600mm tile too big for hallway ?

ennisjim

Hi,

After many months searching for a suitable tile for kitchen/dining we located a very nice 600mm square porcelain tile. This will work well in the kitchen/dining which is 7.5m x 4.5m.
This space connects via a short (2m) corridor to an entrance hall which is approx 4.7m x 1.9m. My guess (and the opinion of some others) is that the 600mm tile will work fine in the smaller space in the hallway. This will mean continuous tile from entrance hall into kitchen/dining which should look good and have no breaks/thresholds hopefully.
I would welcome any opinions. Anyone used large tiles in similar situation ?
Thanks

garyh3

The only issue I see is that @ 1.9m you are going to have a small piece left 3 * 6 = 1.8m unless you cut some off both sides

Garyh3

ennisjim

Yes wastage might be an issue. Tiles are about €48 per sq.m and it's fairly to waste a few hundred € at that price. Need to talk to tiler and work out the best laying plan to see how wastage can be reduced.
Considering putting offcuts which cannot be used in 'visible space' under the kitchen units to reduce wastage.

GG66

ennisjim wrote: »

Yes wastage might be an issue. Tiles are about €48 per sq.m and it's fairly to waste a few hundred € at that price. Need to talk to tiler and work out the best laying plan to see how wastage can be reduced.
Considering putting offcuts which cannot be used in 'visible space' under the kitchen units to reduce wastage.

you're left with 10mm after spreading 3 across, but remeber you can also need space for grout between tiles..

ennisjim

Hi GG66. Maybe my calculations are wrong but I reckon it is 1900-(3*600+4*5) = 80mm assuming 4 grout lines of 5mm each. In order to cover the remaining 80mm on both sides this would be 2 40mm cuts from a tile which wastes a single 520mm assuming the cut edges are not perfect enough to be used again.
I found when tiling my bathroom myself that the circular tile saw could not cut as perfect a cut as the original edge - also its profile was a little different and the 'raw' edge is not sealed like the original edges. 520mm is a lot of wastage per row (which only has 3 full tiles already), but perhaps I can use it elsewhere, eg. under kitchen units.

The other layout is grout line up the middle (as opposed to tile up the middle as in the first case above) which results in 2 full tiles and leaves 1900-(2*600+3*5) = 685mm, ie. 2 cuts of 342mm which results in 2 waste cutoffs of 258mm but in this case one side of each cutoff has an original edge which means it can possibly be used elsewhere. This is layout I would expect to be using but still need to talk to tiler to get a professional opinion.

maniac101

Ennisjim, You might want to watch out for the "train tracks" effect when putting large square tiles in a narrow space like the hallway. This is where the two grout lines between the three main rows of tiles become dominant when looking down the hall from the front door. It's particularly evident if the tile is pale and the grout is dark, and can take from the look of the floor. We had a similar dilemma recently in a similar sized space. We ended up going for a bigger 800x400mm rectangular tile instead, but laid widthwise across the hall, and staggered by 1/3 of the width of the tile. In this manner there is very little wastage as the end pieces can be used elsewhere on the floor, and no grout lines run the length of the hall.