Cement Tile. Carrara Tile – The never aging trend.

Atlas Black used on the front of this Countertop. Stunning (our marble 4×12″ Venato for $9.95 a Square Foot along with Arabesque picture frame used as a border). Stunning Kitchen posted to our IG feed (take a look to see questions).

If you are an avid follower of design trends, or frequently spend your time on Pinterest or Instagram looking for the hot and charming trends, then it is safe to say that you might have come across some beautiful looking patterned tiles now and then. From kitchen floors to bathrooms and laundry rooms, these patterned tiles offer an appealing outlook to any floor.

Several of the patterned tile you’ve set eyes online and social media is Encaustic Cement Tile. It perfectly encapsulates the essence of a vintage tile. This tile like other Handmade Cement Tile has been making waves in Europe for quite some time now, but only just gained prominence and popularity in the US only in the last couple of years. What makes it an attractive Cement Tile is its alluring matte finish and the smooth, silky feel of its body.

We can rave about the amazing qualities of Encaustic Cement Tile all day and not be tired, and indeed it’s an integral part of The Builder Depot line up of products their Cement Tile collection. The Builder Depot is the only Google Trusted Store and the highest ranking store in the Tile and Stone Industry as a whole not just in the Cement Tile Industry

As well as the only company that ships from its own warehouse which it owns, giving us complete control over QC checks prior to it being loading onto the truck.The competition well…. They are all 3PL a 3rd Party ships their orders at a high price (that is a person simply scanning an order and putting a box on a pallet, no checking, fast as possible, then move onto other orders in the Air Conditioning section) 3PL’s stock multiple product types.

The Competition tries to sneak around their higher cost structure by selling online as cost per piece for example $6.95 is all the customer will see. But to get to the square foot price you have to multiply that by 2.25.

An example of pricing per piece (FYI. The only flooring product that is sold by the piece). $6.95 x 2.25 = $15.64 per Square Foot. So you do have to watch this tricky maneuver, to make you buy before you think. Whereas we are $10.95 a Square Foot and Free Shipping.

The Builder Depot works on massive economies of scale, a no debt business, pays cash upfront for the product (which ensures the highest quality – no one wants to loose a cash paying account). Along with a no frills marketing strategy, that keeps our costs down, along with no fixed costs. Instead of keeping this extra margin, we pass it onto the consumer. Pricing in 2019 for our Handmade Encaustic Cement Tile (made with the highest grade of Cement; Portland cement) is $10.95 a Square Foot and Free Shipping.

The competition does not have (and this is to warn not poke holes)

• Their own a warehouse
• Have a review policy (We are the only Google Trusted Store in this industry)
• An address shown on their website, very few. (as it is operated out of their home, nothing wrong with that but at least get a mailbox).
• No return policy (read their policy if you can find it in the lines and lines of waffle).
• Why you might ask? So they can collapse overnight and you cannot come after them for the sub-par Cement Tile they sold you. They have no assets. They will simply hide behind their LLC and you cannot take their 3PL that is not theirs. The inventory will be gone before you can say “But Lawsuit…..”

However: This well-designed Handmade Cement Tile still has a couple of drawbacks on its own. So let’s discuss those.

It is very similar to marble. As a Cement Tile, it  can stain if acidic liquids like wine are just left to sit. It is handmade and can be more susceptible to wear than any other tile (depending on the quality you purchased, from a small company with no history he will be buying the cheapest tile possible. Shipping from a 3PL (3rd Party Location and close up shop and hide behind his LLC as everyone is left with terrible tile, company has no assets, that is why they are all 3PL shippers).

It needs to be re-sealed as required better sealer quality less often. It does share very close similarities with marble. But some of these drawbacks could be a blessing in disguise. These “imperfections” are what makes the Encaustic Cement Tile perfect, and you know what, because the color and pattern of the tile are usually bold, when they wear or fade, their beauty will even come out the more. So, like fine wine, the Encaustic Cement Tile gets better with age.

Prices subject to change at anytime. The website has the most up to date pricing but we try and keep some stability. Ordering a sample for example. That locks your price in for 30 days from when you ordered the sample gives you time to decide without the rush. (Sorry lawyers want this caveat added to anything with pricing).

Amazing Carrara Venato 4×12″ Polished Backsplash

 

The product used in this backsplash is our exclusive Carrara Venato 4×12″ polished for $8.00 a Square Foot (also available in honed), and honed also makes a stunning backsplash as well. Pictured here.

But to get a better understanding of this absolutely stunning (and yes wow!) kitchen you need to take a look at Heather’s website here.

