Your personal opinion on a tiled lounge + kitchen, please

[poopong]

I'd like to know what people think of a tiled floor (compared to a carpet) in a modern two bedroom house. I'm considering tiling downstairs, from the lounge straight through into the kitchen. My colour scheme is very neutral (almond white walls, and brilliant white woodwork), and upstairs I have varnished floorboards. The stairs are a combination of varnished treads and painted risers.

I'm looking for personal opinions here. What colour and type of tile would you suggest? Room sizes are not large and I'd prefer to use the same tiles straight through between lounge and kitchen (is this a good idea?). Maybe you think tiled floors for my house would be a bad idea, and if so please let me know.

Finally, I'm wondering about finishing the edges. Would most people agree that butting right up to the skirting is a bad idea, and favour a grouting gap instead? I did consider removing the skirting to lay the tiles, but I've done that before on plasterboard finished boards, and I know what a mess it can make of the walls. If I leave the skirting in place, I presume I should tile the floor before I do the gloss work.

 

[Deluks]

Good in warmer climates, not so good in this country with our cold winters. Plus not very cosy is it, having a tiled living room.
Carpet, laminate or timber much more homely.
Plus tiles are a hard surface and will make your house feel noisy and echo-ey, hard floors upstairs just makes this worse.

Definitely tile the kitchen, timber floor in dining areas and carpet or big rug over timber in living areas.

 

[poopong]

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

I personally like the idea of a tiled lounge with rugs - especially if it could run straight through the house and into the kitchen - but I know that won't be to everyone's taste. I know that many people like (or have) laminate flooring and I wonder how that is so different from tiles.

 

[ajrobb]

A tiled solid floor combined with underfloor heating has been a good choice since Roman times. Personally, without underfloor heating I wouldn't want it. Underfloor heating lowers the return temperature, making condensing boilers more efficient. Also underfloor heating gives better comfort at lower room temperatures.

I prefer to replace the skirting boards to cover up the gap between flooring and walls.

 

[Deluks]

*duplicate post*

 

[Deluks]

Taking on AJ's comments, UF is good, but depending the existing floor structure, could work out expensive doing an entire ground floor. You may need to overboard it all with ply if it's currently a suspended timber floor, if you want wet UFH it's expensive to install, and electric more expensive to run. Plus you will need insulation under it all.

 

[ajrobb]

Taking on AJ's comments, UF is good, but depending the existing floor structure, could work out expensive doing an entire ground floor. You may need to overboard it all with ply if it's currently a suspended timber floor, if you want wet UFH it's expensive to install, and electric more expensive to run. Plus you will need insulation under it all.

All fair points. The OP was "looking for personal opinions". Your points + my personal opinion probably explain why I don't have tiling oven my entire ground floor.

However, IF gas (or even solar) powered UFH is installed over an insulated slab, then tiling could be great. Soft furnishings should help with noise.

Ask an Estate Agent, but maybe a tiled floor (like anything unusual) might be more difficult to sell.

Getting back to the OP questions: Depending on the lighting levels, I'd opt for a light coloured marble with smaller windows but darker earth tones with larger windows. I think glossy tiles look fabulous but can be slippery.

 

[thefloorguy]

Two other options you may or may not like :

Laminate tiles (quickstep Quadra range)- not so cold and hard as real tiles but maybe not as nice looking ?

Vinyl - Some of them like Karndean (karndean.com / vinyls2go.ccon)are very good and being vinyl dont have quite the same cold feeling.

These are not for everyone but an alternative if thats any help.

Think the other guys here have summed up everything else very well

 

[looneyfitter]

My friend has tiled right the way throught his 3 bed apartment and ive got to say, i hate it. Feels very cold on the tutsies....

You have also gota consider noise dampening too. I think the heating issue would be made alot better with UFH

 

[leaf]

I have to say I tiled the whole of my downstairs & my upstairs bathroom 5 years ago & till today, had no regrets. I didn't have underfloor heating & it isn't as cold as many thought it would be cause my house is properly insulated. I have rugs in the sitting area for extra comfort. It may be strange in this country but in Europe or Canada, it's not uncommon.

The whole reason I did it was cause I wanted flooring that is easy to maintain & clean since I am way too busy. Guests don't need to take off their shoes as it is not so convenient especially in winters. When friends come over, my porch/hallway area are no more overfilled with shoes. I don't worry about scratches if it were laminate or stains if it were carpet. Dirt, grime & spills can be easily mopped away. Well, it just makes my house easier to clean now. I did have one tile cracked though but there is always spare tiles left over.

I think white tiles is the best for lounge/living area. You can easily match any type of furnitures with light coloured tiles. Grey coloured grout is ideal I would think especially in kitchens & bathrooms.

Lastly, you only get echos if you don't have furnitures in your house.

 

[sxhall]

If your not thinking of selling up for some time then go for it. It's your place after all.

If your going to sell up soonish it will alienate a lot of potential buyers especially any with kids (or thinking of having them). From experience the comments on noise ring true, loudly, though.