Straight grid
Tiles aligned in both directions, grout lines running continuously across the room. The simplest to set out, the fastest to lay, and the least forgiving of a room that is out of square — because every grout line is a straight reference the eye can check against the wall.
It suits large-format tiles and modern interiors, and it is the only layout where offcuts from one side of the room reliably fit the other.
Brick or offset bond
Each row shifted relative to the one below, as brickwork is. Traditionally a half-tile offset, though a third is now more common, and the reason is practical rather than aesthetic.
**The lippage trap.** Tiles are not perfectly flat — most have a slight crown in the middle. Offset two long tiles by half their length and the high point of one sits against the low corner of its neighbour. The result is lippage: a lip you can feel with a bare foot and catch with a mop.
The longer the tile, the worse it gets. For plank tiles of 600 mm or more, a half-tile offset is close to unworkable. A third or a quarter keeps adjacent tiles much closer in height, which is why manufacturers of large planks specify a maximum offset — often one third — and why ignoring that instruction produces a floor that has to come up.
Offset bond is forgiving of an out-of-square room, because the staggered joints give the eye nothing to line up against a wall.
Diagonal
The grid turned 45 degrees. Two genuine advantages: it makes a small room read as larger, because the longest sightline across the floor becomes the diagonal, and it disguises walls that are not parallel.
The cost is cutting. Every perimeter tile is cut at an angle, and every offcut is a triangle that will not serve anywhere else. Budget 15 per cent waste and expect the job to take noticeably longer.
Set out from the centre of the room, not from a wall. A diagonal that starts wrong is visibly wrong along its entire length.
Herringbone
Rectangular tiles laid at right angles to each other in a repeating zigzag. It is the most striking layout available and the most demanding of every other thing being right.
- Cutting: Every perimeter tile is an angled cut. Twenty per cent waste is realistic.
- Set-out: The centre line must be established precisely and the first few tiles laid with real care; error compounds visibly across the floor.
- Time: Roughly twice a straight grid for the same area.
- Tile choice: Needs a true rectangle — 2:1 proportions such as 600 × 300 work cleanly; awkward ratios do not close up neatly.
Which to choose, practically
- Large plain room, large tiles: Straight grid. Fastest, least waste, cleanest.
- Long narrow room: Lay the long dimension of the tile across the width. It visually widens the space.
- Small bathroom: Diagonal, or a small-format offset. Both make the floor read larger.
- A feature you want noticed: Herringbone, and price the extra time honestly before agreeing it.
Set out before you mix any adhesive
Whatever the pattern, dry-lay a run across the room first. You are looking for one thing: whether the last tile against the far wall ends up as a sliver.
A 20 mm strip along a wall looks like a mistake regardless of how well it is cut. Shifting the whole set-out by half a tile turns two slivers into two comfortable half-tiles, and it costs nothing to decide before the adhesive is open.