The first thing to do is measure your space. You can either do this yourself with a tape measure or if you're not confident or have a trickier area to tile, ask your tiler to do the measuring for you. Some tilers will give you a measurement in square metres, but what you really need is the dimensions by length and width, in centimetres.
Top tip – don’t forget to factor in doors, windows and any obstacles that won’t need to be tiled!
We’ve been asked by a number of clients why we sell tiles individually and not by square metre. This is because, particularly with larger tiles, it is impossible to have an exact number per square metre.
For example, a 60cm x 60cm tile fits into a square meter 2.77 times.
If you’re interested in how to work it out:
Choose from a great selection of 60cm x 60cm (also known as 600mm x 600mm) tiles.
You can see a summary of some popular sizes at the bottom of this guide.
Go to the product page for your chosen tiles and you'll see our tile calculator. This has been magically programmed to do all the hard work for you and show you how many tiles to buy of the product page you're on.
Simply click on Measure Area just below the quantity box, enter the width and length of area you want to tile in centimetres and you'll see the Quantity section update the m² and the number of tiles needed!
You can then add your wastage amount, e.g. 5% and the m² and Tiles box will update again!
Once you're happy, just click Add to Cart.
In your basket, you might wonder what the option to add on 5%, 10% or 15% wastage is for. This is so you can add tiles in case of breakage or small future remodelling without having to retile the whole area, it's useful to have extra.
10% is an industry-standard allowance, which means you have a few extra tiles that you might need for any cuts, accidental breakages and spares.
Having a few tiles leftover is always good in case you want to replace a pipe or extend, and while many of our bestselling tiles have been with us for decades, very occasionally a tile is discontinued, so you may struggle to buy any more.
TOP TIP: If you’re tiling a bathroom or kitchen with lots of boxes to hide pipework, feature alcoves, etc, or tiling in a herringbone pattern, then 15% is a sensible allowance.
Once you’ve added wastage, simply click Add to Cart to order your tiles.
If you have a few tiles left over at the end of the project, then don’t panic. As we’ve mentioned, it’s always useful to have a few spares in case you need them in the future.
Another option is to recycle them into something new, such as a placemat, plant stand or a bigger project.
If you have drastically over-ordered, we do accept returns if they are in a resaleable condition (including packaging) and you let us know as soon as possible, but we do not cover the delivery cost for this.
Schools, colleges and community art projects sometimes need tiles for student work!
