I have a 1915 Craftsman with 2 bathrooms in unglazed hex tile. I've got to do an entire curbless shower for my disabled husband, who uses a walker, and I'm losing sleep trying to find something that fits the bill, doesn't look institutional, but will quiet my lust for basketweave carrara with ming dots, which will be too slippery!!! Can anyone share photos of their tile installations from restorationtile.com, subwaytile.com or mosaictilesupplies.com? I would appreciate any suggestions. As soon as it was installed I wanted that tile out as it seemed to suck dirt from air. Size: 6 x 24 Here are some pics. If so, which wall tile color did you use? They have an entire warehouse of flooring to choose from with huge displays, so you can visualize and imagine how the flooring is going to look in your home. Not even close. I live solo, do not wear shoes in the house, and yet, the bathroom floor seems to attract and hold onto dirt like a magnet. The store is designed to give you an organized shopping experience but if you feel a little overwhelmed by the wide selection, they have a free design service where you can meet with a designer who can help you make the best choice for your project. After 80-some years of use, the glaze is worn through in the traffic pattern and although I'm partial to it, it definitely shows its age. I have been setting unglazed matte hex tiles for 40+ years and have never had a problem with tile that could not be kept pristine. No issues. And, no, it's not just the grout that's dirty, it's the tile. i have seen many old house owners try in vain to get there floors clean and finally give up and consider it part of the charm of living in an old house. Anything with a high gloss is a night mare regardless of black (horrible) or white (insane). I also read a lot on installation that recommended that dark grout WILL STAIN any unglazed tile. I had lived with hex for years in an old Manhattan apartment & found it charming. The photo does not really show how the hex are tan; they just look more grey. it is also harder than granite. The production of ceramic tiles formed the basis for the consolidation of the Porcelanosa Group, quickly standing out by choosing white clays as the raw material to manufacture of choice higher quality wall tiles and floor tiles. Beyond measure. I will say if you are interested in subways, I LOVED all the trims and transitions that SC offered. 2) You're not getting any younger or running out of fun things to scrub in your free time. I did seal the tiles before applying the grey grout (as suggested by others). The biggest part of any renovation in both cost and impact is usually the flooring. Hence we choose white porcelain Dal hex tile for the kitchen floor when we upgraded it in 1990. It was my understanding that glaze will wear out faster and show scratches right away. The tile was in too bad of shape to save, but we wanted to put something similar down. It does not stay clean-looking for more than a day, and I don't mind if it looks a bit dirty/used, but it looks VERY dirty after just a day. I like the idea for the grey tile, I just think that the one in the photo is too dark. And no matter what the material, a white floor will show everything & always look like it needs cleaning. To make matters worse, when I decided on the unglazed porcelain - influenced largely by this thread - I couldn't find it anywhere here in New Jersey. That's good to know. We replaced with matte glazed hex, and a black flower instead of the blue. We just finished spot repairing a white hex tile floor in a historic home owned by the Joslyn family (local philanthropists -- Joslym Art Museum, etc.). I actually had to special order the stuff from Seattle, pay top dollar, and delay construction while we waited for it to cross the country on a truck. you can not stop it from happening. 1 or 3 marble like hex in small bathroom? much thanks. I thought it was time to share more about where I got it from and why Floor & Decor will continue to be a top source for me in my future renovation projects. Walking into the showroom for the first time, it feels like Disney Land for the design-obsessed. But cutting real porcelain tile takes more care than softer bodied ceramic. Thank you again for all the info. unglazed porcelain has microscopic imperfections that will, over time, accumulate gunk and cause your floor to always look dirty. Most laminate flooring options are easy to install and extremely affordable. That's an impressive integration of the S tile with the original floor. I made my peace with the larger grout lines (original floors have close-set individual tiles) & chose appropriate grout. Interested in this popular tile shape? but you have to keep it up regularly for it to continue working, and i don't know anyone who has EVER done that. And a big challenge/frustration with the installation was that each color had a different type of mesh backing, and they absorbed moisture out of the mortar differently, so I would have to peel off and reset a lot. Good luck! When we put the house on the market I figured I should try to spruce it up, so I washed it with my trusty standby: baking soda in warm water, using a scrub-brush, then rinsed with a half cup of vinegar in a bucket of water, using a sponge. The 100 