How to Choose the Best Tile for Your Home

Whether you are building a brand new house or you are remodeling your current house (or even considering remodeling,) when it comes to tile, make sure you know the facts before diving into a big project.

Here at Hodorowski Homes we deal with many different quality suppliers and vendors to make our homes look as amazing as they do.  We work exclusively with Best Tile in our selections show room. Best Tile is located on Central Avenue in Colonie, New York.  If you are not from the Capital District, Best Tile has nine different locations all over the East Coast. (Check out their website to locate a store near you.)  We sent our selections coordinator to speak with Karen Bernstein, the builder’s rep and design consultant at Best Tile and she gave us a lot of valuable information to consider when choosing tile. 

The first thing you need to decide is whether you want to go with a natural stone tile or man-made ceramic tile.  Natural stone for example is marble, limestone, slate, onyx, granite, etc.  These stones are quarried from all over the world, cut and shaped to size and imported to Best Tile.  If you choose a natural stone, Karen points out that each piece will vary from the other since it is a product of nature, but when it is all put together on a floor or a wall, it looks beautiful together.  In most cases, if you select natural stone you will pay more, but the overall quality of stone you will reveive is worth it. Below is an example of the wide variation in slate, but how beautiful each piece looks all together.

Slate tile.

Travertine is another natural stone; it has rough edges, a rough surface, and pits.  You can get it filled on the surface or you can get it without. Each type of travertine has its own unique look. Below is an example of both types of travertine.

Travertine tile.

Ceramic and porcelain tile are man-made tiles and it can be composed of many different types of minerals.  One advantage of ceramic tile being man-made is that there is more control over the outcome of the tiles. Porcelain is one of the denser harder kind of tile that you can get.  In fact, Karen says a lot of commercial businesses, like car dealerships, use porcelain tile for their showrooms because its so dense, and can withstand heavier objects.  You can see by this side view of these porcelain tiles that they are very uniform in color and density, as opposed to the less expensive not as dense ceramic tile that chips more easily.

Porcelain tile.

Ceramic tile. 

A really interesting fact that Karen shared with us is that the designs on ceramic tile are actually mass printed by silk screen. Cool right?

One tip that Karen has to give is not to be intimidated to put large tiles on small half bathroom floors.  She said that she is seeing people more and more put larger 12x24 tiles on the walls and floors.  Another tip that Karen says is to use glass or natural stones as borders instead of pre-made decorative borders because stone is more classic. 

12x24 tiled wall.

Glass tile accents.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when you are about to remodel or build.  Keep in mind, we are not experts in the field of tile, and it's recommended that you visit the pros at Best Tile before undergoing a large project.

We'd love to know, what are kind of tile are you into? Tell us in the comments below.