Flooring – Tiles Calculator : What is tiling? — tile flooring cost
For those of you who are looking for more than just a number, let’s keep going. Let’s start with the very basics: tiling. Tiling is the action (or art, as we will see later) of covering a surface using simple shapes that repeat over the whole area to completely cover the underlying (usually ugly but functional) structure.
There are many types of tiles and many styles to choose from. You could go for a very regular tiling pattern, which leaves you just 3 possible options: triangles, squares, or hexagons since they are the only regular shapes that can cover a plane without any gaps.
But we’re not here to tell you how to tile your shower – maybe you like to leave some gaps? In that case, you will need fewer tiles but much more care when applying and grouting them.
Stylistic and economic reasons are both valid when selecting your tiles, which is why this calculator also calculates the tile flooring costs (at least the raw materials part).
How the tile calculator works and how to calculate a tile’s square footage?
Back on to the math side of tiling, we will see now how the calculator works internally. To know how many tiles you need for your project, you simply need the area of the space to fill. Just divide one by the other, and you’re golden. Just remember to round up, as they don’t sell fractional tiles.
number of tiles = area to tile / area of one tile
Even if you know how to tile a floor, it is always recommended to include some margin of error, as tiles often break when cutting them. That’s also a feature we have put into the calculator, and we take those extra tiles into account when calculating the number of boxes needed and the cost to tile the shower or whatever you are planning to tile.
To simplify the calculations, we assume you will be using rectangular tiles. But, don’t worry, if you are using other shapes, as long as you fill the area neatly (within the gap you selected), the only difference is in the edges. Even then, it would almost always be smaller than the waste margin you select.
Oh, I see I got your interest when I mention different shapes of tiles… Can I interest you in some funky patterns and very cool tessellation ideas? 😏
How to tile a floor? Tessellation ideas
Tessellation is definitely a big word, but it means something as simple as dividing a flat surface into smaller repeating shapes, leaving no space between them. The very basic ones use regular polygons such as hexagons, squares and triangles; but the crazy cool ones (like Penrose tiling) use other shapes to create truly amazing patterns.
Personally, if we were deciding how to tile a floor, we would look no further than the Penrose tiling. This pretty tessellation idea is one that uses just rhombuses to create a symmetrical but non-periodical pattern. Check it out below:
Though one of our favorites, this is certainly not the only tessellating option. Just be careful when selecting your pattern, as a complex one can increase your tile flooring cost very quickly, not only due to the tile costs, but also due to the difficulty of the pattern itself.
How to tile a shower: Tile cost
Flooring – Tiles Calculator:
When deciding how to tile a shower (or how to tile a floor, for that matter), tile cost is one of the most important factors to consider. In broad terms, the cost to tile the shower can be divided into labor (plus tip) and materials cost.
The first one depends heavily on the complexity of your pattern (crazy tessellation ideas tend to cost much more) and who you choose to do the job. We cannot really help you with this part of your expenses, but we can help you calculate the tile cost, A.K.A. the materials cost.
For that, we assume you’ll only be using one type of tile (if you need more, please let us know, and we will do our best to add the feature). All you need to do is calculate how many tiles you need using the tile calculator and then input the price per tile.
