Types of Tiles: The Complete UK Buyer's Guide

Choosing between the main types of tiles is the decision that shapes how a floor or wall looks, how long it lasts and how much cleaning it needs. Walk into any UK tile showroom and the choice can feel bewildering: ceramic, porcelain, natural stone, glass and mosaic, each in dozens of finishes, colours and formats. Pick the wrong one and you get a slippery bathroom floor, a cracked hallway or a splashback that stains. Pick the right one and the tiling outlasts everything else in the room.

This guide breaks down every common tile type, what it is made from, where it works best and the ratings that tell you whether a tile suits a busy hallway, a wet shower or a light-use kitchen splashback. If you are weighing up a job in South East London, our team at Bromley Tilers fits all of these every week, so the advice below is what we would tell a customer across the counter.

Ceramic tiles

Ceramic is the traditional wall and floor tile: clay pressed into shape, glazed and fired. It is the most affordable option, easy to cut with a basic manual cutter, and comes in the widest range of colours and patterns. Because non-porcelain ceramic is softer and more porous, it is best kept to walls and light-traffic floors rather than a hallway that takes muddy boots all winter.

Glazed ceramic wall tiles are the standard choice for kitchen splashbacks and bathroom walls: the fired glaze is waterproof and wipes clean. The trade-off is durability. Chip the glaze on a floor tile and the softer clay body underneath shows through, which is why we steer people towards porcelain for anything below knee height that gets heavy use.

Porcelain tiles

Porcelain is a denser, harder relative of ceramic, made from finer clays fired at a higher temperature. The headline number is water absorption: to be sold as porcelain in the UK a tile must absorb no more than 0.5 percent of its weight in water, measured to the EN 14411 and ISO 10545 standards. That near-impervious body is why porcelain suits wet rooms, kitchen floors, hallways and outdoor patios where a porous tile would soak up water and crack in a frost.

Porcelain comes glazed or as full-body (through-colour), and modern printing makes wood-effect planks and marble-effect slabs that are hard to tell from the real thing until you touch them. It is tougher to cut and drill than ceramic, so most floors and large-format porcelain need a wet cutter and diamond blade rather than a snap cutter.

Natural stone tiles

Natural stone brings a depth of colour and variation that printed tiles cannot fully copy, because every piece is different. The trade-off is that stone is porous and usually needs sealing before grouting and again after fitting, then re-sealing every year or two. The main stones you will see in UK homes are these.

Marble

Marble reads as luxury: veined, cool and available polished or honed. It is relatively soft and etches when acids such as lemon, wine or some cleaners touch it, so it is happier on bathroom walls and low-traffic floors than around a busy kitchen sink.

Travertine

A form of limestone with a warm, tumbled look and natural pitting that is often filled and honed. It works well in bathrooms and hallways but needs regular sealing to resist water marks.

Slate

Slate is darker, riven and naturally slip-resistant, which makes it a strong choice for kitchen and hallway floors and porches. It is durable but can flake (spall) if a poor-quality batch is used outdoors.

Limestone

Softer and more uniform than slate, limestone gives a calm, pale floor. Like travertine it is porous and best sealed well and kept away from heavy acid exposure.

Glass, mosaic and terrazzo tiles

Glass tiles are non-porous, stain-proof and reflect light, which is why they turn up as feature strips, splashbacks and inside shower niches. They are usually reserved for walls and accents rather than floors.

Mosaics are small tiles (glass, ceramic, porcelain or stone) supplied on mesh-backed sheets. Because the sheet flexes, mosaics follow curves, shower trays and niches that full-size tiles cannot, and the extra grout lines add grip underfoot in a wet room. Terrazzo, made from chips of marble or quartz set in a cement or resin binder, has come back into fashion for its speckled, hard-wearing surface and suits floors and worktops.

Tile formats: from metro to large format

Material is only half the decision; format changes the whole look and the amount of cutting and waste on a job.

Metro (subway) tiles: classic 200 x 100mm brick-shaped wall tiles, laid in a brick bond, stack bond or herringbone. Cheap, timeless and forgiving.
Large format: tiles 600mm and above, up to full slabs. Fewer grout lines make a room look bigger and cleaner, but the substrate must be dead flat and a tile levelling system is usually needed to avoid lippage.
Hexagon and patterned: geometric shapes and encaustic-look patterns for feature floors and splashbacks.
Herringbone and plank: rectangular tiles, often wood-effect porcelain, laid in a directional pattern that adds movement and generates more offcuts.

How to read tile ratings before you buy

Three numbers on the box tell you whether a tile is fit for where you want it:

PEI rating (I to V): abrasion resistance for glazed tiles. PEI I and II are wall-only or light use; PEI III suits most domestic floors; PEI IV and V handle hallways and heavy traffic.
Water absorption: the porcelain threshold of 0.5 percent. The lower the figure, the more suitable a tile is for wet and outdoor use.
Slip resistance: the R rating (R9 to R13, from the German ramp test) and the UK pendulum test value (PTV). For a bathroom or wet room floor, look for at least R10 to R11, or a PTV of 36 or above, which is classed as a low slip risk.

The British Standard for tiling, BS 5385, sets out how each type should be fixed, which is worth knowing when you compare quotes. Reputable fitters follow it, and you can find accredited members through The Tile Association.

Which tile should you choose?

As a rule of thumb: glazed ceramic for bathroom and kitchen walls; porcelain for any floor that gets real traffic, plus wet rooms and patios; natural stone where you want character and are happy to seal and maintain it; glass and mosaic for accents, niches and grip. Match the format to the room size and the rating to the use, and the tile will still look right long after the fashion that inspired it has moved on.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most hard-wearing type of tile?

Porcelain is the most durable common tile. Its dense, low-absorption body resists chips, scratches, water and frost, which is why it is used on the busiest floors and outdoors. Among natural stones, slate and granite are the toughest.

What is the difference between porcelain and ceramic tiles?

Both are fired clay, but porcelain is made from finer clay at a higher temperature, giving a denser body that absorbs 0.5 percent water or less. Ceramic is softer, more porous and cheaper, which makes it ideal for walls but less suited to heavy floors or wet areas.

Do natural stone tiles need sealing?

Yes. Marble, travertine, limestone and slate are porous and should be sealed before grouting and again after fitting, then re-sealed periodically. Sealing stops water, wine and oil soaking in and staining the stone.

Which tiles are best for a small bathroom?

Larger, light-coloured tiles with fewer grout lines make a small bathroom feel bigger, while a slip-rated floor tile of at least R10 keeps it safe when wet. Gloss wall tiles bounce light around, and a mosaic works well inside a shower niche.

Can you use any tile on a floor?

No. Wall tiles are often too thin and soft for foot traffic. Always check the tile is rated for floors, with a suitable PEI rating (III or above for most homes) and a slip rating that matches the room.

Are large format tiles harder to fit?

They are less forgiving. Big tiles show up any unevenness in the wall or floor, so the surface must be flat, the adhesive applied with full coverage, and a levelling system used to prevent one edge sitting proud of the next (lippage).

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contact@bromleytilers.co.uk

Types of Tiles: The Complete UK Buyer’s Guide