Who here has ceramic tiled floors?

coasterqueen wrote: Ok, we are taking advantage of the low interest rates (again) and doing some refinancing and surprisingly enough when the bank did our house appraisal our house appraised a LOT .... a LOT higher than we ever anticipated. SO we are going to take a little bit extra and do a house project. We have (well I have, Dh would be fine just the way things are ) lots of projects we want to do, but are only going to choose one. I believe we may go with ceramic tiling our kitchen, mudroom and foyer. We do have ceramic tiling in two of our bathrooms and on our bar. Those areas don't get used much so I really haven't been able to get the feel for how ceramic tiling is (cleaning it, etc). These areas we are going to tile are VERY HEAVY traffic areas.

So tell me what you like, dislike, etc about ceramic tiling...PLEASE . Also any tips for managing it easier would be great.

We are trying to decide whether to go with granite or tile on our countertops as well. Anyone have tiled countertops. Dh and I really like the tile look and granite seems to be the norm in most newer houses so we wanted something different. Not sure if we'll get this in the budget or not.

amynicole21 replied: Only problem with tile countertops is it's easier to break them and the grout is a pain to keep clean. But, you can also replace them more easily than if you somehow manage to crack the granite. I like granite tops since you can place hot pans on them - can you do that with tile?

We have WHITE ceramic tile throughout the entire house. OK, so it's really off-white, but it might as well be snow white with the dirt it shows. If you get tile, go with a more earthy color. Every water drop that lands on the floor collects dust instantly and ends up a dirty grey spot.

I also hate that my feet get so gritty when I walk in bare feet on the tile. I guess it's better that way than grinding dirt into a carpet though. Be prepared to sweep daily - especially if you have pets. Ugh.

I love the way it looks, it's just a lot of maintenance. It is much cleaner though.

skinkybaby replied:
She said everything I was going to!

coasterqueen replied:
Thanks Amy. I'm not sure if you can put a hot pan on tile, but I don't do that anyways .

Right now in the areas we are going to replace we have that higher end linoleum stuff so ceramic tile won't be that much different as far as dirt on floor, no sock-issue, and sweeping it.

I think my biggest concern is the grout issue.

We are going to go with a more earthy color, I think. The mud room walls have a terra cotta color on it. The kitchen and foyer have a sage green color on them and then the small area in the living room - those walls are a coffee w/cream and sugar color.

My2Beauties replied: You know Karen I'm having the same issue, we want to re-do our kitchen floors soon and I want tile really bad but I hear bad things about the upkeep, the grout, etc... I'm thinking of opting for laminate flooring that looks like hardwood...it's beautiful and I know from experience (we have real hardwood in the livingroom) that it's sooooo easy to keep clean and you have to sweep about every other day ( I have no pets so take that into account) and mop about once a week. Maybe do a deep deep clean (with like special hardwood treatment) once a month or so. They are very easy to maintain. As far as countertops go, my dad has tile countertops and he has to constantly clean up after hisself because he said the grout stains easily and is hard to keep clean, now I did hear the Mr Clean Magic Eraser does wonders on tile grout, I actually like the "look" of granite on a countertop much better, but if done right and in the right colors tile can be beautiful as well. Good luck and KUP.

amynicole21 replied: As long as you seal the grout really well when it's put down, you shouldn't have a problem. Ours was put in before we bought the house, and they cut a lot of corners. Our taupe grout is basically black now, and I have had to get one of those steam cleaner things and go over every inch of it before sealing it. Still working on that actually. It's time consuming.

coasterqueen replied:
I have heard that. Our friends told us that we should seal it at least once if not twice before we ever take one step on it. We are going to have it professionally done and so I'll have to remind them of that.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Grout is a pain sometimes, but it depends on what kind. I'd go for a darker color grout, but be aware that even with the darker colors over the course of time the grout will get darker in spots where there is heaver traffic. It's not because it's dirty, it's just because of the traffic...no matter if it's dirty traffic or clean traffic. We have a very light grey grout and there aren't any stains whatsoever so far because we sealed the heck out of it (occassionally I go over parts still with the sealer, and actually you are suppose to reseal it every 4 years or so), but I can tell where the traffic is heaviest. It doesn't look perfect, but it just looks weathered so it still looks really nice. We get complements on it all the time.

