Cheap Tiles: 7 Checks Before You Buy From a Clearance Pile

Cheap tiles can be a genuine bargain or an expensive mistake, and the price label tells you almost nothing about which one you are holding. As tilers working across Bromley and south east London, we fit budget tiles every month. Some look better on the wall than tiles costing three times as much. Others add a day of labour to the job because they are warped, mixed in shade or sized inconsistently. The difference is nearly always visible before you pay, if you know where to look.

This page covers the checks we run on any low-cost tile before we agree to fit it: what is printed on the box, what “seconds” and “clearance” actually mean, which tile types are safest to buy cheaply, and where a cheap tile ends up costing you more in labour than it saved at the till.

Why some cheap tiles are fine and others are not

A tile is cheap for one of four reasons, and only two of them are a problem.

It is a plain, mass-produced design. White gloss wall tiles, plain metro tiles and basic matt floor tiles are made in huge volumes. They are cheap because they are simple, not because they are poor. These are usually the safest bargains.
It is end of line or clearance stock. The range has been discontinued or the shop is clearing space. Several UK retailers state plainly that clearance stock is first quality; it is cheap because there is limited quantity left, not because anything is wrong with it.
It is a second or B grade. The tile failed the factory’s visual inspection. Grading is set by each manufacturer rather than one UK-wide rule, but seconds typically have shade variation, small chips, surface blemishes or size and flatness that fall outside the first-quality tolerance.
It is a low-specification tile sold for the wrong job. A soft wall tile marketed loosely enough that someone buys it for a hallway floor. The tile is fine; the use is wrong.

The first two are where the real savings are. The last two are where cheap tiles go wrong, and most problems we are called back to fix come from them.

Read the box: shade, calibre and batch

Every box of tiles from a reputable manufacturer carries a batch or shade code, and rectified or larger tiles usually carry a calibre (size) code as well. Tiles from different firings can differ slightly in colour and in exact size, and those differences only show once the tiles are on the wall.

Check every box has the same shade and calibre code before you leave the shop or sign for a delivery. Mixed codes are the single most common cause of a “patchy” finished wall.
Buy the full quantity in one go. With clearance stock this matters twice over, because once the batch has gone there is no more. Work out your area with our how many tiles do I need guide and add around 10% for cuts and breakages, more for diagonal or herringbone layouts.
Keep two or three spare tiles after the job. If one cracks in five years, a matching cheap tile will almost certainly be impossible to find.

If a box has no batch or shade code at all, treat that as a warning sign rather than a detail.

Seconds, B grade and clearance: what you are actually buying

Because there is no single legal definition of a “second”, the label means whatever that factory or seller says it means. Ask before you buy, and get the answer in writing if the quantity is large. Points we would check:

Returns and warranty. UK sellers commonly sell seconds and B grade stock with no warranty and no returns. If the tiles turn out to be unusable, the loss is yours.
Size consistency. This is the defect that costs most in labour. On small wall tiles a millimetre of variation is hidden by the grout joint. On large format porcelain it becomes lippage (one tile edge standing proud of the next), which a tiler can only partly manage with a levelling system and extra time.
Flatness. Lay three or four tiles face down on a flat surface, or face to face, and look for rocking. A bowed tile will not bed fully.
Chips and surface marks. Small edge chips on a tile that will be cut anyway do not matter. Marks in the middle of a face tile do, and you will lose more tiles to sorting than you expect.

Our view after years of fitting them: seconds are a sensible buy for a utility room, a garage, a feature panel you can sort tile by tile, or a small splashback. They are a poor buy for a large open-plan floor or anywhere the light rakes across the surface.

Which cheap tiles are safest for floors

For walls almost any decent ceramic tile will do. Floors are less forgiving, and this is where the specification printed on the box earns its keep.

