Tile Flooring Guide

Tile Flooring Basics

Made of a variety of materials, including ceramic, glass, and stone, tile flooring offers a wide mosaic of colors and styles. Because it's made from such hard materials, it's a super-durable option, used most often in high-traffic areas like the kitchen.

Pros of Tile Flooring

Tile is one of the most durable flooring surfaces out there, with the potential to outlast flooring options like carpet, wood, and linoleum. It's scratch and fire-resistant, easy to clean, and, if glazed, won't absorb liquids. It also doesn't harbor mold, pollen, dust and dust mites, or other potential allergens or contributors to poor indoor air quality.

Cons of Tile Flooring

Depending on the material you choose, tile flooring can be very expensive, so it may not be a useful solution for more than a room or so. If you install tile flooring in a damp or wet place — on a bathroom floor, say — the grout can get water-damaged and require replacement (though no more quickly than wood or bamboo). And, depending on where you put it, tile flooring can be very cold in the morning or winter, or very hot if it sits in the sun all day. That thermal mass can be put to good use, but it can be mighty shocking if you walk into the bathroom barefoot in the morning.

How Green?

Most varieties of tiles are available with recycled content; green versions of glass tiles can have recycled glass, while ceramics can have recycled post-industrial waste like granite dust. As with many things, the more recycled content you can get — many versions are 100% recycled — the better; alternately, conventional ceramic and stone tiles have big embodied energy bills, so they aren't so green. Look for big numbers in the recycled content department to get the greenest tiles.

Where do I get it?

Lots of retailers sell recycled tile flooring; here are a few.

Recycled Tile

Crossville
Fireclay Tile
Quarry Tile
Terra Green Ceramics

Recycled Glass Tile

Aurora Glass
Bedrock Industries
Oceanside Glasstile Co.
Sandhill Industries
UltraGlas, Inc.

Where do I use it?

Because of it's durability, it's best in the kitchen, entryway, and other high-use areas; since it's more resistant to moisture than wood or bamboo, it's also great for spaces that get wet, like the bathroom (though you'll want to seal it against moisture to slow the wear on the grout).

What does it cost?

Most green tile flooring goes for anywhere between about $5 and $25 per square foot, depending on the material you choose (though quarried stone flooring can be very expensive), how much of it you need, and how green you choose to go. Because it tends to be more expensive, it's often just used for a room — like a kitchen or bathroom — rather than throughout an entire house.

Installation?

You can install tile flooring yourself, though it isn't as simple as something like click-together flooring, so it's probably best to have some do-it-yourself chops, or an experienced consultant. Unless you're laying perfectly square tiles in a a perfectly square room, you'll have to cut some of the tiles — this goes for any geometric designs or mosaics you want to add, too — which requires specialty hardware. You'll also need a suitable subfloor — concrete is probably best, though it works over plywood, too — so if you aren't starting with good subflooring, you may want to call in the reinforcements. Installation also involves grouting and sealing the tiles, so first timers ought to get some practice in before starting on your new kitchen floor. Get installation tips from The Tile Doctor.

More on tile flooring
Renovation Nation Episode: Tile Out of Streetlamps
Modular Bathroom Tile Designs from Design Glut
Recycled Glass Mosaic Tiles by Sandhill