Porcelain Tiles

3- Porcelain is easy to clean

Thanks to its non-porous surface, it is easier to clean compared to stone tiles. When you swip off and mop the porcelain tile flooring it'll look like the new one. It makes the porcelain more hygienic. If you want to read more, you can find an easy-to-clean porcelain tiles blog post here.

4- Porcelain is versatile

Porcelain tile is versatile; meaning can be used everywhere in any room.

5- Porcelain is perfect for high-traffic

Porcelain tile is the best choice for commercial spaces. Hotel flooring, restaurant flooring, office rooms, and bathrooms are just a couple of the best areas where you can use porcelain tiles.

6- Porcelain is affordable

Compared to marble, porcelain is a more budget-friendly material. This is also one of the best reasons why it is the best option for commercial places. You can find at Stone Tile Depot perfect deals for porcelain tiles. Stone Tile Depot is a discount tile outlet.

7- Porcelain is beautiful

Aesthetically speaking, achieving the design you want to create is easy with the porcelains, they have so many styles with looks, such as marble look tile, wood look tile, concrete look tile, stone look tile, and so on. Once the decision is made, they are resistant to sun, wear and tear, and outdoor usage. The beauty will remain consistent.

Check out wood-look tile trends for 2023 to be updated about the porcelain styles and learn more about Floor trends for 2022.

Different Types Of Porcelain Tiles:

There are many types of porcelain floor and wall tile and porcelain pavers for exterior surfaces. The manufacturing process determines these different types of tiles and slabs. Most people get confused about the differences between ceramics and porcelains, so before looking at the types, if you want to read more about porcelain vs. ceramic tile blog.

Glazed Porcelain Tile:

Glazed Porcelain is the most common type. This type of tile is baked at temperatures over 1200 degrees Celsius, and the body is glazed with a colored glaze that can be glossy or matted. When you look at the tile, you will notice that the shape of the flooring is a different color than the surface. This is the least expensive type of material and easiest to produce, but it is perfectly fine for everyday use. However, some of the glazed porcelain tiles are not recommended for high-traffic commercial applications like restaurant floors, shopping mall floors, and office building floor tiles. The top layer may wear out after some time, and you may notice foot traffic. This product is excellent for wall tile applications in residential or commercial uses.

Glazed Porcelain has many types of surfaces that reflect the natural stone look, such as Carrara Marble's look, Wood planking look, or cement floor look. It is essential to find out what the repeat is on these tiles. Since it is a digital technology, designs are printed on the body, and it may repeat itself in many tiles. In other words, if the design has 16 or 32 faces ( each pattern is one face ), it will repeat itself on the 16th tile and so on. Again, this should not create any problems for everyday small residential bathroom floors or walls. Iris Ceramics, and Fiandre and Ceramiche, are some of the well-known producers in this category.

Full Body Porcelain Tile:

This is the more durable version of porcelain tiles. These tiles, the body, and the surface are the same material, and they will not wear out quickly. In other words, as you use these floors, wear will be inside the body and will not show anything. This product is recommended where there is a lot of foot traffic such as shopping malls, car dealerships, and office lobby floors. It is more expensive but it will last for a long time. Graniti Fiandre is one of the top producers of this category.

Most Common Sizes in Porcelain Tiles:

Traditionally, the most common size has been 12x24 tiles. Recent improvements in technology increased the most efficient size to 24x24. This was mostly predicated on the efficiency of the porcelain kilns. Sacme the largest Italian ceramic and Porcelain machinery maker in the World, gets most of the credit for these improvements. Recently, even larger sizes like 24x48 and big slabs have been produced in most factories. Although these sizes are not easy to install, they eliminate grout joints. Designers can create bathroom walls without any seams. You can literally cover an entire shower with two pieces.

Porcelain slabs are another improvement in this segment. Today, you can buy 6 ft x 12 ft of porcelain slabs. These large pieces, also called slabs, can be used for kitchen countertops, large office lobby walls, elevator walls, and other areas where large dramatic pieces of Porcelain need to be displayed. Porcelain slabs can be book-matched to show dramatic veins.

Porcelain Tile Accessories:

basic mosaics such as 2x2 are very common for shower floors. This type of collection can create slop and some anti-slip friction on the shower floor. Another complementary piece is a bullnose piece used as a baseboard.

Additional decorative porcelain tiles include chevron tiles, hexagon tiles, and other shapes besides rectangular and square tiles.

How to Install Porcelain Tiles:

The installation of porcelain tiles is super easy. The material itself has many advantages that make the installation by any type of contractor easy. Some of these are

• Ability to cut with a basic saw or scorer
• Reduce waterproofing need
• Easy to carry and lay.
• No need to seal it.

Things you should pay attention to:

• Be sure to plan extra pieces. If you run short, it is challenging to find precisely the same porcelain tile lot. Each lot may be different.
• Pay attention to calibration on the boxes. Each lot shrinks more or less during production, and each size within the batch is different. In general, you can not mix the batches, especially if you want small grout joints.
• Use only unsanded grout.
• Pay attention to the number of faces. If you are installing porcelain tiles in a big open area such as a hotel lobby, or office building floors, tiles may look repetitive if it is a low-end tiles. Better quality tiles have more than 32 faces. It is complicated to see the repeat when you mix those faces well.

About Our Suppliers:

Iris Porcelain:

Iris Ceramics or Iris Porcelain is the oldest and largest Italian porcelain producer. They are known for making some of the most interesting glazes that are complex yet beautiful.  Iris's main and original tile factory is in Sassuolo Italy ( outside Modena). Iris opened their US factory in Tennessee a decade ago and they produce large format porcelain floor and wall tile.  American production is stocked by Stone Tile Depot and ready for quick shipment on large jobs. Iris ceramics floor tiles are usually 9 mm in thickness. This thicker tile is an excellent choice for high-traffic floors.  The most famous Iris porcelain floor tile is their Carrara marble look porcelain tiles.  This tile has the sophistication and depth of almost real marble.

Landmark Porcelain:

Landmark porcelain is part of the Atlas Concorde ceramic group. One of the main Italian porcelain tile pioneers.  Landmark opened a Kentucky factory to produce large-size pavers that are  2cm thick ( ¾” thick porcelain tile ). This brand has the largest US production of outside pavers and pool coping tiles in porcelain. Porcelain paver tiles are becoming very popular due to ease of installation and longevity. These porcelain pavers usually come with 24x24 pavers or 16x24 pavers.  These products come with a slip-resistant finish and they are excellent for pool decks or outside paving applications.

Dal-Tile:

Daltile is part of the Mohawk group and the World’s largest producer of flooring materials.  Stone Tile Depot carries a variety of Daltile products in stock.  Original Daltile is known for its 4 ¼” white bathroom tile. However, Daltile Group reinvented itself and they produce all kinds of floor and wall tile for all kinds of residential and commercial applications.  Daltile is an everyday tile when you need in-stock products.

 

Stone Tile Depot enjoys providing you wide range of materials, shades, and shapes. Contact us to learn about our collections and wholesale tiles!