year-old and brand-new tile look exactly the same. Category: ceramic tiles | ceramic tiles | floor tiles MasterFormat: Tiling | Ceramic Tiling | Flooring https://www.flooranddecor.com/commercial.html. I want my tiles spaced evenly since the grout lines will be darker than the tile and uneven spacing would be more obvious. Black tile is a pain in the a$$. It also comes in this matte version for under $3 / sq ft. Enjoy your tile! HTH! The heritage hex tile we see in the Midwest is almost always unglazed matte finished white ceramic. Im also a huge fan of shopping anywhere that I can get everything I need for a project in one place. Here are some ideas for incorporating hexagons into your home, Sure, white kitchens are beautiful when theyre sparkling clean. We made the mistake of using white grout in the larger of the 2 bathrooms, and is a pain to keep clean. Price: $3.57 / sq ft, Laminate has come a long way in the past 10 years and there are so many reasons to love it. Ceramic Tile: What is the Difference. Bill - another question for you: did you seal the tiles at all before or after grouting? I took a trip last week to scout out some flooring for an upcoming project and decided to give you a little tour and share some of my current favorites with you! He told us to return it and get something with a matte glaze. Im glad that you are cold enough to make a fix now rather than live with a mistake that will constantly bother you. Porcelain tile takes sealant just as nicely as non-porcelain ceramic tile. Wife, Mama, Renovator, DIY Educator, and Founder of Making Pretty Spaces. I don't believe in sealing unglazed grout. For those looking for different colors Hi to everyone, I am looking at putting hex tiles probably 2"x2" (or the smaller version if needed) into my son's bathroom. I really wish they offered the 1 1/4" in the porcelain unglazed hex. PEI measures a tile's durability and ability to withstand foot traffic, on a scale of 1-5. And the higher temp firing helps in reducing the porosity (or increases the density) which also makes the material less likely to discolor. Oh, and need to add that the vintage tiles have had workmen (& myself) walking across them grinding down plaster debris, and even soot (had a chimney removed--and soot really only comes off any surface with TSP). The bathroom floor is original to the house. don't really know if that would be ok to do with modern grouts. You won't worry about dingy groutbecause it started off dark(er) to begin with. But this type of tile was never meant for a kitchen--just modern interpretation of vintage by designers who never actually live in with the kitchen they design. They are identical. Hi Chris8984, I found mosaictilesupplies.com has the true unglazed porcelain rectified edge 1" hex tiles 3/16" thick, just like the vintage tiles--except they don't have the blue, but some other great colors along with their white, which is a perfect match to the tiles in my 90 yo floor, which happily is in great shape, even with the house having been a rental for decades (thanks to great installation & materials when it was built). I spent first worked out the pattern on a paper template, then dry fit in the actual space to verify fit & plan the cuts. Price: $1.19 $1.29 / sq ft, Ive been drawn to slate tiles for a few years and I really love this version. For our floor we chose to clean the 1928 original through body porcelain. Marble is always a winner in my book and this 14 tile was stunning in person. I just had unglazed Daltile white hex installed yesterday, largely on the advice on this forum. Price: $13.99 / sq ft, Solid slab surfaces are in! Nor did the owner (I've done more work for him since then-- with some art historical tiles!). I had an extensive hunt to find a good version of the high-fired porcelain like the vintage tile in my original bathroom. Its your bathroom, and I have a hunch you know what will look best and make you happy. Another commentator put it perfectit does seem to suck dirt out of the air. But harder can also mean brittle, so fine china dishes may be more fragile--generally tiles are thick enough it's not an issue. I did all this confident in my superior choice. Size: 14 x 14 But components of porcelain have been more expensive than other clays to obtain, which is one reason its historically been for the wealthy, or reserved for special dishes/uses. This product can be installed on a shower floor. On that one, the grout was white, and the spacing was the normal spacing for sheets of ceramic mosaics-- a shy 1/8", and the grout was white sanded. When we were building our house last year, I was on this forum everyday researching the materials I wanted to use. As long as I know something is clean, it doesn't bother me that it might not look perfect. But the glaze can chip, exposing the softer body, which more easily absorbs stains. It's like a dirt magnet. This black Opal Black Porcelain Tile is 11 x 13 with matte finish. Perhaps whether or not you are happy with your unglazed hex boils down to your personality type and whether you can live with a little patina? 