What kind of tiles to choose on the floor in the kitchen and hallway?

When we start a global renovation, first of all, we think about what tiles to choose on the floor in the kitchen and hallway. Ten years ago, tiles were laid mainly in the bathroom and toilet. Now he can be in any room, even in the bedroom. Of course, the modern choice of flooring is great: laminate, linoleum, parquet and more. But why are most people leaning toward tiles when it comes to flooring in the hallway and kitchen?

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The benefits of tile

Before deciding which tile to choose on the floor in the kitchen and in the hallway, you must clearly decide for yourself that this particular solution will be the best. The correct assessment of the advantages of tiles will help in this - they are as follows:

• The tile is very hygienic. The dirt easily lags behind it, it can be washed with plain water and using household chemicals, using brushes and abrasives. That is, we can remove almost all types of pollution by available methods.
• The tile is very wear-resistant and durable. As you know, the kitchen floor is constantly exposed to splashes and various contaminants from food, fat, and sometimes dishes fall. And the corridor is a place where dust, dirt, moisture, sand is applied from the street, ladies can walk in heels. It turns out that it is these two rooms that we clean most often, they lend themselves to a significant load. No laminates and linoleums can withstand such tests, but tile - easily.
• The tile has a long service life of about 50 years. It is fire resistant and easy to restore.

Important! After repair, be sure to leave a couple of tiles in such a case. If necessary, you simply replace a separate section, not the entire floor.

• Tile is an eco-friendly material. Clay or granite chips, from which, in fact, this flooring is made, are absolutely harmless to the human body.

Important! Environmental friendliness is one of the decisive factors when choosing material for flooring in catering establishments (cafes, restaurants) and health care facilities.

• The tile is pretty aesthetic. In construction stores, there is such a variety of types, colors, and tile sizes that just your eyes run up. It can be selected for any interior and color scheme.

Important! There is even a tile that looks similar to wood, leather, cork or natural stone.

About why it is worth choosing tile as the flooring in the hallway and kitchen we discussed. Therefore, we move on to the next important point - how to choose floor tiles for the corridor and kitchen?

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What kind of tiles to choose on the floor in the kitchen and hallway?

In order to make the right choice, it is not enough just to inspect the proposed options in the window and buy the most beautiful. You need to know all the characteristics of the tile and its features. We briefly introduce you to important information.

Strength

It depends on this parameter what will happen to the tiles after being hit by a heavy object, with constant contact with dirty shoes, thin heels and generally with high traffic.

By wear resistance, the tile is divided into 5 classes. On the box you will see the PEI designation from I to V:

• The first two classes are not of interest to us, since they are suitable only for rooms with low traffic and infrequent use (bath, bedroom, closet).
• V class is designed for production facilities, such as checkpoints, shops, restaurants and more. In principle, you can choose it, but given the orientation of this tile, the variety of colors and exquisite design you will not get. Granite chips are added to such tiles during production and porcelain tiles (gres) are obtained. It is heavy-duty, but modest in appearance. Yes, and such material will cost quite expensive, which is impractical.
• It turns out that the only optimal option when deciding which tile to choose on the floor in the kitchen and in the hallway is a tile of classes III and IV. It is designed for active use, high traffic, walking in shoes and frequent cleaning.

Important! Class III is enough for the kitchen, and IV is better for the hallway.

Moisture resistance

The waterproofness of the tiles is achieved by firing at high temperatures.

Important! If you choose a tile for a private house, then the moisture absorption should be about 3%. For an apartment - up to 6%.

Coefficient of friction

This feature is also very important. Floor tiles should not be slippery.

Important! A smooth surface in combination with spilled water or after wet cleaning becomes hazardous.

We determine the necessary values ​​in order to understand which tile to choose on the floor in the kitchen and in the hallway:

• If the friction coefficient is indicated on the package from 0 to 0.4, then this tile is slippery - it should not be taken for the kitchen or hallway.
• A friction index of 0.75 and higher is the best option. Usually it is a matte tile or with a raised surface.

Important! Strongly embossed and rough tiles are also bad, it’s hard to wash, so find a “middle ground”.

Chemical resistance

Quite often, when cleaning, we use household chemicals and often we can spill something other than water. Therefore, it is very important that the tile does not change its appearance in such situations. Without going into details, we note that you should choose the one that has the designation “A”, “AA” or “B” on the package.

Tile size

Manufacturers produce a wide variety of floor tiles, not only in appearance, but also in size. It can be small 10x10 cm, and a huge 60x100 cm. The standard size 30x30 is more common.

Important! In order not to confuse the floor tiles with the facing (wall), look at the designation on the box (the foot should be drawn). In addition, it is thicker facing.

When choosing, proceed from the dimensions of the room:

• Be sure to calculate at what size the tiles will have less waste.
• Please note that large tiles will look beautiful only in a large room.
• Taking a small tile is also not very practical.

Important! If you wash tiles without problems, then numerous tile joints will create a problem over time. Most dirt is eaten in them, which is difficult to clean.

What kind of tiles to choose on the floor in the kitchen and hallway? Based on the foregoing, for these rooms, the best choice is a wear-resistant tile, immune to moisture and chemicals, and matte, so as not to slip on spilled water.

