About Us
Welcome to La Monte Tiles
With Over 35 years experience in the Ceramic and Tile Industry, La Monte Tiles is renowned for Quality and Reliability.
Who Are We
We are a family operated organisation, who hold values such as integrity, honesty and trustworthiness very close to our hearts.
Our Mission
Our Mission is to encapsulate our clients vision and make it their reality.
What We Do
From idea all the way through to reality, we provide quality service and all things necessary to create beautifully designed tiled masterpieces.
Our history
When La Monte Tiles opened its store in 2009, the idea was simple: show customers that elegant designs didn’t have to come with ‘elegant’ price tags. Using a fine eye for detail, great customer service skills and distinctive interior design. We brought features from the realm of exquisite interior design to clients nation wide.
Over nine years later, we have been providing excellent service, quality products and up to date industry knowledge to customers all over Melbourne. Our devotion to supplying the very best designs we can is shown through our consistent effort to stay ahead of the industry trends. As we grow, our dedication to creating an exceptional experience and quality designs for our customers is the natural result of cultivating a culture of genuine, rewarding opportunities for our employees.
Our 6-D process
01
Discuss
Talk with one of our friendly sales consultants and discuss your project with them. Explain what it is you would like your space to achieve. They will then explain the various design options and prices as per your budget and requirements.
02
Define
Once deliberated and agreed upon, your consultant will confirm all design/project requirements and then prepare for the design stage.
03
Design
Our sales consultant will begin designing your project. We provide you with unmatched styles that you will love, while making sure your design looks sharp and stands out.
04
Develop
Your sales consultant will accumulate all of the individual elements from the preliminary design stage and use them to develop a finalized custom design for your space.
05
Deploy
Once we receive your final approval. It is then time to deliver tiles directly to site, ready for installation!
06
Deliver
From concept to creation, your design is brought to life and you will now be able to enjoy a beautifully designed custom space. That’s not all, in case you ever need additional help our dedicated team is always here to assist you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Generally speaking, any tile designated by the manufacturer as a floor tile can be installed on vertical surfaces and counter tops. The durability required for floor tiles are significantly greater than for wall tiles (which receive no foot traffic), so floor tiles are sufficiently durable for a typical wall installation (provided the substrate is suitable and correct adhesives are used). This allows for an elegant and uniformed floor to ceiling look.
The reverse is not true, however. Wall tiles are not suitable for use on floors as they have a lower durability rating meaning they will damage, wear and chip easier than floor tiles.
Ceramic tiles | Porcelain tiles | |
Construction | Red, brown or white clay. Softer, less dense. | White clay, sand, feldspar. Harder, more dense. |
Pros | Easier to cut, cheaper. | Absorbs less water, stain resistant, more hardwearing. |
Cons | Absorbs more water (prone to cracking in cold weather), more prone to stains, less stain resistant, less hard-wearing. | More expensive, trickier to cut and shape, more brittle. |
Best used for | Walls, areas with little moisture, areas with light footfall or abrasion. Walls | Areas with higher moisture levels, areas with higher footfall or abrasion. Floor and Walls |
Cost | Cheaper | More expensive |
Colour | Colour only on glaze, different underneath. | Runs through whole tile, can have a glaze on top. |
Ease of use | Easier to cut. | May require specialist expertise to cut. |
Suitable for exterior use | No | Yes |
Many tiles, especially natural stone such as slate, marble and limestone are porous and need to be sealed. Note: porcelain and ceramic tiles are non porous as they are provided with a glaze over the finish of the tile and do not require to be sealed. An exception to this is polished porcelain tiles, which usually need sealing before grouting due to the polishing process that causes tiny micro pores
You have to seal natural stone tiles before the grout is applied, however. If you don’t, the grout will be absorbed into the tile, ruining the finish. If that happens, it’s impossible to get the grout out of the pores of the tile. So, you can’t let your contractor tile, grout, then seal the whole thing – it would be a huge mistake.
Larger tiles can make a small room seem bigger. Visually, a smaller room can appear larger with the use of larger tiles. With a larger tile, grout lines are less frequent. This makes the floor look more streamlined and open.
For Wall Tiles
Draw out each wall on a piece of paper (it doesn’t need to be to scale) and take each square section as a separate area.
Take a width measurement in millimetres and divide by the width of the tile you have chosen. This will tell you how many tiles wide your area is.
Decide how high you would like to tile (it can be all the way up the ceiling. Measure this height in millimetres and divide by the height of your tiles. This tells you how many tiles high your area is.
Multiply the number of tiles wide by the number of tiles high.
Repeat these steps for each wall drawn on your sheet.
Add each number of tiles together and add an extra 10% as an allowance for cuts, breakages, and spares.
Floor Tile Quantities
Floor tiles are worked out in the same way as wall tiles, above.
We find nothing better to measure out your areas than trusting measurements given to you on a plan (which will need to be converted into millimetres anyway). If you’re having a hard time figuring out the floor quantities (especially thanks to a strange shape room), one of our friendly consultants will be happy to help out.
Please note:
When we work out quantities, we always allow an extra 10% for cuts, breakages and spares. At La Monte Tiles we have dozens of people each week chasing old tiles to replace where a pipe has burst, or to extend, and so often the tiles have been out of production for years. (It pays to keep spares!)
We do not install tiles, however we do have a number of strong relationships with both domestic and commercial tile fixers and thus can recommend an installer that will suit your project.
Would you like to start a project with us?
Beginning a new project? Contact the team at La Monte Tiles to get started!