3. As a DIYer, I also wanted a flooring that would be easy to install myself. Maintenance? We are again using 1" white unglazed hex tiles - the kind with completely squared edges. Gloss Lacquered / Matt Lacquered / Leather, Gloss Lacquered,Matt Lacquered,Wood Veneer. Price: $2.69 / sq ft. Last, but certainly not least, its worth sharing that Floor & Decor has a huge selection of ready to install butcher block, quartz and granite countertops that you can DIY! Oh, and by the way, most of it is in stock and you can take it home with you! I was ideally looking for 1 1/4" unglazed rectified hex tile, but restorationtile.com is the only one that provides that size and for $27/sqft! That helped a little but not much. Black tile is even harder to keep looking clean than dark hardwoods. The kitchen and pantry is a horror. I think you'll notice an improvement. It can look nice for a while--but not 90 years! Our original hall bath was your typical sterile white 1920's bathroom - white floor, white walls (with single blue glass detail ribbon), white tub, sink, toiletI honestly don't mind the look, but am a bit concerned about "matching" or at least finding complementary whites that work together for the master bath that we're adding on if we go the same route. Then seal it again once its set. I'll be using the tiles from mts in my new 1/2 bath--it comes on mesh sheets, and I ordered a few sheets & colors to drafting up some patterns, but likely I'll keep it very simple pattern when it comes time to install it, though. Every other place I checked, including DalTile hex, does not match vintage unglazed (high fired) porcelain. Quite frankly, your contractor doesn't know what he's talking about. And I do my own cleaning - so I get to experience that particular blend of humility, disbelief, regret and rage on a very regular basis. These tips help you do it right, Get acquainted with the basics of combining shapes, colors and finishes for a symphony of tiles, Cutting-edge methods are creating tile looks from handmade to avant-garde, as seen as CERSAIE 2013, Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers, Outdoor Lighting & Audio/Visual Specialists, Porcelain Tile vs. We used grey grout downstairs and is quite easy to clean and always looks good. It has a subtle pattern and the oversized length is just a little bit different than your traditional tile. thanks very much! It seems like you knew deep down that the 3 hex would not work for you and that ended up unhappy with this because of too many designers in the kitchen (or bathroom) - one of whom is colorblind. Treat unglazed hex tile as you would any unglazed tile. Thanks. Even if you have professional cleaning help, your cleaning staff may not be on hand every time someone exits the room. I also have tiny black and white hex on the entire floor of a guest bath with charcoal grout. I was like Goldilocks when picking one out and it was actually the first thing we did in our remodel, so I needed to find one ASAP, in-person and the right dimensions. And I couldn't leave the IKEA sink base white Houzz uses cookies and similar technologies to personalise my experience, serve me relevant content, and improve Houzz products and services. I do love the look but hate the dirt. At some point I ran out of energy to do that and now spot clean with cleanser. These Hexagon Porcelain Tiles are so versatile and would fit any decor and any style of home. The house was built in 1911, and the bathroom originally had 1" unglazed hex tiles with a blue flower pattern. If youre looking for a neutral, but statement-making mosaic, this should be on your shortlist. I posted a similar message this morning over at John Bridge, but I thought some folks here would be kind enough to share their thoughts We are in the midst of redoing our bathroom. I fell in love with the wallpaper & had it for nearly year before finally able to install it, but also had to simplify my options for the floor colors/design. So, I was hoping to hear others' experiences with unglazed hex tile. Neither. So we hand scrubbed it with undiluted phosphoric acid cleaner and applied a sealer. Hi all! Gosh, not sure what he's talking about. In my previous house we put unglazed black & white mosaics in the kids bathroom at the suggestion of the tile supplier. I have a bathroom kitchen and pantry in unglazed hex tile with white grout. More rare around here is a greek key type of border or the square pinwheel design. The guy we bought it from advised us to do nothing to finish it. It's been a year now and I am on my knees every night at bath time (my children are 1 and 3) heartsick at how dirty it looks and wiping up footprints with their used, wet, monkey washcloth. With this thought in mind, I am afraid to buy tile from a big box store and think maybe a tile shop would have better quality tile??? This particular engineered hardwood was fairly wide at 8 3/4 and came in varying lengths which I think can give it a more realistic hardwood feel. The Subway Ceramics definitely seem to be the most user friendly of the 3 in terms of their website. By the way, the supposed difference between porcelain and ceramic tile is mostly a myth. And whether or not it was a snark, it was a valid question for exactly the reason you stated. The tiles in our OTHER bathrooms (black and white glazed porcelain, crema marfil marble, travertine and white ceramic in the basement) are all champions in spite of seeing the same feet - and A LOT more traffic. It