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Creating beauty in the kitchen

Having dealt with these parameters, you can proceed to the choice of colors:

• If the kitchen is large and bright, then the choice is unlimited, up to dark colors. The most important thing is that it blends harmoniously with the colors of the walls, furniture set and apron.
• Very light colors and white color - not the best option. On this floor, every speck and speck will catch my eye, as well as on a pure black tile.
• Not so easily soiled tile with a pattern.
• In a spacious kitchen, you can put large tiles or make a custom layout (in a staggered manner, with a combination of two shades, “maze”).
• In addition, the kitchen floor should be in harmony with the flooring of adjacent rooms. It can be a beautiful contrast or one color scheme.
• For a small kitchen, the optimal tile size is 30x30 cm, and it is desirable that it be in light colors. Dark tiles will visually make the kitchen smaller.
• If you have chosen a luxurious expensive tile on the floor, make a baseboard from the same tile or frieze from this collection. In this case, a plastic baseboard will look simple and cheap.

Important! In conclusion, good advice from experienced hostesses: in order for tile joints to absorb dirt and retain their original appearance for longer, rub them with paraffin from time to time. It will not distort the color of the grout, but it will be an excellent protective barrier against pollution. However, epoxy grout appeared in construction stores. It retains its appearance and color for a long time, but is too expensive and difficult to install.

We make out the floor in the hallway:

• If the corridor is narrow and dark, then choose a tile of medium size and light colors, preferably with stains or not a contrasting pattern.

Important! In this case, tile imitating stone or wood will look beautiful. You can buy a rectangular tile and lay out the “deck” or “herringbone”. The diagonal placement of the tile visually removes the roughness of the walls.

• If the hallway is square and spacious, you can use the layout “maze” or “checkerboard”. The panel in the center will look beautiful. And you can use decorative inserts - they are usually in the collection of well-known manufacturers of ceramics, and display with offset.
• An interesting option is the so-called “metlakh tile”. It is similar in characteristics to gres. Its peculiarity is that it consists of small bright fragments from which you can lay out a colorful “carpet”. For the price it will come out expensive, but it will look spectacular.

Important! The only minus of the tile is that it is cold. But there is a good way out of this situation: put a warm floor under the tile (it conducts heat well). Its installation will not be difficult, but will allow you to walk barefoot all year round.

In addition, the problem of a cold floor can be solved by zoning the corridor space:

• the area where they stomp in shoes, shoes, shoes, lay out with tiles (1-1.5 sq. m or a little more);
• then lay a laminate, linoleum or parquet - which you prefer;
• the transition can be straight or curved, and two coatings can be combined using a special docking nut (they can be flexible).

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Which manufacturer of tiles to choose on the floor in the kitchen and hallway?

The quality and life of the flooring directly depends on the integrity of its manufacturer. To date, the store has a fairly large assortment of tiles of various brands, so you can choose which tile to choose on the floor in the kitchen and in the hallway yourself. Consider only such recommendations:

• Excellent quality tiles produce Italian, Spanish, Portuguese manufacturers, but it is from an expensive price segment. They have no equal in design collections.
• Czech and Polish tiles are slightly inferior in quality, but are much cheaper.
• There are also good products of domestic factories, maybe they are not so diverse and colorful, but quite budget-friendly for the price.

Important! The main thing is not to take cheap tiles. It has a very large percentage of marriage (about 25%, instead of 5% of acceptable).

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What is required for laying floor tiles?

Having decided on how to choose floor tiles for the corridor and kitchen, it is worth considering the preparation of the necessary equipment for its installation. In order to lay the floor with tiles, first of all, stock up with the necessary tool:

• Tile cutter or sawing machine.

Important! In any case, no matter how hard you try, not all the tiles will lie exactly where you want.Just try to choose the optimal size so that there are as few cuts as possible, otherwise the room will look messy.

• Water level, simple building or laser.

Important! The floor is not ideal, therefore, so that the tile lies evenly, constantly check the level. If the irregularities and differences are too large, then you can first fill in the self-leveling floor, and then lay the tiles.

• Mixer and container for mixing tile adhesive.

Important! The mixer can be replaced with a drill or a screwdriver with an appropriate nozzle.

• Trowel, spatula, spatula.
• Rubber mallet.
• Crosses.

Important! The size of the crosses should correspond to the width of the seam in millimeters. Although some European brands produce tiles that can be laid end-to-end, without seams.

• Tape measure, construction pencil, corners.
• A rag with a bucket for cleaning.

And of course, besides the tools you will need: the tile itself, glue for it, grout, baseboards and thresholds.

Important! Do not forget to add a few tiles in excess of the required number in case of a fight or subsequent replacement, if ever there is such a need.

But most importantly, you need a first-class master who not only accurately calculates the number of necessary building materials, but also does his job flawlessly. If you can perform simple laying in even rows yourself, then entrust the figured tile laying to a professional.

Important! Since the tile on the floor will flaunt for many years, the slightest styling defect will be an eyesore until the next repair.

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Stock footage

Now, knowing the answer to the question of which tiles to choose on the floor in the kitchen and hallway, you will certainly make the right choice. Just remember that buying materials is only half the story. The beauty and useful life also largely depend on the quality of the installation itself.