Where to Find Free Ceramic Tile Samples Online

Fireclay

Fireclay produces gorgeous handmade artisan tile in California, which usually translates to: "Free samples? Are you kidding?" Up to 5 samples are available.

Most Expensive (Per Sq. Ft.)

• $35 for basil with black patine

Watch Out For

Sample sizes are small—about 1.5" by 3". Even though no sample is ever quite big enough to visualize how an entire floor or wall will look, these barely make the cut. But still: it's free, so how can you argue?

Nice Surprise

Samples arrived in a neat little box 2 days later. The best surprise is that a small- to mid-sized tile company that offers artistic tile has a free sample operation. We're not sure how long this will last, but we love it while it's still in place.

BuildDirect

BuildDirect is an online retailer of all sorts of home improvement items, tile being just one item. BuildDirect offers up to 5 samples for free.

Most Expensive (Per Sq. Ft.)

• $21.70 for Takla Italian porcelain plank tile

Watch Out For

Be careful of going over your limit of free items, or you will get dinged with high costs. Adding just one extra item will cost you $12 and 2 extra items will cost $32. 

Nice Surprise

Only 2 days later, you will receive a huge bundle of 6" square floor tile samples.

BuildDirect's definition of "tile" is stretched to include Pedra Granite Modular, which is arguably more kitchen counter than tile.

Florida Tile

Florida Tile is a huge tile manufacturer and distributor located in Lexington, Kentucky, of course. (You were thinking it was Florida?) 

Most Expensive (Per Sq. Ft.)

Cannot be determined, as Florida Tile does not list prices. However, Florida Tile informs us that the company's entire catalog of field tile (but field tile only) is available for free samples.

Be Careful

Florida Tile's online ordering system for samples is difficult. Evidently, they prefer you to call a salesperson rather than order online.

Plus the sample program is more geared toward industry pros (architects, designers, etc.) than toward consumers, though consumers are still eligible for this program.

Since you cannot see images of the tiles you are ordering, we recommend opening 2 tabs on your browser: one tab with the part of the site showing the tiles, another tab with the above-linked sample request form. Then, match the desired tile in the first tab with the drop-down lists in the second tab. This one is not easy.

Nice Surprise

A Florida Tile representative assured us that the full-size sample tile will be sent out. 

Even though this one is a toughie, it's worth the effort.

Not Free, But Noteworthy

The tile world is littered with companies that will sell you one tile or a section of a tile. They may charge for the tile but make S&H free or the reverse. In fact, not only are these tile not free but on a per-square-foot basis they are exorbitantly priced, as you will see:

Two that we like:

• Home Depot: A lesser known part of Home Depot's website offers ceramic tile samples. You pay for the tile itself, but S&H is free. For example, you can get one tessera from the larger Sand Beach Pelican Glass mosaic. That tessera, individually $5.00, works out to be $180 per square foot.
• Builder Elements: The item is free, but you pay for S&H. With one tile that is normally about $14/sq. ft. (Porcelain Pebble Glass), payment for S&H would have been $7 for a 4" x 4" tile slice. This works out to $63 per square foot.