Laying 600 × 1,200 mm or bigger tiles? Here is what stops lippage and hollow tiles, what to ask the tiler, and how to check the floor before you pay.
Large-format tiles need three things a small tile can do without: a genuinely flat substrate, full adhesive contact (a notched-trowel bed on the floor plus back-buttering the tile), and a levelling clip system that holds neighbouring edges level while the adhesive sets. Skip any of them and you get lippage, one edge standing proud of the next, or hollow tiles that crack. Our tiling guide puts porcelain at RM18–RM35 per sq ft supplied and laid, with a large-format labour add of +RM2–RM5 per sq ft.
There is no single cut-off, but in Malaysian homes “large format” usually means the popular 600 × 1,200 mm plank and slab-look tiles, the 800 × 800 mm squares, and the bigger slabs used for feature walls. They are popular because fewer grout lines make a room look bigger and calmer. The catch is physics: as our tiling contractor guide puts it, a 300 × 300 mm tile forgives a ripple that a 600 × 1,200 mm tile turns into visible lippage.
Big tiles are also heavier, harder to carry without cracking, and slower to cut. That is why the same guide adds a separate labour line for the largest formats, and why this is work for a tiler who does it regularly rather than one learning on your floor.
Lippage is the height difference between the edges of two neighbouring tiles. On a large, flat tile it catches low light across the room, it catches bare feet and robot vacuums, and it is the first thing a guest notices. Our defect inspection guide treats lippage of more than 2 mm between tiles as typically a defect.
Lippage has three usual causes. The substrate is not flat, so the tiles follow its hills and dips. The adhesive bed is uneven, so one tile sinks more than the next. Or the tiles themselves have a slight bow, which every large porcelain tile has to some degree, and the layout places the high middle of one tile next to the low end of another. Each cause has its own fix, and none of them is extra grout.
A large tile cannot bridge a dip, and it should not be packed up with extra adhesive in the low corner. A thick, uneven adhesive bed shrinks unevenly and is one of the reliable ways to get hollow tiles. The floor is made flat before tiling, with screed or a levelling compound, and walls are rendered plumb and flat. Our tiling contractor guide explains why screed or levelling is not included in normal tiling rates and must be priced separately, so ask whether it is in the quote before the slab is found out of level.
Check the floor with a long straightedge before any tile goes down. It is far cheaper to level a floor than to lift and relay tiles after they have lipped.
The aim is solid, continuous contact between the tile and the substrate, with the air squeezed out. The commonest shortcut in the trade, five dabs of adhesive on the back of the tile, leaves most of a large tile sitting over air. It looks identical on day one and sounds hollow when tapped a month later.
Ask, in writing, which adhesive is being used and whether large formats are back-buttered. Hollow-sounding floors are covered in our popped and hollow tiles guide.
A tile levelling system is a set of small clips that sit under the edges of neighbouring tiles, with a wedge or a cap that is tightened on top. It pulls the edges into the same plane while the adhesive is still wet and holds them there until it sets. Once the adhesive has cured, the top of each clip is snapped off at the joint and the base stays hidden under the grout.
Clips are worth having on every large-format floor, but they are a finishing tool, not a cure. They cannot pull a tile flat over a dip in the screed, and forcing them on a badly bowed tile just moves the lippage to the middle of the tile. Flat substrate and full adhesive first; clips last.
Plank-shaped tiles are often laid in an offset pattern, like timber boards. The trap is the half offset: because a long porcelain tile is very slightly higher in the middle than at its ends, a half offset puts the high middle of one tile next to the low end of the next, and lippage follows. A shorter offset, set to the tile maker’s recommendation for that tile, reduces it.
Setting out matters more with big tiles because each cut is big too. A dry lay or chalk lines before fixing decide where the full tiles land and where the cuts go, so you do not end up with a thin sliver at the doorway.
Rectified tiles, with ground edges, allow narrow grout joints, which is part of the large-format look. Narrow is not zero, though: butting tiles tight together leaves no room for movement or for small size differences, and edges chip. Large tiled areas also need movement joints at the perimeter, at changes of material and over structural joints, filled with a flexible sealant rather than grout. Grout that cracks in a straight line across a big floor is usually a missing movement joint.
A large tile on a wall is a heavy panel held on by adhesive alone. The wall must be rendered flat and sound, and not freshly painted, because a large tile telegraphs every hollow in the render. Full adhesive coverage and back-buttering matter even more than on floors, and the first row is set on a straight support so the rows above do not slide while the adhesive sets. In bathrooms, the waterproofing goes on first and must be compatible with the tile adhesive.
You do not need special tools to check a large-format floor before you pay. Use daylight across the floor, a coin to tap with, and a straightedge.
| What you see or hear | What it usually means | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| One tile edge standing proud of the next | Lippage from an uneven substrate, bed or offset | Relay the area; correct the substrate first |
| Hollow sound when tapped | Voids under the tile: dabbed or poorly bedded | Lift and relay with full coverage |
| Chipped tile edges | Tight joints, rough handling or unsupported corners | Replace the chipped tiles |
| Grout cracking in a straight line | Missing movement joint | Form a flexible joint, not more grout |
| Thin slivers at doorways or walls | No setting out before fixing | Agree the layout before work starts |
These are indicative Klang Valley ranges for 2026 from our tiling contractor guide. Screed or levelling to correct the floor, and waterproofing, are priced separately.
| Item | Indicative price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Porcelain, supply + lay | RM18–RM35 per sq ft | Rectified or not, format, slip class |
| Homogeneous (full-body), supply + lay | RM15–RM30 per sq ft | Format, finish and traffic grade |
| Large-format labour add | +RM2–RM5 per sq ft | Handling, cutting and substrate flatness |
| Hack and dispose existing tiles | +RM3–RM6 per sq ft | If the old floor comes up |
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteA large-format floor is only as good as the preparation under it, so it is best planned as part of the renovation rather than as a tiling job on its own. ClickBina handles whole-house refurbishment and coordinates the trades, so the levelling, waterproofing, tiling and skirting follow in the right order. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the room sizes, the tile size you have chosen and whether the old tiles are coming up. We reply within the hour, the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges, and a site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.
How we estimated prices: every RM figure on this page is quoted unchanged from the ClickBina guides named above. They are typical Klang Valley market ranges for 2026, not fixed rates.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteTell us what you need — we reply within the hour.