Top Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Tile

Quick Summary: The most permanent mistake when buying tile isn't choosing the wrong color—it's ordering too short. Because tile is manufactured in separate production runs (dye lots), reordering months later risks noticeable shifts in shade and dimensions, or finding that the series has been discontinued. While a 10–15% overage is standard, intricate layouts such as diagonal, herringbone, or chevron require up to 20% to account for complex perimeter cuts. To ensure a seamless installation, calculate your order based on your room's layout complexity, include one extra box for long-term attic stock repairs, order physical samples to verify colors in your room's light, and confirm all quantities with live support before checking out.

You've picked the tile. You measured the room, added 10-15% because that's the range everyone gives, and you're about to order. That percentage is where many projects go wrong. Not because it's wrong, but because it's incomplete.

Most mistakes in buying tile are fixable after the fact. You can re-grout. You can seal stone you didn't know needed sealing. You can live with a finish that came out glossier than you wanted. What you can't do is go back in three years and buy more of a tile that's no longer made in the run you bought, or no longer made at all.

Here are the ten mistakes that come up most often, starting with the one that can't be undone.

The 10-15% waste rule is often cited as a standard, but it is a baseline for simple projects, not a definitive answer for every room. Relying solely on a broad percentage without considering your specific layout is how projects end up short. When you run out of tile mid-installation, you risk receiving a different dye lot or finding the series has been discontinued.

Layout drives waste more than square footage alone. A straight, stacked grid in a rectangular room produces very few unusable offcuts. Conversely, diagonal patterns or complex rooms with niches and jogs require significantly more perimeter cuts, most of which cannot be reused elsewhere.

Layout drives waste more than square footage alone. While 10–15% is a common baseline, it doesn't account for the complexity of your room or pattern. Our subway tile pattern guide explains how intricate installations like herringbone or chevron require more significant cuts at the perimeter, most of which cannot be reused.

The risk of reordering later is largely tied to dye lots. Because tile is manufactured in batches, a box ordered months after your initial shipment may shift in shade or dimension. Ordering the full job in one lot ensures a consistent look across the entire surface. This is especially critical for glazed or handmade-look tiles that are designed to have natural variation.

Attic stock should be framed as a separate decision, not just padding your waste percentage. Professionals recommend keeping at least one full box of the original lot stored flat and dry. This "attic stock" is your insurance for clean repairs years down the road if a tile cracks or a leak requires opening a small section of the wall.

Tile Mart's 365-day return policy provides planning flexibility, allowing you to dry-lay your tile and confirm the color and count before installation begins. However, it isn't a reason to over-order without a plan. Calculate your number based on your specific layout and spares, then use the return window to verify the shipment matches your vision.

Attic stock is a separate number. Installers set aside what the trade calls attic stock: a box kept back after the job is finished and stored flat, dry, and labeled with the lot number from the original carton. If a tile cracks three years later, that box is the difference between a clean repair and either a visible patch or a discontinued line. Decide on it as its own line item, not by padding the percentage.

The order of operations is straightforward. Measure the field, meaning the main run of tile before cuts. Add the waste allowance for your layout. Then add one box for attic stock.

About our 365-day return period. It gives you time to receive the shipment, dry-lay it, and confirm color and count before you commit. Dry-laying means setting the tile out loose, without adhesive, to see how it reads together. That's planning flexibility, and it's worth using. It isn't a reason to order a wider buffer than your layout calls for. Order the number your layout and your spares call for, then use the window to confirm you got it.

Grout is often treated as an afterthought, but it changes the finished look more than most people expect. Decide early whether you want the joints to disappear into the tile or contrast with it. Those are two different rooms. Test grout colors against your actual tile samples in the room's own light before you commit. Our guide to choosing a grout color for white subway tile walks through how far the same tile can shift.

A tile can look right and still be wrong for the room. Three properties decide it: how much wear the surface takes, how much grip it has when wet, and how much water it absorbs.

A tile can look perfect but fail if its technical specifications don't match the environment. For high-traffic floors or wet areas, you must verify the tile's durability and slip resistance.

Not all tiles ask the same thing of you. Natural stone generally needs periodic sealing and stone-specific cleaners. Porcelain and ceramic ask for very little. Check the upkeep before you buy, not after, and match it to how much maintenance you'll realistically do. The table in Mistake 9 breaks it down by material.

Thickness matters most where your tile meets something else. Uneven heights at a doorway create a trip hazard or an awkward transition strip. Check the thickness of your floor tile against the flooring it will butt up against, and plan the transition before installation day.

Screens cannot accurately reproduce tile color or texture. Always order samples of the finishes you're weighing and view them in your room's specific light. For high-variation series like zellige or terracotta, dry-lay your tiles from multiple boxes before setting to ensure the variation is spread evenly across the surface.

For high-variation series like zellige and terracotta, a single sample isn't enough to see the full range of color and texture. Order several samples to understand the variation you'll receive in the full order. Our guide to tile samples with Julee Ireland covers exactly what to look for when your samples arrive.

Budget matters, and the cheapest tile in a category is sometimes fine. The problem is buying on price without knowing what you're giving up. Lower-cost tile can be more prone to cracking, discoloration, or premature wear. Spend where the tile takes abuse or gets looked at, and save on the accent wall nobody walks on.

Layout is a decision, not a default. Sketch it before installation so you know where the cuts land and which wall gets the sliver. Aim to avoid cuts narrower than about two inches, since they're fragile and they read as a mistake. For patterned tile, dry-lay the field before anything gets set. Expect to adjust once installation begins; a plan that can't flex isn't much of a plan. The TCNA Handbook is the reference installers work from on layout and setting, and it's worth asking your installer what it says about your pattern.

Porcelain, ceramic, natural stone, and glass are not interchangeable. Porcelain and ceramic can look nearly identical side by side, yet they differ in density and water absorption, and that difference determines where each belongs.

Each material also has its own setting requirements. Ask what a tile is rated for, and what it's set with, before you decide where it goes.

Specialty and imported tile often carries longer production and delivery windows. Confirm lead times before you book a crew, not after. Tile Mart's team can check current availability on a specific tile, which is worth doing before anyone is scheduled.

Not reliably. Tile is produced in runs, and shade and dimensions can shift between them. Through-body porcelain tends to stay consistent; glazed and handmade look tiles vary by design. Order the full job in one lot and keep spares from that lot.

Plan on 15-20% over your measured square footage. Herringbone puts angled cuts along every border in two directions, and those offcuts rarely fit anywhere else. Add more if the room has niches, jogs, or curves.

Keep one box, stored flat and dry, and labeled with the lot number from the original carton. That box is your repair for a cracked tile years from now, when the series may no longer be available.

The last decision you make before checkout is a single number with three parts: the measured field, the waste allowance your layout calls for, and one box you don't plan to install.

The most accurate way to calculate your order is to move past rules of thumb. Start by ordering samples to confirm your material in its actual environment. Once your layout is finalized, calculate your quantity based on the complexity of your cuts and your need for attic stock. If you need expert verification, send your room measurements and chosen layout to confirm the quantity before you check out.

Order samples first and look at them in the room. Then send your measurements and layout to Tile Mart's support team, and confirm the quantity before placing the order. If you're still working out what goes where, start with I’ve picked my tile, now what?