Tile Advisor

Choosing new tiles is great fun - and you'll be spoilt for choice, because there are so many beautiful tiles to choose from! We have put together this tile guide to give you some information that might make your decision easier. The topics chosen are the result of many conversations with our customers and suppliers.

Under each keyword, you can find a wealth of information that we hope will answer many of your questions directly. Other information will be useful for designing, selecting, talking to your tiler and laying tiles. You will be surprised at how much there is to know. Behind each of our almost 800 tiles lies tradition, craftsmanship and our commitment to offering you an exceptional range

Cap tiles

→ Molduras

Azulejos

Azulejos are Spanish or Portuguese tiles that are laid to form a pattern or image. The origins of this tile art and the word itself lie in the Moorish caliphates and kingdoms that shaped the development of the Iberian Peninsula from the 8th century onwards. The term is derived from the Arabic Azzelij or Al Zulaij, which means flat or polished stone.

These original tiles can still be admired today in one of the world's most famous group of buildings, the Alhambra in Granada. Local craftsmen have continuously developed Moorish patterns and techniques over the centuries. Azulejos are also an integral part of the historic cityscape in Portugal. In Lisbon, an entire museum is dedicated to the typical Portuguese tiles: the Museu Nacional do Azulejo

→ Mehr zur portugiesischen Fliesenkunst

Floor tiles

Floor tiles have different properties to wall tiles. They need to be harder, break-proof, more resilient and more abrasion-resistant. And they should be slip-resistant. Floor tiles are also laid differently. They are thicker and harder to cut than wall tiles, and the tiler needs different materials and tools. Most floor tiles can also be laid on walls (if you observe the higher weight), but the reverse is not recommended.

→ Unsere Bodenfliesen finden Sie hier.

Borders / Border tiles

Border tiles (‘Cenefas’) from Spain (spanish border tiles) and Portugal (portuguese border tiles) can be used to create a variety of wall designs.
Patterned border tiles create an endless pattern, e.g. a repeating floral ornament. They offer the opportunity to give white or single-colour tile surfaces that ‘certain something’. A slightly simpler alternative to patterned border tiles are single-colour tile strips.

→ Molduras
→ Torelos

Border tiles can also be part of a tile series. They then complement the flat patterns of the series. You can find such border tiles in our Spanish series Ibiza and Cuarteo (Ibiza and Cuarteo series). The selection of border tiles is particularly large for Portuguese tiles (see Portuguese border tiles). Of course, you can also combine these borders with other tiles, regardless of the series, provided that the sizes match or a joint offset is not a problem. When looking for a special border, you should also take a look at decorative tiles that have a self-contained pattern. These can also be used very well as borders. Our small, colourful Mexican tiles in 5x5 format, for example, are very popular as borders (see Mexiko 5x5). Image For floors, there are tile borders and corner pieces (‘esquinas’) that can be used to create a ceramic carpet.
See Victorian floor tiles for examples.

B-grade goods / Seconds / Substandard goods

With many handmade and hand-painted tiles, small irregularities are part of the character of the tile. If 'genuine' defects in appearance and quality occur during production and transport, such as chipped corners or glaze damage, we offer these tiles at a reduced price as B-grade goods. B-grade goods are only available in limited quantities - we cannot order damaged tiles from our suppliers. In addition, we offer badly damaged and broken tiles in inexpensive packages for hobbyists, for example to make mosaics.

→ B-Ware finden sie bei unseren Sonderangeboten.

Cotto

Term for tiles made of terracotta ("baked earth"), which are traditionally sold unglazed. The surface is often not completely flat and, above all, porous. This allows it to absorb moisture. Cotto tiles must be treated with special oils or waxes to give them a water-repellent surface and protect against stains.

We only offer terracotta tiles with a glazed surface. They also have the typical warm, reddish colour, but are much easier to clean and do not require any complex pre-treatment. Cotto tiles are popular as floor tiles for country house styles due to their rustic character.

Crackled finish

Crackled finish is a network of very fine hairline cracks on the surface or glaze of ceramic tiles. It can be a deliberate stylistic device or, alternatively, undesirable.

In some tiles, the crackled effect intensifies as the material ages. In light-coloured glazes such as Mexican White, the hairline cracks can fill with darker particles (dust and/or grease) over time, making them more prominent. With dark glazes, e.g. cobalt blue, this darkening of the cracks remains inconspicuous.