is our main traffic area and looks filthy. Well, there's nothing like being on your hands and knees in your brand new home (I started hating it within weeks) scrubbing a floor with bleach, trying to get it to stop looking like the floor of a public restroom at a gas station to knock all of the smugness out of you. Those are some beautiful bathrooms. I was looking for tips on cleaning unglazed tile when I came across this. This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Floor & Decor. @kats737 The picture didn't come through! Ceramic Tile: What is the Difference, Room of the Day: Clean and Simple Master Bath With Lots of Storage, Kitchen of the Week: Period Details Keep History Alive in Portland, Choosing Tile: Durable, Versatile Porcelain, 10 Top Tips for Getting Bathroom Tile Right, 9 Tips for Mixing and Matching Tile Styles, Need suggestions for lights, accent tile, mirrors. So if you are wanting to match whites, I would think about when you are most often in the room and with what lighting. ;). (that is some pretty dangerous stuff, not sure if i would use it.) This tile, rated at 3 PEI, can be used on all indoor wall applications, all interior countertop applications and all residential interior floors. We have a bathroom with original 'white' unglazed hex tiles. After a week, I had to get down on my hands and knees to scrub it clean and it was no easy task. I therefore wanted to put in my two cents about our white unglazed porcelain hex tile that I installed in my children's Jack and Jill bath: I absolutely hate it. @StarCraft Custom Builders that's great to hear! That helped a lot to prevent ground in dirt and improve cleanability. FYI folks, ceramic is not nearly as durable as true high-fired unglazed porcelain. Another reason to used engineered hardwood is that it can be used at any grade level of flooring for your home, meaning any level of your house. Whether you're looking for simple, clean designs or large format designs, these tiles offer long-lasting beauty that is versatile, affordable, and easyto maintain. Size: 8 x 8 Choosing what flooring to run through almost 1,100 sq ft of my main living space was a decision I agonized over for months. The discussion helps clarify the abundance of info out there. So we scrubbed it again and applied a sealer then a commercial grade finish. It has been a HUGE mistake from the get go. I saw the floor tile in their showroom and it is fabulous. The bathroom floor is white unglazed tile which looked great on my first day of moving in. They are a really helpful company. I am finally getting around to cleaning with a mild muriatic acid soloution and sealing. Another top pick for an engineered hardwood would be this European Oak. Thank you all for the encouragement. and can you use it on other surfaces besides ceramic? And the floor is covered, so we cant see how the 3 hex look with the 1 hex. That led to a totally groaty floor in short order. I really loved the neutral tones in this hardwood as well as the texture (good for hiding dirt!) So all I can conclude reading horror stories from folks that think they have high-fired unglazed porcelain floor tiles--you don't. Circa 1908. sealing the tile will help out the cleaning thing for a little while. huge cracks with sharp broken tiles sticking up!) Two of them which withstood regular mom cleaning for 20 years, which I finally had a tile guy come and "freshen up" a little yesterday. And DalTile's version did not make the cut on my list of contenders. I sourced my rectified porcelain hex tiles from Mosaic Tile Supplies, and they offer different sizes, colors and shapes to suit different architectural styles. Sounds like I don't need to, perhaps? Is it a bear to keep clean? For hex mosaic tile made exactly as they did 100 years ago try Subway Ceramics. Make sure you rinse out the eraser frequently. Porcelain (usually Kaoline clay as primary component) is a tougher material, and more dense compared to other types of clay. This is a budget-friendly option for just about any area of your home. I also would like the thinnest grout line possible as I have experience cleaning grout in my previous house. on Floor & Decor: A Store Tour & My Favorite Finds, San Giorgio Calcutta Polished Porcelain Tile. Seal it every year or so after a thorough cleaning, more often in heavily trafficked areas. I put down some matte-looking hex tile in my son's bathroom, and I have no idea which it is - my contractor supplied it. It's porcelain, and therefore doesn't allow dirt to embed in its pores. I am curious as to the type of sealer SCB has used, as the sealer products vary greatly, and if a poor quality or wrong type of sealer is used, you can ruin a fabulous tile install. Typically traditional hardwood flooring is used at grade level or above grade level. The grout is obviously not an issue there to keep clean and no issues with it coming out or anything. A hard porcelain (e.g. Matte glazed would be OK, but I've only seen these in the 7/8 inch (side to side), or with beveled edge, or too bright white. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is found at any big box store as well as local supermarkets. Price: $2.00 / sq ft, I lean towards simple with my design choices, but I really love this Houndstooth Marble Mosaic Tile.