Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Tile in our Mexican house is beige/ivory...light off-white. My grout is tan, not brown, light tan, I guess. Easy to clean, always looks clean. The tiles are 15 years old, btw.
Yes, all tile is standard here too at the equator. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. So easy to clean---always LOOKS clean. The grout has never been an issue. They are diagonal 18" squares---off white porcelain with gray grout. The grout has never been a problem.
I loathe carpeting. We don't even have a vacuum; maids just sweep and mop. Small rugs with grippers next to the bed and in kitchen when standing. Other than that, I'm not "walking around" enough to feel anything but cool comfort on my feet.
Very common where we own or have owned homes...AZ, FL and Mexico. Makes sense in hot weather areas, especially when we have or had hottubs and/or swimming pools.
I have also come to believe that wall to wall carpeting (or large area rugs) are nothing more than sponges for germs. I'm not a germophobe, but while you can vacuum carpeting daily, getting out pet dander, pet peepee, whatever they bring in that's is on their paws, well, that takes a deep deep cleaning and most people don't do that daily.
Every family I know that complained their young kids had allergies, those allergies went away when they replaced the wall to wall with hardwoods, laminate or tile.
Yup. I was cured of the desire for carpet when I pulled up some old carpeting. YUCK. It's easy to tell yourself that a carpet is clean after you've vacuumed it. It isn't.
We once rented a vacation house in FL that was all tile. It's fine for FL or the Southwest U.S. because it's cooler. In the Midwest or North, I would never want an all tiled house. I don't even like tile in kitchens. It's a hard, cold surface. Give me hardwood or carpet in bedrooms.
Here in southern New Mexico, most home are concrete slab/tiled floors. It is VERY hard on the legs and back if you are standing/cleaning. Also cold. Unless the grout is that special acrylic stuff, it gets yucky and nothing cleans it. You can have it acid washed and then painted over however.
I suppose with concrete slabs there isn't much choice other than carpet and that fake wood flooring stuff that looks so bad.
I live in Southern California on the coast. Plenty of homes with all tile or mostly all time. I live it. Then again we have a moderate climate. It was cold this morning. Got down to 44 degrees. It was 60 degrees in our home. We hardly ever turn on the heater. Our tile floors are cold but then again I have my slippers.
Here in southern New Mexico, most home are concrete slab/tiled floors. It is VERY hard on the legs and back if you are standing/cleaning. Also cold. Unless the grout is that special acrylic stuff, it gets yucky and nothing cleans it. You can have it acid washed and then painted over however.
I suppose with concrete slabs there isn't much choice other than carpet and that fake wood flooring stuff that looks so bad.
Engineered hardwood can be glued to a concrete slab. Some engineered wood has such a thick top layer that it can be refinished. I have had engineered hardwood in 3 homes. 12 years later looks as good as it did new.
Our house is all tile. It originally had the dust and pollen collector known as carpet in it. Carpet is a disease waiting to happen which is why we got rid of it. Our overall health is considerably better, no more sinus issues, etc. The wife has area rugs that are in key places. Having cold floors here is not an issue like it probably could be farther north. We've also had all of our rental property in Michigan changed from carpet to laminate or tile. No complaints about cold floors yet. Grout is not an issue if you have a clue about flooring ahead of time. Most tile setters will want to have a 1/2" grout line. You can get real sloppy with the install and don't have to spend much time making sure the tile aligns right with 1/2" grout lines. We set our tile on 1/8" grout lines. There's no applying mastic to the floor and then start slapping tile down. Makes a huge difference in the final product- you see tile, not grout. We'll never have carpet again.
The first all tile house I ever spent time in was in Hawaii, and it was ~1 blk from the beach. Made perfect sense. It was humid, warm, and sand got tracked everywhere despite our best efforts at keeping it out. Would have destroyed the finish on just about any other kind of flooring.
Where we live in Seattle, I think it'd be about the least desirable configuration you could want. Flooring definitely has a geographic aspect to it.
I think it is very cold, not physically, but the atmosphere. It makes me think I am in a museum. That may be because most houses that were all tile that I visited were set up like a museum. Art work and art furniture with both a thing out of place and nothing visible to make you think someone actually lived there. I guess "sterile" is they way I would convey what all tile says to me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
