Tile Layout Desk / FIELD NOTES
Tile or joint centered: choosing your tile layout
A tile layout distributes whole tiles and cut pieces across a surface. Moving the starting point changes the pieces that meet the walls, even with the same room and tile sizes.
Two ways to center
Tile centering puts the middle of a tile on the room’s centerline. Joint centering puts the middle of a grout joint on that line. Both produce matching opposite edge cuts in a perfectly rectangular room.
Example: a 3-meter span with 60 cm tiles
To isolate the effect of centering, assume no joint. A tile-centered layout fits five 60 cm tiles across 300 cm. A joint-centered layout gives four whole tiles plus two 30 cm edge pieces. Across a 3 × 3 meter square, that is 25 versus 36 laid pieces. Piece count need not equal purchased tile count when offcuts can be reused.
Repeat with your actual grout width
A zero-width joint is only a mathematical example. Enter the joint you actually intend to use and compare again. This planner adds joint width between tiles, so grout occupies some of the available span.
Check on site
Measure in several places. Account for the actual tiled area and discuss perimeter movement joints with your installer. A doorway, an out-of-square wall or a fixture can change the most suitable starting point. Dry-lay before cutting.