Crackled finish can sometimes become visible immediately after grouting the tiles when the glaze absorbs the grout pigments. To avoid this effect, which can occur particularly with our Mexican wall tiles, they can be impregnated before grouting. → impregnation

The desired crackled effect can also be created during production, either in the glaze itself or as a print.

Our tile range with intentional crackled effect:

Series Castellon 13x13
Series Cuarteo 20x20

Decorative tiles

Decorative tiles are tiles with patterns, special structures or shapes. They can be laid over a large area or mixed together with → einfarbigen Fliesen. The choice of decorative tiles is practically unlimited: from classic blue and white patterns to pictorial representations and tiles with a vintage look, there are no limits to your personal design. Decorative tiles are handmade or industrially manufactured and are available in a wide range of qualities. Important to know: Decorative tiles are either designed without edges so that the next tile continues the pattern seamlessly. Or they have a narrow, plain-coloured edge.

Design

→ Decorative tiles
→ Borders
→ Laying patterns
→ Joints

Single-colour tiles

The most popular tiles are plain, single-colour tiles. They are the best choice when it comes to a timeless, calm design. Our range of plain or single-colour tiles is even greater than that of decorative tiles: they are available in a wide variety of formats, shapes, sizes, surfaces, colours and qualities.

At our Tamega shop, you can order all of our tiles individually (minimum order quantity one tile) , so that you can check your colour selection in your future environment at your leisure before placing a larger order.

→ Einfarbige Fliesen im Shop

Inserts

Inserts can be used to create colorful, subtle effects in a calm tiled environment. Together with octagonal tiles, for example, small square inserts in a different colour (contrasting or tone-in-tone) create a classic pattern for the tiled floor, for example. Depending on the -> laying pattern (link?), inserts can also be creatively combined with square and rectangular tiles.

Porcelain stoneware

Porcelain stoneware is the technical term for high-quality tiles and other ceramic objects which are fired at high temperatures and have excellent material properties: porcelain stoneware is particularly break-resistant, highly abrasion-resistant and has a very low porosity. Due to the density of the fine material, it absorbs very little water, which means that unglazed porcelain stoneware can also be laid outdoors. Porcelain stoneware is also a good choice for areas subject to heavy wear, such as in public buildings or restaurants.

Our porcelain stoneware series are glazed and therefore offer a wide range of colours and many classic designs for your wall and floor designs.

Series Alegria 11,5x11,5
Series Alboran 15x15
Series Casa Color 15x15
Series Gala 15x15
Series Cantabria
Series Capilla
Series Piso
Series Torre

Murals (tile pictures)

Tile pictures, known as albarradas in Portugal and murals in Mexico, are assembled like a jigsaw puzzle from several tiles to form an overall motif. Tile pictures usually feature classic motifs such as plants, landscapes, fruit and vegetables, animals or farmyards. They are generally hand-painted and create a unique effect in the right environment.

The designs for the murals available today are mostly traditional motifs from palaces, public buildings or quintas. Portuguese murals are often framed by a wide border with a leaf motif (acanthus). Spanish murals include the Livorno Sonata and Livorno Protea motifs, which are suitable for 'endless laying' - an impressive option for wall design, especially in the catering industry. >> Fliesenbild Livorno Sonata, 120x120 cm

The Fliesenbilder can be also combined with matching single-colour tiles.

Tile strips

The narrow coloured decorative strips with a three-dimensional shape (Molduras and Torelos) are special elements in high-quality tile series. They are laid on the wall either as a border above the tile mirror or as a decorative row in the upper area.

See Single-colour Antique style 15x15 and scroll down.

If you put either Moldura or Torelo in the search field of our Tamega shop, you will find all our decorative strips.

Frost resistance

Frost resistance is essential for tiles used in unprotected outdoor areas. This is considered to be the case if the tiles absorb less than 3% water. Water can penetrate tiles that are not frost-resistant and expand when it freezes. This causes fine cracks and damages the tiles. Anyone looking for tiles, especially floor tiles, for their balcony or terrace should therefore pay close attention to frost resistance and professional installation, or opt for natural stones such as granite, quartz and slate. Our tiles are generally not labelled as frost-resistant, and we do not guarantee frost resistance. However, if you want to give your courtyard (patio) or other exterior walls a Mediterranean look with colourful wall tiles, structural protection such as a roof overhang often helps to ensure that the tiles remain mostly dry in winter.