The Carrara Venato collection if correctly installed, by taking your time and ensuring the veining is well spread out with the mix of blank tiles can create a white backsplash that has no comparison. It is as white as printer paper.

While just one product is used here the Carrara Venato Collection consists of over sixty products which we match before shipping. We can send pictures before shipping. We do not use a third party warehouse like 90% of everyone else in the industry. We stock our own inventory so we control exactly what is shipped.

That is the only way we can see to be the highest ranked Google Trusted Store in the USA with 4.9 Stars out of 5 Stars. Which can be read here.

Carrara Venato 4×12″ Subway Tile

Carrara Venato 4×12″ Honed Subway Tile for $8.00 a Square Foot thru 2016.

Carrara Venato Honed 4×12″ for $8.00 Square Foot • Carrara Venato 1×3″ Herringbone Honed Mosaic Tile

Coming out of the shower customer created a double vanity using Carrara Venato 4×12″ Polished Subway Tile.

What can we say or comment. Very little. The installation is incredible. They have taken their time, blended the veining to insure that their are no “clumps” of Gray veining or white blocks. The tile has been well mixed and carefully selected. With the consumer giving the installer a range of tiles considered acceptable. The rest discarded. Over ordered by 20% to create a HGTV bathroom.

In short that is the trick. A bit of hands on at the start. Only “YOU”. Only you know the look “YOU” want. With one hundred and fifty square feet of tile you could create multiple looks. You should design and layout a small section, perhaps five square feet on the floor and then communicate talk to the installer about the design and flow of the veining. If you have paid for a qualified person he would do all of this before installing. He would ask questions like “How do you want the veining to flow?” If he is not asking this, I recommend reviewing his reviews and looking into his work more carefully. He maybe a wonderful tile contractor. Absolutely the best. But this maybe his first natural stone install. You do not want to be this guys learning project.  Your bathroom is not his school of learning.

A Carrara Venato Bathroom

A Classic but a Beauty. This is Carrara 4×12″ Honed ($8 Sq.Ft.) in the Shower and a Venato 2×2″ Hexagon Mosaic Honed ($11.75 Sq.Ft.) on the floor. The customer gave us his permission to share his comments as he sent us pictures.

Our exclusive marble from the Carrara Venato Collection available in both Honed and Polished

The customer gave us his permission to share his comments as he sent us pictures. Here they are below, just a simple cut and paste from the email, it was addressed to Stephen at our warehouse (we have left the customers name out):

Stephen,

Attached is a picture of our master retreat/ dream bathroom in the house we just built.  I purchased the marble through you guys at $8-$9 a square foot.  This same tile would have cost me $25-$35 a square foot at the flooring and tile specialists in our area.  When I told them about the products I saw on your site, they laughed at me and tried to play it off as “junk” marble much like they tried to downplay the big box store’s hardwoods as “junk” hardwoods.  I know better than to follow their biased advice so I walked out of their stores time and time again.

If it looks like marble, feels like marble, and smells like marble; then its gotta be marble.  You can see by the picture, our dream is a reality and I couldn’t be happier with the quality of marble.  Please use this email as a testimonial for those who are teetering between you and one of those “specialty” stores.  The tile that shows up at your house does indeed look exactly like the pictures online.  I can even report that my tile installer reported not a single broken tile during shipping.  With nearly 100 sq. ft. of tiles delivered across the country, this caught me by surprise.

You guys also have remarkable customer service.  Stephen, I was most impressed that I was able to send you my floor plan and you came back at me with estimates of how much I would need.  Everyone else wanted to charge me $30 to $50 to come to my house to give me an estimate for how much I would need, they wouldn’t do it based off of the plans.  Kudos to you and your team and their flexibility.

My only regret is that I ordered so much extra tile based on some breakage, and that breakage really didn’t occur due to your high quality shipping.  We also used less trim pieces than expected because of how nice the tile looked without it.  So really, no regrets.

You guys are great, and continued success to you!

Sincerely,

Carrara Venato 4×12″ Tile – in an Amazing Blog Reveal

This incredible Kitchen reveal you can see online at House Updated Brit used our 4×12″ Carrara Venato Honed so please go ahead and check out her blog post here

Carrara Venato 4×12″ Honed Marble Tile available online from the Builder Depot for $8.00 a Square Foot

Incredible transformation. The backsplash is nice but the entire kitchen is spectacular, wow!

And that oven looks wonderful and the counters, amazing how people create rooms like this scroll down and see the before

And it started out like this. How do you even go from this to what is above. I am speechless (or blog typeless)