ceramic tile kitchen floor?

[oscer]

We are getting an estimate on a kitchen and the contractor sugested ceramic tile for the floor, he said it is not much more expensive than linoleum anymore. I've never had any experience with ceramic tile flooring and am wondering if there is a down side to getting one.

 

[gotrocks]

I went into the tile business in 1956 and installed both resilent and ceramic. When we built in 1968 we did not put ceramic in the kitchen, because my wife had problems with varicose veins. It may seem that would not make a difference but ceramic is just about the same as working on concrete. Ask some that have that experience.

The other thing to consider, (I had to deal with over the years) is quality of installation. And relplacement, when it is time to redecorate. It's usually much easier to replace resilent covering. And if you drop the jar of pickles on ceramic there is a much higher chance that it will break.

Well, enough rambling. MERRY CHRISTMAS !

 

[hwp]

We have ceramic tile in our kitchen, foyer and bathrooms and are very pleased with it. However, you need a stronger subfloor (a extra layer of plywood) to support the weight and reduce deflection. As a result the finished level of the ceramic tile will be higher than adjacent flooring. Some might consider this a problem. Also, if you choose a light coloured grouting, it will attract dirt and discolour which can be overcome by a good scrubbing with a tile cleaner and a stiff brush. I question the statement that ceramic tile is not much more costly than vinyl flooring - we found good quality ceramic tile to be more than twice the cost of the best vinyl but thought it was worth the difference.

 

[TCBoomer]

Something else to consider is cold feet. Radiant heat will solve that though

Take a look at laminate flooring, there are some that look & feel just like ceramic. I installed it in my kitchen and plan to do the bathrooms in the future

 

[czechsonofagun]

Something else to consider is cold feet. Radiant heat will solve that though

Exactly. No fun to go to get drink in the night and walk over cold floor. Well, I run bare foot in snow, but the rest of the family would complain.

I used cork tiles in the kitchen and we are very happy with it. It feels soft and warm even the floor is over unheated crawl space.

 

[ByronBob]

I love all of my floors. Their all ceramic. Go with it you won't regret it.

 

[pennwalk]

We replaced ceramic with good vinyl mainly because the ceramic tile was pink but we also didn't like how a dropped glass would explode every time. I have already had a glass survive the fall to the vinyl. Also the old floor had several cracked tiles and a couple of chips. There was white under the pink so the chips and cracks stood out. The type of tile we had had rounded edges and that put the grout down in a little valley and it was very hard to clean. From time to time I had to get down with a special hard narrow brush and scrub the grout. Yes , vinyl is much warmer in bare feet. You wouldn't believe how hard the ceramic tile was to take up. One guy went out to get drinks and never came back and I don't think the other guys would ever do it again. All that said ceramic is nicer looking and I think if you get the right stuff it would be easier to clean. Ask about epoxy grout. The installers around here hate it but it is supposed to be easier to clean.

Chris

 

[DocHeb]

I will put in a second for cork flooring. If you look at a single piece, the "wildness" of the "grain" looks too obtrusive, but when the whole floor goes down, it looks like wood flooring. It is warmer than tile to walk on, has some resiliency, can be screened/refinished (if needed), doesn't have grout lines to stain, doesn't show the dirt, won't get flexion cracks, decreases sound reflection, holds up well to typical kitchen moisture, and is easy to put down.

Did I tell you I like my cork floor?

 

[scott_vt]

We are getting an estimate on a kitchen and the contractor sugested ceramic tile for the floor, he said it is not much more expensive than linoleum anymore. I've never had any experience with ceramic tile flooring and am wondering if there is a down side to getting one.

Mornin Oscer,
When I built my house in Ct in 1982, we had ceramic tile installed in our kitchen and both bathrooms. 25 years later it still looks great. It survived my wife and raising two boys The subfloor consists of two sheets of 5/8" plywood glued. The kitchen is a medium brown tile with chocolate colored grout. Other than one small section where I have had some grout chip out it has survived quite well !

The negatives are sometimes cold in the winter, especially if I dont have the woodstove in the basement cranked up enough and as one poster mentioned, glass will shatter when it hits the tile

It has been virtually maintenance free !

 

[EddieWalker]

You didn't mention what type of foundation you curently have or what's on your floor right now?

If a contractor said he could do tile for just a little bit more than linoleum, than he's lying to you, or you have picked out the very highest grade linoleum there is.

Lets pretend your kithchen is 100 square feet for the sake of argument. One sheet of lenoleum will cover this easily and cost you about $100. This is an easy one day job, so glue and labor should run another $200 to $400 depending on your area and your installer.

Cheap tile starts out at a buck a ft, but it's pretty bad in most cases. Nicer tile is gonna be $3 a ft. If you have a wood subfloor, you will need to put cocrete backer board down. Never install floor tile directly to wood. It will buckle in time and either crack or pop out. Backer board is gonna cost you around $80. Thinset and mortor will run another $40. This is a two day job if all goes well, but could be three or even four if the subfloor isn't level or needs some work. I'd guess labor at $400 to $1,000.

Cost for tile will easily be twice as much as linoleum and that's being very conservative. It will probably be three times as much by the time you're done.

Another option is floating a laminate flooring. Patterns and styles vary, but it's not a tough project and allot of do-it-yourselfers put them in all the time. I know a few ladies that have done rooms by themselves. Cost for the laminate will be between linoleum and tile.

Tile will give you the best resale value. It's cold to bare feet and very easy to clean. Light colored grout will stain, so use a darker neutral color.

Linoleum is the cheapest and easiest to install. It has the lowest resale value, but if it's clean and in good shape, won't affect the sale of an entry or midlevel home. Linoleum does tear and is damaged fairly easiliy. Sometimes it's easy to repair, other times there's just no way to fix it. Just moving a fridge can tear ro put waves in it.

Laminate gives you allot of bang for you money, but it needs to be kept dry. Most people don't have wet floors, and they are fine with getting wet for short periods of time, but will buckly and fall apart if flooded.

I have no experience with cork flooring.

From what you posted, I'd find another contractor and get a few more opinions. I think he gave you bad advice to get the job and I don't trust him to do anything else.

Good luck,
Eddie