Grouting

In addition to their visual, hygienic and structural functions (compensating for material expansion), grout lines also serve to compensate for dimensional tolerances and rustic irregularities in tiles.
Before laying tiles, you should think about the grout. How wide should it be? As a rule of thumb, the wider the grout, the more rustic the overall effect of the tiled surface. The second important question is: which colour is the best choice? Because there are almost no limits to the choice of grout colours. As a general rule, dirt is less noticeable on tinted grout, while light-coloured grout is more susceptible to discolouration and darkens over time. In terms of design, choose a colour that matches the tiles as closely as possible to create a harmonious overall look. Contrasting or even bright white grout colours should be carefully considered, as they strongly emphasise the laying pattern. Before deciding on the grout colour and width, take a look at areas that have already been tiled. You will probably notice that the most commonly used grout colours are subtle shades of grey. Some of these are referred to as silver grey.

Glaze

Glaze has two important functions in tiles: firstly, it protects the tile and secondly, it offers many design options for the surface of the tile. The material for the glaze is applied together with colour pigments and other substances during the tile manufacturing process, either to the blank or to the tile that has already been fired once. The applied substances fuse together during firing and bond with the body, the actual tile body underneath (‘sintering’). After firing, the originally porous body has a more or less smooth surface that is less susceptible to dirt and usually more abrasion-resistant than before.
Glazes can be matt or glossy. Glossy glazes are quite smooth, so they are more commonly used for wall tiles.
The long history of tile art (Short history of ceramic art in Portugal) shows how complex it is to produce the glaze for decorative tiles. Over the centuries, new and more sophisticated techniques have been developed to enable ever finer artistic motifs. Craftsmen not only need to be highly skilled – mistakes cannot be corrected after application – but also have a good capacity for abstraction, as the different colours are often indistinguishable before firing.

Hand-painted tiles

In Portugal in particular, ornamental tiles are still painted by hand today based on historical designs. Small, selective patterns in the corners, such as those on the Braga decorative tile are applied using a stencil. For more elaborate, full-surface patterns, the craftsman places needle-punched parchment sheets on the tiles, through which he presses a kind of charcoal dust to create fine black lines. These lines are traced with a glaze brush and the resulting separate areas are then painted in. For tile pictures consisting of several tiles with figurative representations or landscape motifs, the individual tiles are placed at an angle on a board to form a large surface and, in some cases, painted freehand with glaze.
For our hand-painted tiles from Mexico, the glaze is applied either with brushes or using screen printing techniques.

Tiffany style tiles

Tiffany style or Art Nouveau is an art-historical period from the end of the 19th century to the 20th century. Beautiful examples of tiffany style tile design can be found, especially in the stairwells of elegant old urban buildings from this period.
They are characterised by decorative curved lines, large floral ornaments and expressive glaze colours, but also by geometric and minimalist elements, some of which are in relief. Our Tiffany style can be seen in the Art Nouveau series.

Tile

## The terms ‘tile’ and “kachel” are often used interchangeably in everyday language. However, experts use the term ‘kachel’ to refer only to the heat-retaining, hollow building elements used in the construction of tiled stoves.
In southern Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg, tiles are also called ‘plates’ and tile layers are called ‘plate layers’.

Crackled finish

→ Craquelé

Impregnation for tiles

DIY and tile shops offer various impregnating agents that seal the surface of the tiles, e.g. to prevent a → Krakelee-Effekt from becoming too visible. They are also known as stain protectors. All products should first be tested on a sample tile. We recommend the manufacturers Lithofin or Fila.

Molduras

Molduras or vaulted tiles are double-curved tiles.

Example of Molduras.

We offer this special type of finishing tile or finishing strip for some tile series.
Moldura tiles are always placed on top of the upper row of tiles as a finishing touch. For a tone-on-tone effect, the same colour as the main tile is chosen. Beautiful contrasts can be created, for example, by combining antique white main tiles with a coloured moulding such as cerezo (wine red) or cobalt blue.

→ Border tiles
→ Tile strips

Mosaic

Mosaics have been around since pre-Christian times. One of the earliest and most beautiful examples is the Alexander Mosaic in Pompeii, which is made up of around a million tiny stones. Today, tile mosaics are popular for designing floors and walls. What they all have in common is that a geometric pattern or image is created from tiles or tile fragments measuring a maximum of 10x10 cm. The easiest way to lay them is to use small tiles that are already attached to ‘boards’. A more creative option is to design your own pattern using inexpensive tile fragments, e.g. for tables.

