Ceramic Floor Tile Material Cost

Get more answers to your ceramic tile floor questions at our floor tile installation article. See that article at this link...

Ceramic floor tile costs include the cost of

• the basic tile itself,
• the tile trim,
• the base,
• adhesive,
• grout.

There is a wide range of prices for the materials especially for the ceramic floor tile itself. I'll describe typical prices you can expect to pay.

To estimate the cost of a job, you must determine the area to be covered. For a floor, just measure the length and width. Multiple the length times the width to calculate the area. If the room is 16 feet long and 12 feet wide, the area would be 16 feet multiplied by 12 feet or 192 square feet. You'll need a little extra because of trim and breakage.

If you're using 12 inch square tiles, each tile will cover a liitle over 1 square foor when you include the grout joints. Tile 6 inches by 6 inches requires about 4 tiles per square foot. You'll find your basic unit of measure with tile work is the square foot.

Cost of Basic Ceramic Floor Tile.

Typical ceramic floor tile 12 inches by 12 inches costs about $2.25 per tile. This gets you a tile in an earth tone with some texture.

Tile on the lower end is 78 cents per 12 inch square. This tile does not have the typical interesting texture, but still looks very attractive.

If you choose natural marble tile, expect to pay anywhere from $3.97 to $9.26 per 12 inch square tile. The price varies with different clor and patterns.

Granite tile is even higher with prices varying from $4.98 to $14.50 per 12 inch square.

You can see that's a lot of variation. But for most of the ceramic floor tile, you'll pay just over $2.00 per square foot for the basic tile. If you were to choose 6 inch square pieces, you would pay about double per square foot for the ceramic floor tile.

The Tile Trim.

Ceramic floor tile normally doesn' have much trim. There is usually either a marble or wood threshold transition from the tile to adjoining floors. Fancy tiles, with special patterns or textures, are available. Typical cost for a fancy 6 inch square tile is $7.00 per tile. These are more often used in walls. Floors may have a different texture or pattern tile as a decorative or trim element.

The Base.

Tile can be installed over many surfaces, but usually not wood. An excellent surface base is Hardi-Backer cement board. This come in 3 by 5 foot sheets either in 1/4 or 1/2 inch thicknesses. Cost is about $10 per sheet.

Ceramic Floor Tile Adhesive.

Adhesive comes ready mixed or as a powder. We will usually use the powder. Cost is about $9 per 25 pound sack. 25 pounds covers 45 square feet.

Grout.

Sanded or unsanded grout covers about 9 square feet per pound with 6 inch square tiles. A 25 pound bag is about $12.

Consider a typical ceramic tile floor 10 feet by 15 feet using very nice textured floor tiles.

• Ceramic Floor Tile 150 tiles times $2.25 per tile    $338
• Extra Tiles for Trim and Breakage 15 times $2.25     38
• Hardi-Backer board 10 boards times $12               120
• Adhesive 4 bags times $9                                    36
• Grout 1 bag times $12                                        12
• Miscellaneous- screws, tape, etc.                         20

Typical Average Ceramic Tile Cost For 150 Square Foot Room          $564

This cost estimate is as of September 2007. Prices were from my local Lowe's store.

This is the material cost, not the cost to install.

Get more answers to your ceramic tile floor questions at our floor tile installation article. Read that article at this link...