Most people underestimate how often styles of ceramic tiles are changed. As a result they can find themselves struggling to replace tiles that get damaged in their bathrooms or kitchens.

Ceramic tile designs change all the time. A lot of people will be surprised to hear that this not only applies to decorative or patterned tiles but also plain tiles as well. The reason for this is because the manufacturers want to make more profit and realise that if they limit the amount of tiles in a range that after a few years, people will struggle to source replacement tiles and therefore end up re-tiling a whole area. Clearly from a consumer point of view this is not in their best interest as they end up spending more money.

If you do find yourself in this position I am going to tell you about the tile finder service run by a number of websites. But before I go there it does make sense for me to give you a simple tip that will help you avoid this situation. Quite simply buy an extra box or two of tiles which you store away until needed.

However I suggest if you are reading this the chances are that you need the help of a tile finder in order to match tiles to complete your project. Well the good news is that there are websites that offer this service.

All you do is let them know the size of your tile, the colours, the month and year purchased and from where. If you do have batch and identifying details you will of course need to submit these as well. They then scour their database of tile makers and distributors and will report back to you with their findings.