See special offers.

Sample tiles

When we at Tamega talk or write about sample tiles, we mean individual tiles that our customers order in order to better assess the colour and texture than they can on a screen. In common parlance, sample tiles often also refer to patterned → Decorative tiles.

Pastel-coloured tiles

If you are looking for an unobtrusive, friendly tile design but don't like white tiles, take a look at our tiles in pastel shades. Colours such as light grey or blue have a timeless charm. Unusual laying patterns – Metro tiles, for example, can be laid like bricks in a grid or on their edge – result in unusual design options with uniform, delicate colours.

→ Series Urban Atelier
→ Series Aquarell 6x20
→ Series Metro/
→ Series Arabesque

Reserve tiles

When ordering tiles, we recommend always allowing for a small reserve (for example 10%) so that you have some tiles from the same batch in stock in case they are necessary such as moving some pipes. Otherwise, if you need to replace tiles, there is a risk that the tiles you reorder will have a slightly different colour tone or may no longer be available. The reserve should be calculated independently of the -> offcuts.

Skirting tiles

Skirting tiles can be used to create an attractive and practical finish for tiled floors: skirting tiles are usually rounded at the top, narrower than the main tiles and continue the colour scheme of the main tiles on the floor a few centimetres up the wall. This creates a wipe and impact edge that prevents the wallpaper or wall from being damaged or soiled during cleaning.

You will find single-colour skirting tiles to match our Victorian series (see Victorian single-colour).

Talavera tiles

The Spanish city of Talavera de la Reina in the province of Toledo is famous for its high-quality ceramics. The craftsmen of Talavera have contributed significantly to the craftsmanship of ceramics. In 2019, UNESCO declared Talavera ceramics to be intangible cultural heritage. In the 16th century, potters working for the colonial rulers took the art of ceramics to Mexico, where they decorated churches and monasteries with handmade tiles. The mixture of colonial design and craft influences with the cheerful, colourful indigenous patterns and techniques resulted in the fantastic variety of motifs and colours that we know today. Mexican tiles now have their own unique design signature that reveals their origins.

Terracotta

→ Cotto

Tile clay / Alumina

The raw material used to make handmade tiles is alumina. Small quantities of other materials, such as feldspar and kaolin, are usually added to the natural clay. Fired clay is referred to as ceramics. Bricks are also made from fired clay.

Torelos

Example of Torelos.

→ Molduras
→ Tile strips

Laying patterns

The effect of tiles depends largely on the laying pattern. There are more laying patterns available for rectangular tiles than for square ones. The number of colours, designs, formats and sizes available greatly increases the number of possible laying patterns. Tiles in different colours, formats and sizes can be used to create highly creative and individual patterns.
As with everything related to aesthetics, laying patterns are also subject to trends. The vertical laying of metro tiles, for example, shows that even a consistent, traditional product such as a single-colour, rectangular tile can be given a completely different look with a new idea. You can try out simple laying patterns of square tiles with our Online tile pattern designer. Unfortunately the designer does not include all available tile series.

Off-cuts / Waste

When laying tiles, between 5 and 15% waste is incurred. This should be taken into account when ordering tiles and added to the calculated quantity. A lot of waste is generated, especially with diagonal laying, small rooms, large tiles, rooms with many special structural elements such as fireplaces, columns, kitchen islands, niches and non-rectangular floor plans.

Wall tiles

Wall tiles are generally lighter, smoother and less durable than floor tiles. There is often a wider choice of colours, patterns and designs than for floor tiles.

White tiles

Not all whites are the same! You can see how varied the ‘non-colour’ white is in tiles by entering ‘white’ in the search field in our shop. The shades range from pure white to creamy white, the tiles may be glossy or matt, and combining white with other colours also changes how we perceive it. If in doubt, you should always order a sample tile from us when looking for a white tile. White tiles for individual series are always coordinated with them.
Important note on Mexican decorative tiles which have Mexican White in the pattern: In combination with pure white tiles, e.g. from a DIY store, the cream white of the Mexican tiles appears somewhat dull. If you have decided on Mexican tiles, e.g. as a border to white, it is best to choose bright colours without a large proportion of Mexican White. This creates a fresh contrast.

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