Our tile itself is a taupe and grey mix, but it's on the lighter side. It does show A LOT, but I also do not allow shoes in my home or anything so that keeps the floor pretty clean. I sweep a lot, but rarely have to wash it. If I do have to wash it, it's more because of the kids dropping something on the floor.

I've never had tile countertops, but I wouldn't want them. With all the things that are spilled on the countertops and such, I wouldn't want to deal with the upkeep. I'd go for granite personally.

If you go with the hardwood floor-looking laminate, make sure you do not leave standing water or else it will peel. My parent's have that and it looks really nice.

We have a friend who has vinyl tile and looks like ceramic that I really like. They make really nice durable stuff now a days that look really stone-like.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Just also want to add that if you want to decide also based on a money saving factor, we did our ceramic tile ourselves and we paid only about $500-$600 for both our dining and kitchen combined for all the materials. You'd have to ask Troy about the square footage because I have no idea what it comes to be, but people are usually amazed at how little we spent for what we did to the rooms. Paying someone to do tile you are looking to pay a couple arm and a leg. It's VERY time consuming!

luvmykids replied: I don't have much to add, other than DO NOT GET WHITE TILE Mine is white in my kitchen, hallway and some of the dining room and like Amy said every little bit of dust or water shows. I think white shows streaks more too.

I want to have the grout redone with this stuff http://www.groutbusters.com/. Whatever you do, ask for a silicone sealant as it's supposed to really repel dirt and stains.

I had tiled counters in my last kitchen and hated it. Just too easy for stuff to collect in the grout on a day to day basis.

A&A'smommy replied: I don't personally have ceramic tile by my MIL does and I LOVE it!!!!! Its really easy to clean. My MIL has said that she really likes it and there isn't anything she doesn't like about

lovemy2 replied: The very BEST decision we ever made when we redid our kitchen/foyer/powder room flooring (and believe me it is alot of flooring) was to NOT go with ceramic tile - we chose the laminate flooring and I can honestly tell you it looks EXACTLY like ceramic tiles - most people who come into our house are amazed at how good our "ceramic" floors look! And believe me - laminate is FABULOUS - there is virtually no maintainence to it - damp mop, wipe up spills, etc. it maintains its shine and you can drop a dump truck on it and it does no damage to it at all - plus the ebst thing - NO GROUT TO CLEAN so I strongly suggest when you go to look at the ceramic you inquire about the laminate as well!! Good luck!

luvmykids replied: Christine reminded me....I have several cracked tiles due to something getting dropped on them. They're sturdy for every day but there are things that will crack your tile....I can't remember what did it, I think one was when DH dropped a screwdriver and once was something the kids dropped, the other three or four I have no idea

moped replied: I will tell you that I wouldn't do the kitchen in ceramic personally......and I got shin splints in Palm Springs from it
And the grooves collect dirt and Roomba would have a tough time in those. Boot room and smaller areas might be ok.
I had it in our other house and am so glad I don't have it here - jsut hardwood.

lovemy2 replied:
Oh Yeah - that too - ceramic is COLD and very uncomfortable to stand on - laminate gives and moves - they actually call it a floating floor - it is made to expand and contract with heat and cold - in fact you can actually feel it give when you walk on it - not in the way you think but you actually feel like you are walking on something squishy

DVFlyer replied: We have a porcelain (ceramic?) tile that looks like stone. I like it, but we did not seal the grout and I regret it. We chose a dark brown grout that, after it was put down, was lighter than we wanted.

Also, the non-real stone is very slippery when wet.

I do not like laminate floors for a reason mentioned above. Unless it's carpet, I don't like a floor to "give" while I'm walking on it. That makes it feel cheap to me. I have never been on a laminate wood floor that I thought felt solid.

coasterqueen replied:
I will mention the laminate to DH. I HOPE that if we go with ceramic that we are getting the floor heating system put in too.

coasterqueen replied:
I have to admit I feel the same way. Several of our family members have laminate hardwood looking floors and they feel funny walking on them and feel cheap. They look nice, though.

