Closeout, discontinued and end-of-run tile
Three things put a tile on clearance, and they are worth telling apart because they change what you are buying. A maker retires a series, so no more will ever be produced. We stop carrying a line that still exists elsewhere. Or a run simply ends, and what is on the shelf is what there is.
The first and third are final in practice: nobody is making more, whether because the series was retired or because the run is over. The second is the one where the tile still exists somewhere and only this shelf has emptied, and it is the one to know about if the job might need more later.
Buying from a finite lot
A clearance lot does not restock. That single fact changes how the quantity is worked out: on a current series a short order can be topped up later, and here it cannot, so the cut allowance and the spare boxes have to be in the first order.
Where the lot is the tail of a single production, as a retired series usually is, it has an advantage: the boxes came off one run, so the shade variation across them is narrower than on a current line ordered months apart. That does not hold for a line we simply stopped carrying, which can still be in production elsewhere and can hold boxes from more than one run.
What the clearance outlet holds
Field tile is the largest part of it and mosaic is the next, with the rest split between trim, bases, accent pieces and a handful of vanities and wall decos. By material, ceramic leads, marble and porcelain follow close behind, and glass and limestone make up most of what remains.
Formats run from small mosaic sheets to 8x48 planks, with 12x12 and 12x24 the two commonest. Glossy and polished faces lead the finish list, ahead of matte and honed.
Clearance marble tile
The marble side is mostly polished, with a honed group about half its size. The stones include Silver Sky, Silver Horizon, Royal Beige, Alpina, Venere, Emperador and Supremo. Alongside the 12x24, 12x12 and 24x24 field tile there are marble mosaics, moldings, inlaid patterns such as Lineal and Midtown, and Versailles pattern pavers for outdoor floors.
Where a marble lot was cut from a single block, its pieces match each other in a way the next block would not, which is one reason a whole clearance lot can suit a floor. For a floor, the clearance floor tile page lists the lots large enough to cover a room.
Clearance ceramic tile
Ceramic here is almost all glazed wall tile, and most of it is glossy: 6x6, 3x6 and 4x8 squares and rectangles, 2x6 and 4x12 subway shapes, and a crackled group with the hand-glazed look. White leads the colors, with green, blue and brown next, a wider spread of color than the stone and porcelain lots show. Ceramic accent pieces and moldings from the same series are on clearance with the field tile, so a wall in a discontinued ceramic can still be finished in one glaze.
Finding a tile you already own
Most people arrive here holding a tile, not a name, which is the hardest way there is to search a catalog. If the original box survived, the series name printed on it settles the question and nothing else is needed.
Without the box there are four fields, and the order they are read in decides whether the search works. Thickness comes first, because a repair has to finish level with what is already down, and 3/8 inch is the commonest thickness here by a distance. Format is second, since a 12x12 lot and a 4x12 lot answer different jobs. The series name is third and the surest of the four when it is known at all.
Color comes last, which reverses the order most people try. White and gray lead this range with beige behind them, and a retired series usually carried a house color name on top of that, so the same pale tile can be somebody's cream and a maker's Almond. Narrowing by thickness and format first leaves a list short enough to look through by eye, and that is where the color is decided.
Why a series ends
A retired line is rarely a line that failed. Makers work on a cycle: a body gets reformulated, a glaze is replaced with one that fires more consistently, a plant re-tools for a format it can sell more of. The tile that comes off the list is often a good tile whose slot was needed, and the lower price reflects the end of the line.
Clearance tile by room
Quantity divides this range in practice, because a lot big enough for a floor and a lot big enough for a backsplash are two different searches with the same word on them. The clearance floor tile page holds the lots that can still cover a room, clearance backsplash tile the smaller remainders that suit a wall, and clearance bathroom tile the lots rated for baths and showers.
Mosaic is split out the same way, on the clearance mosaic tile page, since a sheet lot is measured in square feet where a field tile lot is measured in boxes. The smallest remainders, often down to a few boxes, are gathered as leftover tile, sized for a powder room, a niche or a repair.
Sampling a clearance tile
Most of the outlet can be sampled, and this is the part of the catalog where a sample answers something a photograph cannot. Color depth, glaze movement and veining are what a screen flattens, and on a lot that cannot be reordered the decision rests on them.
The trade-off is time: a lot that is nearly gone can sell while a sample is in the mail. There is no way to reserve a lot behind a sample, so the quantity showing on the listing belongs in the decision along with the look.
Clearance, on sale or wholesale
Clearance is priced to clear what remains of a line. A tile can also be lower in price for other reasons: a sale period on the discount tile page, or an order of a full pallet or more on the wholesale tile page, where porcelain and stone take a pallet discount.
