Wood Look Tiles

Feb 2021

Wood look tiles (Timber look tiles) has become popular, yet the incredible solution to solid wood flooring to achieve a similar look. Wood tiles are highly durable, waterproof, scratch-resistant, and require simple maintenance compared to solid wood floors. However, many people fail to achieve a nailing wood look tiles (Timber look tiles) with their porcelain tiles as they miss some basics in installation.

Check our tips for nailing the Wood look tiles / Timber effect tiles for the great result.

Choose Fine Wood Pattern and Texture

First of all, wooden look tiles (Timber look tiles) would never go wrong and you can start everything from the pattern and texture printed with inkjet. These kinds of wooden tiles look usually come in more extensive variations. The manufacturers can copy the wood grains of any solid wood floor you can imagine like teak, maple, oak, walnut, and so forth. Furthermore, inkjet printing allows manufacturers to produce multiple color variations for each wood pattern. Whether it’s a silver-grey patina teak or darken oak pattern, you can always have your option here.

Manage The Tile Orientation

Wooden-look tiles come in repetitive patterns so you need to manage the tile rotation to diversify the overall flooring look. There are some approaches to breaking up the repeating pattern in wooden look tiles but you can start with rotating the orientation. It works like magic as with just a simple turn of orientation, the pattern and overall look get diversified in no time. However, some tile products may have different sets/sequences of pattern repetition. Simulate and plan the orientations before attaching the tiles onto the floor.

Go for Wood Look Tiles / Timber look tiles with Rectified Edge

There are two common types of tile edges available in the market, the pressed edge and rectified edge. The rectified edges mean that the manufacturer rectifies the edges to make them more exact that results in a more accurate joint. Timber look tiles with rectified edges allow a more precise installation and tighter grout lines regardless of the orientation. The rectified edges’ construction allows the plastering materials to fill gaps more evenly. For wood look tiles (Timber effect tiles), it would look greater if the installation applied tighter grout lines.

 Go for Wood Look Porcelain Tiles

There are three major types of Timber effect tiles based on the materials and processes including concrete, ceramic, and porcelain tiles. Generally speaking, we’d suggest simply going for porcelain tiles as it’s the best choice for a wooden-look flooring application. It has complete resistance to wear, water, scratches, and chipping. Wood-look porcelain tiles are highly durable that makes it a more affordable investment for flooring. Besides, wood-look porcelain tiles also come with more pattern options.

Apply Dark-Colored Grout Lines

Another fundamental tip when flooring with Timber look tiles is to apply the darker grout lines. Along with rectified tile, you can create tight grout lines that blend into an overall look that visually tricks most eyes. The application of darker dye makes grout lines barely seen in the set of installed Timber look tiles. Today, you can find grout premixes in various color options and you can choose the one that can blend well with the tiles you want to install. Typically, you can choose a grout color one shade darker than the tile color.

 Choose The Longer Tiles

Not only by copying the wood grain and texture, but you can also achieve the real wood floor look by simply choosing the longer tiles. Wood-look tiles are available in the market in different lengths of planks. Whatever your tile chooses, don’t go under 40inch in length as shorter tiles hardly create a real wood look. You can simply choose the wood look tiles (Timber effect tiles) that copy or are close to the solid wood floor. This would elevate the overall wood-look tile and flex the installation process.

Be Creative on a layout pattern

There are chances that you may have found patterns you love very much but they’re only available in a shorter length. It’s not the end of the world as you only need to be creative on layout patterns. While the plank layout may not work in shorter wood look tiles(Timber look tiles), you can simply arrange them with a herringbone pattern. This layout pattern is a never-go-wrong solution for tiling even if you have shorter wooden-look tiles to install. Another advantage of this layout is that you can apply it in most areas in your home like the kitchen, living room, or dining room.

Installing Like Solid Wooden Flooring

Sometimes, we forget the simple thing about the basic idea and reason for using wooden-look tiles copying solid wood flooring as much as possible. However, many people are stuck in applying generic tile layout to wood-like tile installation that results in disappointment. Why just don’t we install wood-like porcelain tiles in the way solid wooden flooring is installed? Instead of using hexagonal layout other geometric patterns, you can make a layout pattern in a completely random order like solid wood flooring. This would create a top-notch real wood visual effect over your porcelain tiles.