Our Lil' Family replied: I didn't read all the responses so sorry if I duplicate.
My recommendations if you go with ceramic:
Porcelain!!! My mom has it and I love it...I just have cheap contractor grade ceramic and it's very porous which means dirt finds all the little crannies to hide in.
Dark grout.....when you mop ceramic, the grout ends up holding in some moisture so then it starts to kinda mildew I guess, it gets nasty. You can bleach it, which we've done...even though we did seal the grout, but it was 6 years ago.

As for the counter tops, I recommend granite, slab if you can afford it, or you can get granite tile for cheaper. Same problems with the grout on the floor leads to the problems on the counter tops.

Just my $.02

coasterqueen replied:
You know Dh and I were talking at lunch, and I didn't realize that the tile we put in our basement bathroom is actually porcelain. Dh said that the porcelain we have downstairs is much better than the ceramic grade tile we have in the girls bathroom. So we are going to look at that for the kitchen for sure.

I think we are realizing that we probably won't like tile on the counters. I think we are going to look at granite and corian.

Calimama replied:
You can go to a granite store and see if they have any selections in the back that are either extra's or canceled orders. They might have a slab that fits your kitchen perfectly and it's usually discounted.

Our Lil' Family replied: Karen, check out Quartz too....looks JUST like granite but I actually kinda like it better.

coasterqueen replied:
Yes, Ryan mentioned that as well. I forgot about that one.

Teesa®© replied: We have white ceramic tile in the kitchen, both bathrooms, the foyer and beige ceramic tile in the basement hallway.

I love it and I don't like it. It's pretty easy to clean and when ours was put down, the grout was cement. Not sure what it's normally made of. Even that's pretty easy to clean, but it's still a bit of a dip in between the tiles, so mopping is pretty useless. All it does is push the dirt into the grout. This is why I hand mop and when I do the tiles, I do them individually.

Anything with spaghetti or tomato sauce stains it pretty good - the grout, not the tile - , though, even if you get it right away. I pour bleach onto it and let it soak for a bit and then scrub with a scrub brush.

The tiles are pretty cool, but really cold in the kitchen, but it's above our garage which isn't heated. It's worse than a cold toilet seat first thing in the morning

Jackie012007 replied: we have beige tiling in our kitchen... I dunno where you live but our tile gets COLD during the winter. We keep the dog's bowl in there and have to put down a towel for him to sit on while he eats!

I would definitely go with a beige color - our floor shows hardly any dirt. But if you drop a plate or bowl (even if its "break-resistant"), kiss it goodbye. It will shatter into a bajillion pieces!!

I just use a swiffer wet jet to clean mine.

DVFlyer replied:
Cracked tiles are usually an indication of poor installation. Chipped tiles are a different story.

DVFlyer replied: We put Corian on our counter tops because a friend is an installer and we got a deal. Otherwise, we would have gone with granite. The main benefit I see to granite is the fact you can put a hot pot on it. Other benefits are offset by disadvantages which make other surface types about equal.

Quartz is a good option, although the only kitchen I saw with quartz didn't look very good. I think it was the color.

Boys r us replied: Hey Karen, I haven't read any of the other responses..so if I'm repeating, sorry!

I would DEFINITELY go granite and then a tile backsplash and you can make some sort of square design behind the cooktop with a darker tile. I think that looks fabulous! I have to say DON'T tile the counter top!

As for the tile floor, I prefer hardwood in the kitchen..if you drop anything on a tile floor..it's gone for sure! But a less hard surface like hardwood will give it some hope of not breaking!

My advice no matter where you decide to put tile, it is well worth the investment to use the new stain resistant grout. It's actually waterproof, which prevents the tile from absorbing anything. You would be AMAZED how NASTY the grout will get if you don't b/c even if you mop a gazillion times a day, your mop won't clean the grout and even the water or cleaning solution from mopping will seep in and stain the grout! Price wise, it is more expensive, but worth every penny. Let's say the grout would cost $20 for normal grout, this stain resistant will cost $100..but if don't take any of my other advice, take this!!!