it's hard to make a broken tile look good, kwim?

 

I remember looking at numbers of brittleness but I don't think I accurately predicted how hard a family with 5 kids would be on a tile kitchen floor.

 

If I had it to do again I might choose either hardwood or make sure I got a tile with the highest hardness number possible.

 

And no, it's not that it was installed incorrectly. The subfloor or whatever was above standard.

 

Just saying that expensive does not always mean better for a family. Look at those numbers!

[Rhonda in TX]

We have tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. We have porcelain tile in the kitchen. It is a very hard tile that will not break easily, and its pattern/color goes all the way through. So, if it does chip, it won't show much.

 

Pick a tile that will hide dirt. Our house had a white tile floor when we moved in. Hated. it.

 

A lot of people have mentioned their feet hurting, but that only happens to me if I'm standing in the kitchen all day (days like Thanksgiving, etc.). Wearing shoes makes a huge difference.

[QuirkyKapers]

I have tile in the kitchen and hallways. I love it! The grout color that I choose was a grey color. I never thought about that white would look dirty all the time. I love that it is so easy to clean. We had vinyl flooring before this and I thought it always looked dirty even if I had just cleaned it.

[NanceXToo]

I love the tile floor in my kitchen (except for when I walk in there barefoot on a cold day... brr!)

 

I don't know that I'd want it in other rooms of the house though. I've got tile in the kitchen and the half bath which is right off of the kitchen, hardwood in the computer room/den and carpet in the living room/stairs/halls/bedrooms.

 

The upstairs bathroom is still nasty old linoleum though, I wouldn't mind doing tile in there one of these days!

[DarcyB]

I do. Granted, we picked a cheap tile, we didn't get our floor as level as we thought we had, the installation was a nightmare, and now I hate my floor. There are cracked tiles in quite a few places that we can't replace. The tile, itself was textured, so sweeping is a nightmare because I can never get it all up. Our house shifted a bit a couple of summers ago due to some extreme drought conditions and being on clay soil, so there are cracks in grout that we have to figure out how to repair. I wish wish wish we'd either put down some good quality vinyl or wood laminate.

 

But DH doesn't see any of those issues (that or he's really ignoring them hard so that he doesn't have to look at removing said tile as getting out the old vinyl was so hard, and then doing something else to replace it all.....I think that's probably it).

[Tammyla]

It's hard to stand on and cold, but very easy to clean.

[Brigitte]

We had tile in the kitchen in our last house. I can't say I will ever have it again. It looks nice and I didn't find it all that hard to keep clean. BUT, my feet are always cold and the tile made them absolutely frigid. I had to wear hard soled shoes all the time, instead of just my usual wool socks.

[Tammyla]

:iagree: We have hardwood in the kitchen and tile in the foyer/entry way. When we first moved in I wished for more tile, but grew thankful for the wood and carpeting as time went on.

 

We had tile in the kitchen in our last house. I can't say I will ever have it again. It looks nice and I didn't find it all that hard to keep clean. BUT, my feet are always cold and the tile made them absolutely frigid. I had to wear hard soled shoes all the time, instead of just my usual wool socks.

[Meriwether]

That is the kind of tile we have. It's really pretty but so hard to clean. My dh installed it so I know it was clean before he sealed it.

 

30 hours scrubbing? I would want to hurt the person who did that! lol.

 

 

All the dirt was hard to get up, but I am convinced some of it was grout. I was able to get a lot of dirt up, but there were some spots that nothing would get up - 4 or 5 different kinds of cleaners, scrubbing, soaking, scraping. After awhile I noticed that the spots had that wouldn't come clean had a shiny coat over them.

[Soror]

We have tile in the bedroom and bathrooms. I really like ours, it doesn't really seem to break easily, although I have broke plenty of things on it. I even dropped a cast iron skillet from 6 ft high, broke the handle on th pan but nothing on the tile. It doesn't hurt me to stand at all. It is cooler but so is the hardwood, I wear flipflops or slippers in the house though(depending on the weather/temp). Definitely go w/ dark grout. I thought I picked out dark enough grout for the kitchen but it still doesn't hide everything.

[Laura Corin]

We had tile in our last kitchen and really loved it. We have tile in the utility room now (with a dark coloured grout) and although I don't like the tiles themselves, I think it works well.

 

Laura

[mcconnellboys]

When people fall on it, they can get broken, too.....

[DarlaS]

Have you considered cork flooring? It often looks like wood, but comes in other colors & patterns as well.

 

I think it's pricier even than (some) tile though. Also can't be wet mopped. Some people love it though.

 

In our kitchen, I'm planning on going with a vinyl that looks like tile and is cheap. I figure at least that way if I have to replace it in a few years, I'm not out so much money.

[timzwyf]

I just moved from a house that had tile throughout the entire house. I hated it. The white tile showed every spot of dirt but the worst was the noise! We tried area rugs, curtains.....I even hung quilts on the wall.

 

Our house now has tile downstairs and carpet upstairs. Its better but I plan to put in carpet next year and keep tile in the kitchen and the entry way.

 

This tile did help keep things cooler in the summer but it was cold in the winter.

 

Personally, I feel that tile is alot more work than carpet. You have to sweep and then mop.....and hope the kids don't come running through it while its drying. I tried to save mopping until have the kids went to bed but by the time I got them in bed, I was tired too.

 

People have very opposing views I'm sure. I had people tell me I was going to LOVE my tile floors. The opposite was true. And by the way, Pyrex doesn't shatter when it hits tile....it EXPLODES. I was actually cut once by "shrapnel".

 

Just my 2 cents,

Stephanie