Wooden floor tiles - natural beauty made practical

New Zealanders are increasingly moving towards more organic looks that represent their natural surroundings and create a relaxed, down-to-earth feeling in their home. We're seeing more simplistic design, earthy colours and natural materials. For flooring solutions, this means timber is the go-to.

While natural timber flooring brings a warm feeling to a space, they do require care and maintenance, especially in wet areas. Porcelain timber look tiles are the perfect alternative! They give the best of both worlds: a hard-wearing surface that will look just as good in 50 years, whilst being low-maintenance and sustainable.

Modern wood look tiles

Tile technology has advanced leaps and bounds in the past 10 years and one of the major improvements is in realistic inkjet printing on porcelain tiles, giving us incredible wood look tile design.

Timber look tiles are created with a punch that creates indentations and grain in the tile for an ultra-realistic surface. You can tell a good quality timber look tile by the variation in punches over different pieces, essential for a rustic style tile such as Jacaranda Patina 200x1200 (below).

Porcelain tile is a great medium for a distressed effect or a burnt finish. You can achieve the look of recovered timber without the cost of sourcing and the worry of how it will degrade over time.

The practicality of wood look tiles

Unlike real timber, porcelain tiles are impervious to water, hard-wearing, won’t scratch and won’t fade or go yellow in the sun. They are easy to keep clean, don’t need special treatments and, being porcelain, they also have an excellent fire rating.

These practical attributes make porcelain wood look tiles a great option for busy homes and set them apart from natural wood, lino or other flooring options.

How do I care for my tiles?

Ceramic and porcelain tiles are some of the most easily maintained flooring materials. Generally, any household cleaner or even soap and warm water will do the job.

You may also consider sealing the tiles to keep dirt off the pores of the tile and the grout.

Timber look tiles laying patterns

How the tiles are laid will have a big influence on how your space is viewed and feels. While the most common and simplest way to lay planks is Staggered Lay or Brick, there are other popular patterns such as Herringbone and Stack Lay.

Left: Herringbone, Centre: Staggered Lay, Right: Stack Lay.

To get the best out of any plank shaped tiles, it is recommended that the tile is laid in a third or quarter pattern to avoid lippage of the tiles. This pattern also gives a certain amount of continuity and is visually pleasing.

We encourage the use of levelling systems when laying planks. Check out the Levolution system, a quick and efficient way to lay plank tiles.

Where to use timber look tiles

Unlike some other types of flooring, there are no rules as to where you can or cannot lay porcelain tiles.

Porcelain tiles are highly durable, water-resistant, frost-resistant, stain-resistant, easy to maintain and clean, and suitable for interiors and exteriors. They can be installed in bathrooms, kitchens, hallways, and even outdoor patios and pool decks (grip finish), where humidity and dampness would make wooden flooring impractical.

Porcelain tiles are a great option for areas with high UV exposure, and for families with kids and pets. Performance isn't a concern with porcelain tiles - it's just a matter of finding the right design for your space.

Spa-like Bathroom

Featured tile: Breath Math Tiles

Fuss-free Kitchen

Featured tile: Treverkway Betulla 15x90

Lifestyle Living

Featured tile: Aspen Driftwood SPC Flooring

Blissful Bedroom

Featured tile: Vintage Miele Matt

Commercial Spaces

Find familiar: Breath Grey Matt 22.5x90

Find timber look tiles in New Zealand

At Tile Space we have a huge range of timber look tiles, in all sorts of colours and variations. Pop into your nearest store and one of our expert design consultants can show you all of the options, or browse our range of timber look tiles online.