Cost of bathroom tile. Part 3. High quality ceramic tile

This article is primarily for those of you who are thinking of making house renovations, and want to come up with an estimate of how much might these renovations cost. The information presented below has to do with only wall tiles. The prices below represent an approximate average, since every factory is constantly changing their collections and different dealers use different prices to sell tile.  Almost every factory is going to have a couple of collections that are less or more expensive than the prices indicated below.

So if you are not satisifed with Domestic bathroom tile, and you do not like inexpensive imported tile, what should you turn your eyes to?

1. Portuguese tile. Prices

People in our country are somehow surprised when they hear about Portuguese tile, but the whole of Europe knows about the century-old tradition of making Azulejos in Portugal. Tile has been produced in Portugal since the 15^th century, it is decorating majority of beautiful and important buildings in that sunny country, and Portugal is among the top ten world tile exporters. Also, there are deposits of white clay in Portugal, so the Portuguese tiles made ​​of white clay will cost you less than the Italian (Italians, for the most part, import their white clay).

You can find the following Portuguese brands on Russian market
Cinca – the leader of  the Portuguese market – 1 100 – 2700 r. per meter

 Aleluia Ceramicas – 1 066 – 1 292 r. per square meter

Love Ceramic Tiles / eX Novagres 1 100 – 2 500 r. per meter

Ophelia tile from Cinca factory. Sells for 1 390 r. per meter	Spoony tile from Aleluia factory. Price is 1 430 r. per meter	Desire tile from Love Ceramice Tiles. Price is 2 000 r. per meter

2.  German tile. Price                                    

Germany does not concern itself with design and does not produce that much tile. You will basically find a mighty German clinker on our market.  As far as tile is concerned, the trade mark that is most known in our country is Villeroy & Boch (obviously due to dishware and kitchen utensil stores). This factory produces tile mainly in a classical style. It is rather expensive – on average from 2 000 rubles per meter all the way to 4-5 thousand (although there are several options for 1 600r), therefore, we will be talking about this tile in an article that describes expensive tile. Besides this, the market often has:

Steuler –1 400- 200 r per meter.
Iasba – 1 600-2800 r. per meter
Agrob Buchtal – 1 400-2 300 per meter
Engers – 1 400 2 300 r. per meter
Boizenburg – 1 250- 1 800 r. per meter
Boizenburg -1250 – 1800 р. за метр

Louis & Ella tile from Steuler factory. The price is 1 526 r. per meter	Unity tile from Agrob Buchtal factory. Price is 1 500 r. per meter	Erotic collection  from Boizenburg factory 1 250 r. per meter

3.    Spanish tile. Price

Spain is one of the world leaders in tile manufacturing. Even during the most difficult of times for the Spanish economy the national tile industry shows good results (see article). More than 100 factories produce tile, 80% of which is exported, and our country serves as one of the priority markets for Spain. Therefore, it would be impossible to list all of the Spanish tile that is sold in our country. Generally speaking, the main price range for Spanish tile varies from 900 to 3 000 rubles per square meter, with most tile selling for 1 250 – 1 900 r. One of the key features of Spanish tile manufacturers is imitation stone tile, thus you will not find the same amount of quality imitation tile in any other country. The brands that are most widely represented on our market are: 
Porcelanosa
Aparici Ceramicos
Ceracasa
Colorker
Grespania
Peronda
Pamesa
Marazzi Espana
Saloni
Roca
Tau
Azteca
Venis

Dress tile from  Aparici factory. Price is 1 900 r. per meter	Yakarta tile from Porcelanosa factory. cost is 1 900 r per meter

6008  tile from Porcelanitedos factory. Price 2 950 r per meter	Eris tile from Pamesa factory price 1 430 r per meter	Crystal tile from Venis factory. Price 1 890 r. per meter

4. Italian tile. Price

Italy is rightfully considered to be a trendsetter in tile design. There are about 300 factories that produce a wide variety of tiles. Every self-respecting manufacturer has at least 15 wall tile collections (or even 50 at times), therefore, it would be pointless to list all of the existing factories and their price varieties. Generally, the prices for good quality Italian tile vary from 1 000 to 3 500 rubles per square meter, and majority of prices are concentrated within the 1 400 – 2 400 rubles per square meter range. You can purchase a truly beautiful, high quality tile in the range of           2 000-2 400 rubles.  You can also find less expensive tile, however, by and large, it is going to come from old collections or sale items.  There is also more expensive tile, but we will take a look at it in a different article. One of the main advantages of Italian tile is considered to be design, Italian companies spend countless amounts of money on its development and innovation, and, according to this indicator, they are really ahead of every one else on the planet.

