Thinking about large format tiles in your Burntwood home? The pros and cons, what the floor or wall needs to be like, and why fitting them takes more care.
A cleaner, more modern look that is easier to keep clean.
Large tiles can make a room look bigger.
Dips and humps show as lippage. Levelling is often needed first.
Takes more skill, the right tools and usually a levelling system.
Large tiles need a full bed of adhesive to avoid hollow spots and cracking.
Large format tiles, usually anything with a side of 60cm or more, give a clean, modern look with fewer grout lines, and they can make a room feel bigger. They are popular for kitchen floors, open-plan spaces and walk-in showers.
The catch is in the fitting. Big tiles need a very flat surface, because any dip or hump shows as lippage, where one tile edge sits higher than the next. They are heavy, harder to cut, and need full adhesive coverage and often a levelling system to keep them flush. Get that right and they look superb; get it wrong and every uneven edge shows.
In Burntwood and Hammerwich we often prepare floors with levelling compound before laying large format porcelain, especially on older concrete floors that are not as flat as they look. It adds a step, but it is what makes the finished floor look right.
Most large format porcelain has rectified, precisely cut edges, which allows narrow grout joints of around 2 to 3mm for a near-seamless look. Narrow joints leave less room to hide unevenness, which is another reason the base has to be right. Tile levelling clips hold each edge flush while the adhesive sets.
Yes, for a modern look with fewer grout lines, as long as the surface is properly prepared.
Often, yes, because there are fewer lines breaking up the space.
They need more preparation, more care and more time to lay perfectly flat.
Yes, with the right adhesive and a wall that can take the weight.
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