Bathroom Tile Purchase

[Mike Goetzke]

Need to completely remodel our 3/4 master bath. My wife found this tile that she wants in the shower and around the walls like wainscoting. I found the tile at two sources: 1) downtown Chicago 2) FastTile (.com) in FL. Choice (2) is at least half the price of (1) but I've never bought tile from anywhere but a local store. It's about 1000# of tile at around $1500 for the cheaper place! Guess many years ago I never bought tools online either. When I asked about damaged tiles FastTile said inspect the boxes on arrival and reject/note on invoice (guess like you do on large machinery delivery) and if it's damaged internally they will replace it. This second part worries me. Do you think if I use a credit card I'm safe with possible damaged goods?


Thanks,

Mike

[Bryan Lisowski]

I wouldn't purchase tile online. I mean you could inspect, but I am going to guess that it would be wrapped really well and could take you a lot of time to open and inspect every tile. I would probably go to the local place and ask them to match or get real close to the price.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I have a customer that used FastTile, and the order was fine, no more broken tiles than usual. I usually see 3-5 per room.

[Mike Goetzke]

Thanks for the replies. After further conversation with FastTile I didn’t feel comfortable buying from them. Luckily, after doing a bit of running around we found similar tile locally. Although, we couldn’t find the large 24” x 48” diagonal pattern tiles so needed to make a change.

mike

[Bill Dufour]

Huge tile like that will require a perfectly flat subfloor which yours is not. Being off 1/16" in a foot means you will be off by 1/4" at each joint. This also will not work in a shower floor.
Bill D

[Neil Gaskin]

I’ve ordered tile online in the past and not had issues. The credit card should protect you. If you can save substantially then go for it.

[Mike Goetzke]

Huge tile like that will require a perfectly flat subfloor which yours is not. Being off 1/16" in a foot means you will be off by 1/4" at each joint. This also will not work in a shower floor.
Bill D

Those monster tiles were going to be used on the shower walls.

[John K Jordan]

We remodeled a bathroom recently and installed a new large shower with tile and stone for seating, ledges, etc. My wife did a lot of research on the types of tile and stone to use and in what part of the shower. I don't remember the details but she said some types are not good. She would have not purchased on-line because she could see the tiles - the local places gave her tile samples to bring home and had large displays to show her what they looked like together.

The most important thing I think was finding an expert installer for the tile (used the Schluter system for sealing and edging) and for the glass doors
.

[John Goodin]

Ordering various parts and materials online has been a real money saver for me. Recently purchased $8000 of Ipe from a place in North Carolina. It took a while to pull the trigger but saved just under $1600 and the 8.25 percent sales tax. A couple of decks board that had splits from the shipping straps, called the company and they offered to ship replacements. I just took a refund and purchased replacement locally since I was trying to finish up the project. The credit was on my card three days later. Anyway it is a bit nerve wracking but a lot of money can be saved.