I went shopping with Benji and Alvin at 2 tile shops on Balestier Road – Lian Seng Hin (LSH) and Hafary. Both are well established and have large impressive showrooms, and very helpful staff. While it was fun to browse the many different floor and wall tiles on display it got terribly confusing after a while. It was also quite stressful as there are many sales staff waiting to help you, and of course I was conscious of taking up too much of Benji and Alvin’s time.
After about an hour and a half spent at both shops we selected some options and got to take home small samples of each. Call me indecisive however I decided to go back to LSH on my own to browse around some more and spent more time thinking through my selection. I ended up re-selecting my tiles.
Tile types
There are 2 main types of common tiles: Homogeneous tiles (a high grade porcelain tile), and ceramic tiles. Homogeneous tiles are higher quality, more durable, and of course cost more. The lower cost ceramic tile is discernible by the design being only on the tile’s surface while the tile itself is just clay. Ceramic tiles are fine for most home use however, even on the floor as most home users are unlikely to see heavy usage. The tiles are not labeled specifically in the shops, and you may not always notice which type of tile is which when making your selection though.
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| Samples for my bathroom wall and floor tiles |
There are so many tile options nowadays, including faux wood-grained ones. I considered these for my balcony as they would be more durable and slightly less costly than genuine timber. I understand that Chengai and other wooden decking do not wear well and will fade after a while in the sun and rain.
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| Wood-grained and slate tile options for my balcony |
The tiles also come from various origins, chiefly Europe and China (the European ones are more expensive of course), and can be cut into different sizes.
The IDs quoted for tiling was based on my floor area and an approx. cost per tile of up to $3. Take note of what you choose in case you select an expensive option. If you do your ID may revise your quote upwards, although he most likely will not do the opposite if you select a lower cost tile. In any case, the prices at the shops are indicative retail prices only and the IDs pay discounted rates.
Hi can I know how's the maintenance and the feel of the wood grain tiles?i thought of getting it done for all the bedrooms
ReplyDeleteHi, I bought the slate tiles in the end.
ReplyDeleteTiles are very hard and durable, you see them in shopping centres quite a bit nowadays to be able to withstand the high usage.
Home owners typically have parquet wood in their homes though, which has a warmer feel. The tiles don't really have wood grain either, they are just patterned to look like they do.
An alternative might be the "fake" parquet popular nowadays, they call it engineered wood, available from Evorich, Supreme Floors etc. These are more durable than traditional parquet, and there are several kinds and grades too, to those that are more of a laminate than wood. Check them out and ask you contractor for input and cost comparisons too, as ultimately it boils down to pricing too.
I regret using the 800x 800 tiles from hafary as it gets stain so easily. Their quality is not good. Now my house had so much patches of stain on the homogeneous tile.
ReplyDelete