The following are the factories that are most widely represented on our market:

Marazzi (not to be confused with Kerama Marazzi - Russian manufacturer that is part of the Marazzi group)
Atlas Concorde (Atlas Concorde also has a factory in Russia, but it only produces stoneware)
Impronta
Gardenia Orchidea
Imola
ACIF
Emil Ceramica
Dado
Ceramiche Piemme
Tagina
FAP  (generally this factory’s tile is more expensive than the indicated range, thus we will be discussing it in the article regarding expensive tile)

Radiance tile from Atlas Concorde factory. Price is  1 950 rubles per meter	Ecclettica tile from Impronta factory. Price is  2 100 per meter

Palace tile from Marazzi Italy factory Price is 2 000 r per meter	Venise tile from  Emil Ceramica factory Price is 3 800 r. per meter

Enjoy tile from  АВК factory. Price is 2 050 rubles per meter	Sweet tile from  ACIF factory. Price is 1 640 rubles per meter

It most certainly does not mean that the above-mentioned factories are the best- it is just that if you walk around the stores, chances are, it is these brands that you will come across most often.

Calculating the cost of tile for the bathroom. High quality imported tile

In order to calculate the cost of tile for your bathroom you will need to

• Take the area of the bathroom (sum of the walls’ areas) and multiply it by the price per square meter. For instance, if your bathroom is 2x2 meters with the ceiling being 2.5 meters high and the door being 2x0.8 meters, the total footage is going to be 2x2.5x 4 - 2x0.8 = 18.4 meters.  With the prices being 1 800 rubles per meter, the total sum is going to be 33 120 rubles.
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  Add a percentage for the trim: 7-10 percent. If you are really trying to save money, you might not add any extra percentage and just buy it later. 33 120+ 7% = 35 438 rubles.

• You can add borders if you’d like.  The price for the borders from the above mentioned factories is in the range of 400-1 500 rubles per border (there are certainly more expensive ones out there, but we are only considering cost-effective versions).  In order to calculate the amount of borders, you need to divide the length of the wall by the length of the border. For instance, with the horizontal stacking that is parallel to the floor of one row of borders at a particular height, if the border is 30 cm long, for a two-meter long wall, it will take 2:0.3 = 7 borders. Therefore, our bathroom that is 2x2 meters is going to take 7x4-3 (these are the borders that we are not placing where the door is) = 25 borders. With the price of 800 rubles per border. The total cost is going to be 20 000 rubles.
  
  
  Add the cost of the floor tiles (with some extra). The area of the floor times the price per meter. We have another article that talks about the cost of the floor tile, but for a rough estimate of the price for a cost-effective floor tile we are going to take 1 700 rubles per meter.  The total sum is going to be 2x2x1 700=6 800 rubles. With some extra it is going to be 6 800+7% = 7 276 rubles.
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  Optionally, you can add inserts. Insert – is the tile of the same size as the background tile, but with richer décor.  You can place them wherever you like – most often people put it above the bathtub. The cost of the inserts for a cost-effective tile can vary greatly as well, but majority is in the range of 1 200-3 000 rubles per piece. If you would like 10 pieces you are going to have to pay 10x1 500 = 15 000 rubles.
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  Optionally, you can add inserts. Insert – is the tile of the same size as the background tile, but with richer décor.  You can place them wherever you like – most often people put it above the bathtub. The cost of the inserts for a cost-effective tile can vary greatly as well, but majority is in the range of 1 200-3 000 rubles per piece. If you would like 10 pieces you are going to have to pay 10x1 500 = 15 000 rubles.
• Add up the total cost based on what you want to use in the design of your bathroom. In our case, the bare minimum is going to consist of the price for the wall tile + price for the floor tile = 33 120+6 800 = 39 920. This is the price without any extras or any decors. The price with the extras: 35 438+7 276 = 42 714. The price with all decors and borders: 42 714+20 000 +15 000=77 714 rubles.

Thus, the average cost-effective version of the bathroom renovation, is going to be anywhere between 40 and 70 thousand rubles for the tile expense.  Naturally, the bathroom sizes are highly individual and you can pick a slightly more or less expensive tile in this category.  Besides, if you add some mosaic, get ready to add 15-30 thousand more.

• Do not forget that you still need to pay for the cost of grout, the cost of tile adhesives, leveling materials for the walls (if necessary), and the labor (if you do not lay tile yourself).

Let us reminds you that if you would like to calculate the most inexpensive option, you should look for domestic tile. Please see Cost of bathroom tile. Part 1.  If you do not want to get domestic tile, yet you are not ready to pay for Spanish tile either please also read Cost of bathroom tile. Part 2. Inexpensive imported tile.