Five Tile Buying Tips That Save You Time & Money

Recently, I was reading a post on Kelly's Kitchen Sync titled Freight and delivery delays: brace yourselves. She's explains some of the material delays that she's experiencing and why they are happening.

A Successful Tile Installation

Kelly Morisseau, is a second-generation CMKBD (Certified Master Kitchen and Bath Designer) and a CID (Certified Interior Designer). She works for a residential design/build firm in Northern California and recently penned Kelly's Kitchen Sync: Insider Kitchen Design and Remodel Tips from an award-winning expert. You should buy a copy of this book. But, reading Kelly's tips got me thinking about some of the common mistakes people make when buying hand painted tiles. So, today's post provides a few ways to make your tile project a success.

1. Get samples. You need to see the color and texture of the tile in the location where they will be used and with swatches of other material or paint chips.
   
   
2. Buy several pieces of the same sample. When purchasing hand painted field tile, ceramic tile or cement tile it's a good idea to get four pieces of the same color, colorway, or design to see what kind of variation you might experience. You can also ask the vendor to provide the most extreme cases to make sure you understand the expected range of color.
   
   
3. Allow for waste or overage. I recommend 10% overage to account for uncertainty in dimensions, tile variation, damage during installation, and damage that may occur during shipping. When installing tiles on-point there will be a lot of cuts; so I recommend 15% for overage. Not allowing for waste is a big problem on custom orders since you will experience a similar production time, matching glazes or pigments is difficult, and freight or shipping costs for a few items will much higher than if you would of purchased extra as part of the original order.
   
   
4. Inspect your order the day it arrives. Inspect for shipping damage and breakage. Make sure the quantities, color and size are correct. Remember that hand painted tiles will exhibit variation in color. However, the variation should be within a range and similar to your samples.
   
   
5. Don't schedule the installer for the day after the tile arrives. Allow at least two weeks after your tile is scheduled to arrive to schedule your installer. Customs, freight, and weather all impact delivery. Give yourself some time to allow for delays – they almost always happen.