Hexagon tiles for bathroom floor

Thomas F
by Thomas F
I'm doing some work on a bathroom and my wife would like me to install small hexagon tiles on the floor. I've never purchased tile before and I'm wondering about the best place to buy it and the how much the quality varies from tile to tile. Home Depot/Lowes tile vs. Speciality tile store?? Also what's a ballpark estimate for price. I like a good buy but also figure you get what you pay for.
  5 answers
  • Thomas, Have you tried inline sources as well? Try the Tile shop - http://www.tileshop.com/ They carry quality stuff. I am not sure if Floor and Decor is something you need to look into but they have some good tiles as well. One Hometalk member Melissa Ayala did hexagon tiles in her bathroom and I thought they were so cool. I am trying to see how I can link that post here.
  • Thomas F Thomas F on Feb 18, 2012
    Thanks Yamini. Will give it a look.
  • Thomas, the floor tile type is not as important as the prep to put them in. Regardless of shape or size an incorrectly prepped floor that moves even slightly will make a quick mess out of a perfect tile setting job. Be sure that you start with a good foundation for the tile. This means that you should remove all the old flooring down to the original sub floor. And if that is in bad shape it should come out as well. If the original sub floor is 3/4 inch plywood, or solid boards that is a great start. Be sure that you add additional screws, not nails to this floor to assure it is tight and secure. Then if the floor appears to have even the slightest movement. a 2nd layer of glued and screwed plywood needs to go down. Screws every six inches. Lots of contractors adhesive on this. Then using a cement board underlayment that then gets glued using a modified thin set mortar cement. A notched trowel is used with a slightly loose mix. Then the screws once again. Then your ready for the tile. This is not a easy job, nor a hard one. Its a time consuming job. It will take someone a full day just to prep the floor properly with a helper to get it ready for tile. Doing it right the first time will make the entire job go smoother and will end up lasting much longer. Also do not use pre-mixed thin set cement. That stuff is used on walls and not on floors. You need to use the stuff that comes in a bag and mix it by hand with the proper amount of water and additives if you like. You can purchase pretty much everything you need at the big box stores. The tiles can be purchased there as well. Just be sure the tiles you do purchase are for floors and not walls. And that you order enough to have enough that you will have some left over. You will be amazed on how many times you will goof on a cut. It happens all the time when one is doing this for the very first time or not often enough., Be sure to take photos so we can see your project.
  • Thomas, I found the post I was referring to about Hexagonal tiles. Click on this link and see this awesome makeover - http://www.hometalk.com/activity/115046
  • Melissa A Melissa A on Feb 29, 2012
    We found our tiles at Menards and they are Daltile brand. When we went to The tile Store they had DalTile too and it was much more expensive than at Menards. They come on the sheet of tiles and are a breeze to install!! Only issue we had was there are MANY MANY grout lines that the thinset oozes out of and we had to use a small screwdriver to get out some of that so we were able to grout and not have the thinset popping through!