10 Things You Need To Do During Your Visit to a Tile Showroom

Design: Ethereall

If you are adopting a more hands-on approach for your home renovation, then paying a visit to a tile showroom is a must, since tiling makes up a major component of the home renovation; from floor tiles in the living room, kitchen to wall tiles in the bathrooms. Furthermore, tiling costs take up the bulk of your home renovation budget too! Managing the amount spent on tiles will result in significant savings for your renovation. To help you in this aspect of your renovation journey, here is a list of 10 simple things to take note of when are visiting the showroom.

1. Get your floorplan ready

Design: Story Of Us

The floorplan provides useful insights to the dimensions of your property for you to make the following decisions; whether if large format tiles are suitable and the approximate number of tiles required to tile the area. For the calculation of surface area for wall tiling, the typical ceiling height of a HDB flat ranges from 2.8m to 2.65m while the ceiling of an EC or Condominium apartment is 2.8m onwards.

2. Set aside more tiles for wastage and backup

Design: Design 4 Space

Tiling works always involve accidental breakages and wastage. Hence, you should set aside a certain percentage for extra tiles to prevent running out of files for your home renovation. The typical percentage is around 5% and 10%, if you are using tiles with veins, such as Marble.

3. Bring along a mood board to guide your choices

Design: Azrul Yusoff Interior Studio

The home interior design mood board, will help you to narrow down the types of tile colors and designs suitable for a particular style or concept for your home. Remember that to note of the type of lighting

4. Take many photos for design ideas

Design: Dots ‘N’ Tots Interior Design

The tile showrooms usually have delightful miniature mockups setup to illustrate how certain tile designs can be effectively used, based on their properties and design. Therefore, they are a great source of inspirational design ideas.

5. Record down the dimensions, prices and locations where the tiles will be used

Design: Unity Id

The dimensions of the tiles will determinate the whether the tiles will be suitable to be used in certain areas of your apartment. Tag the tile code, along with its price, to the appropriate areas in the floorplan. In this way, you will be able to systematically keep track of the tiles which have been shortlisted in each area of your new abode.

6. Check with the sales consultant on the suitability of the tiles

Design: AkiHAUS

The tiles come in all shapes, dimensions and materials. Therefore, certain properties of the tiles are not suitable for usage in certain parts of the house. Sometimes, descriptions are provided next to the tiles to guide you in your selection. Nevertheless, if you are unsure, you can approach the sales consultants for assistance.

7. Request for samples

Design: The Scientist

Since the colors of the tiles may turn out differently, due to the lighting used in the tile showrooms may not be reflective of what you see in the showroom. Hence, remember to request for sample tiles, which are usually given free, for you to bring back as they provide the vital visual communication tools for you and your renovation professionals to work on your dream home.

8. Conduct stress tests

Design: The Design Abode

Aside as visual guides, sample tiles are also useful for you to determine the resiliency and strength of the tiles. You can conduct stress tests by simply scratching, staining or even dropping heavyweights to test the resilience and strength of the tiles. You should also test whether if the tiles are slippery too.

9. Follow up the choices with your renovation professionals

Design: The Scientist

Along with your floorplan and the tile samples, they provide vital tools for your renovation professionals to understand your preferences and work on incorporating these elements into your dream abode. With these at hand, they will be able to counter propose suitable and more budget-friendly alternatives.

10. Work on a budget

Design: Design NEU

Once you have determined the types of tiles, you can use the following Tile Calculator, to work out the number of tiles required, based on their dimensions.

Design: In-Expat