Porcelain over ceramic for floors. Under BS EN 14411, porcelain falls in the lowest water absorption group (0.5% or less). That makes it denser and harder wearing, and a budget porcelain floor tile is usually a better bet than a budget ceramic one. Our porcelain tiles guide goes into more detail.
Check the wear rating on glazed tiles. Glazed tiles are commonly graded on the PEI scale for surface abrasion, from PEI 0 (walls only) to PEI 5 (heavy traffic). For a domestic hallway or kitchen floor look for PEI 3 or higher. A cheap wall tile with no PEI rating should never go on a floor.
Check slip resistance. A cheap polished tile can be lethal when wet. The Health and Safety Executive explains how slip resistance is measured, including the pendulum test value (PTV) bands, on its flooring slips guidance. For bathrooms and kitchens, a matt or lightly textured finish is the safer budget choice.
Frost resistance outdoors. If cheap tiles are going outside, the box or data sheet must state that they are frost resistant. Ceramic wall tiles almost never are.

Where cheap tiles cost more than they save

Tile price is often the smaller part of a tiling bill. Labour, adhesive, grout, trims and preparation make up the rest, as our tiling cost per square metre breakdown shows. That changes the maths on budget tiles:

Uneven tiles slow the fitter down. Sorting, back-buttering to correct thickness and adjusting lippage all add time. If your tiler charges by the day, poor tiles can wipe out the saving.
Soft or brittle tiles break more during cutting. Plan on more waste, not less.
Very cheap large format tiles are the biggest trap. Large tiles magnify any bow. Spending less on a 60 x 120cm tile with poor flatness is usually false economy; a smaller, well-made budget tile will look better.
Cheap does not change the preparation. A wet room still needs tanking, a timber floor still needs suitable boarding, and a heated floor still needs the right adhesive. None of that gets cheaper because the tile did.

How to make a budget tile look expensive

Most of the “expensive look” comes from the fitting, not the tile. A plain white tile can look sharp or cheap depending on these choices:

Grout colour and joint width. A tight, consistent joint in a well-chosen colour does more than any premium glaze. See our guide to choosing grout colour.
Layout. Setting out from the centre so you avoid thin slivers at corners and around windows makes a wall look planned.
Trims and edges. Neat metal or PVC trims on external corners, or properly finished mitres, lift a cheap tile instantly.
Spend where the eye goes. Many clients use an inexpensive plain tile across most of a bathroom and put the money into one feature wall or niche.

Our buying checklist for cheap tiles

Confirm the tile is suitable for the job: wall or floor, indoor or outdoor, wet area or dry.
Check the box for shade, batch and calibre codes, and that they match across every box.
Ask whether the stock is first quality, clearance or seconds, and what the returns policy is.
Lay out a few tiles to check flatness, size and finish before committing.
For floors, check porcelain or a stated wear rating, plus a slip resistance figure for wet areas.
Buy the full quantity plus waste in one batch, and keep spares.

If you are in the Bromley area and want a second opinion on tiles before you buy, our tilers are happy to look at a sample and tell you honestly whether it will fit well. You can find out more on the Bromley Tilers homepage. The Tile Association, the UK trade body, also publishes consumer advice and a directory of members at tiles.org.uk.

Frequently asked questions

Are cheap tiles worse quality?

Not necessarily. Plain, mass-produced ceramic and porcelain tiles are cheap because they are simple to make in volume. The quality risk sits with seconds, unbranded stock with no batch codes, and tiles used for a job they were not made for.

What does “seconds” mean on tiles?

Seconds are tiles that failed the manufacturer’s first-quality inspection, usually for shade variation, chips, surface marks or size and flatness outside tolerance. There is no single UK definition, so ask the seller what the grade covers and whether returns are accepted.

Can I use cheap wall tiles on the floor?

No. Wall tiles are usually softer, more absorbent and often too slippery for floors. Use a tile rated for floors, ideally porcelain, with a wear rating suitable for the room.

How many extra cheap tiles should I buy?

Allow around 10% extra for a straight layout and more for diagonal or herringbone patterns. With clearance stock, buy enough in one batch and keep a few spares, because matching tiles later is rarely possible.

Do cheap tiles cost more to fit?

Good budget tiles cost the same to fit as expensive ones. Poor tiles with uneven sizes, bowing or mixed batches take longer to sort and lay, and some tilers will price that extra time into the job.

Are clearance tiles the same as seconds?

Not always. Clearance tiles are often first quality stock from a discontinued range or the end of a batch. Seconds are a lower grade. Check the label or ask the shop which one you are buying.

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contact@bromleytilers.co.uk