Tiling warning

[hardwoodjoint]

Last year we bought enough wall tiles to do the bathroom.
Started tiling this year and found 2 boxes of tiles all broken.
Never miind I thought, I'll still have enough, wrong!
Went back to supplier in Albion Park, 'sorry mate, can't get them any more'.

Moral - make sure you have more than enough tiles and that you will be able to get more if need.

Now I'm faced with having to buy a whole load of different tiles and ripping off the tiles I've already fixed.
NOT HAPPY JAN

[rat52]

Try other suppliers who might have odd leftovers or even the manufacturer.

Been down this road myself. very frustrating.

[Geebung]

You could always try and use the broken tiles as a feature...I know it sounds crazy but you could do several lines of tiles as a mosaic...of course it would take longer...but might be a solution if you cannot get more of the same and don't want to start from scratch...anyway, just a thought.

[Sturdee]

Try other suppliers who might have odd leftovers or even the manufacturer.

Been down this road myself. very frustrating.

There are places that buy up odd lots from the major retailers and then keep them and sell them to people who need the few replacement tiles.

The only problem is that they are very expensive. I once needed a few tiles and they were asking $ 5 a tile. It was cheaper to knock out a few more and make a feature out of it.

BTW even when buying new tiles make sure that you get exactly the same from the same batch as there is often a difference between batches.


Peter.

[Tools]

I have chased up old tiles before by speaing with the manufacturer (Johnson)who told me where i could still get them.

Tools

[Tools]

Try Metric Tiles on the Westall Rd extension in Springvale. (If you are in Victoria)

[RPMT]

make a main wall as a feature wall using mosaics in a colour similar to the floor..

some tile manufacturers make tiles for a total of 3 months and then change colors/ tints to suit current trends. not to mention as tiles come into the country they come in batches and batches will have a difference in shades wich will make your bathroom look crappy if you allready have it 1/2 tiled.

[autogenous]

contemplate a border or another tile to make a border?

Drop the tile height in a particular area?

Were they wall of floor tiles?

[Ronaldo451]

If you have a bit of time before you have to commit one way or another, don't do any good with the suppliers tracking down further supplies and don't mind fooling around a bit try scouting Ebay. I have not done it, but if your tile design is not there for sale already, put a pic of yours up for sale - one only at $20 so nobody actually bids on it - and put your sad tale in the body of the ad explaining you are actually looking to buy that design.

If somebody has some sitting around and they see the pic chances are they would suss out your ad to see how much interest there is in people buying tiles similar to their leftovers....just a thought

[Imp]

I had a similar occurence - I'd put an order in for some tiles and was told they were in stock so arranged to pick them up the next day. Rang a tile removal company and my tiler and booked them in - the tile removal company arrived within 1/2 hour and ripped all my old tiles out (butchering the floor, but that;s another story).

Tiler booked in for 2 days time, his only window for weeks.

Got a call from the tile company whilst the tiles were being ripped out - oops, we made a mistake, they;re actually not in stock, they'll be 8 weeks wait (!)

So I went around to every tile company in Perth trying to match the tile or at least the colour. And couldn't...but one lovely lady in a sister branch of the original store sold it (but didn't have quite enough in stock - short by 3 boxes). She rang up recent customers of that tile and repurchased their leftovers and got them all picked up and everything. How lovely some people are

[hardwoodjoint]

Thanks every one. I think I might try a border of a differnrt colour tile. Sort of between the wall tiles and the floor tiles.