Choosing Flooring: Tile

Tile continues to grow in popularity as a floor covering, with good reason.

  • Tile has a natural, handcrafted look that's durable and easy to care for.
  • Tile works well in areas with high foot traffic, and it's especially suited to entry areas where water and dirt enter the house.
  • Design patterns are limitless when using all of the possible combinations of size, texture and color.
  • You can further expand your creative toolbox with hand painted tiles and colored grouts.

By combining various geometric layout and numerous trim tiles your design options are practically limitless.

Selecting Tile

Finding a tile you like is easy. Just make sure it's the right one for your floor and choose a tile that's rated for the area you where you plan to install it. Entryways need a hard, abrasion-resistant, moisture-proof tile. Baths require a moisture-proof non-slip material. Slip-resistant tile is treated with an abrasive material to "rough up" the smooth surface for safety. Some tiles are rated for indoor or outdoor use only, others can be used in either application.

Floor tile is usually 1/2" to 3/4" thick, manufactured in squares measuring 4"x4" up to 24"x 24". Other shapes, such as octagonal and hexagonal are available. (Wall tile is thinner and comes in squares from 3"x 3" up to 6"x 6".)

Mosaic tiles are two inches square or smaller and can be installed individually. Mosaic tiles are also available in pre-mounted paper or fabric mesh sheets.

Tile Ratings

All tile feels hard, but some types of tile are actually harder than others. Tile is rated by a series of standardized tests. The tests evaluate a tile's relative hardness (the Moh scale), its ability to stand up to wear and the percentage of water absorbed.

The Porcelain Enamel Institute hardness ratings are:

  • Group I - Light Traffic: residential bathroom floors where bare or stocking feet are the norm.
  • Group II - Medium Traffic: home interiors where little abrasion occurs. Don't use in kitchens or entries.
  • Group III - Medium-Heavy Traffic: any home interior.
  • Group IV - Heavy Traffic: homes or light to medium commercial areas.
  • Group V- Extra Heavy Traffic: use it anywhere.

These ratings are important, but don't get too bogged down in analysis — they serve to help you find the right tile for your application.

Porosity

Pay closer attention to the ratings test that measures the percentage of water absorbed, or porosity. A tile's porosity is critical especially when choosing tile for kitchens and baths, since these areas need moisture proof flooring. Porous tile should not be used outdoors where cold weather produces freeze/thaw cycles. The classifications for the porosity of tile are: Impervious (least absorbent), Vitreous, Semi-vitreous, and Non-vitreous (most absorbent).

Firing

The hardness of tile is affected by the firing process. Usually, the longer and hotter the firing, the harder the tile will be. The raw tile material, called bisque, is either single-fired or double-fired.

  • For single-fired tiles, the glaze is applied to the raw material and baked once in a kiln.
  • Double-fired tiles are thicker. Raw material is baked a second time after additional color or decoration is added.

Installing Tile

On the do-it-yourself project scale, installing tile ranges from easy to challenging. Tiles usually require some cutting to fit. They're applied with mortar or other adhesives, followed by a final application of grout.

As with all types of tile, areas that require precision cuts may be more difficult. Flooring presents its own set of concerns. Since tile is not a resilient material, it requires a very stable subsurface. Subfloors frequently have to be built up to the thickness required for tile flooring.

See the chart below for some common (and some less common) floor tile.

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Ceramic Floor Tile Patterns
By David Patullo Platinum Quality Author

Anyone who is given the chance to choose their own ceramic floor tile patterns is being given the chance to design a major aspect of their home. Although more complicated than changing the color of paint on the wall, choosing your ceramic floor tile patterns is just as significant and has a more profound impact on the way your house is viewed. Many people hire designers to choose the tile and layout of the ceramic floor tile pattern, but a great deal of do-it-yourselfers are now coming to see the value in designing their own.

With the fantastic new growth in stores that promote home projects, choosing a pattern is as simple as picking out wallpaper. With a trip to the store and some hours perusing the tile section, homeowners can find themselves creating works of art for their backsplashes, counter tops and even ceramic floor tile patterns. Bathrooms have become a display for the intricate designs and beautiful techniques that are being created by couples everywhere with their ceramic floor tile patterns. These couples are also using their unique ceramic floor tile patterns to enhance the entry ways and create flow in their homes.

Homeowners are finding themselves released into a world of self expression that is as therapeutic in the process as it is enjoyable afterwards, using their design as an outlet. With the many choices of patterns couples can create an oasis in their own homes. So much of the individual is put into the pattern that houses are no longer simply places of retirement, but conversation pieces themselves. Patterns are also replacing carpets and throw rugs and giving a rise to a minimalist furniture layout in order to enhance the viewing of the floors.

Patterns come in a variety of sizes, colors and textures to suit any design style. The sizes range from 20x20 inches being the largest and going as small as 3x3 inches. The shapes are largely square in nature with an occasional rectangle introduced and the diamond shape is an interesting addition in ceramic floor tile patterns. The color of the ceramic floor tile varies from earth tones to created colors, with a color match technology that can now allow customers to create a tile and grout color to match an object they bring in. The textures of the ceramic floor tile patterns can be rough or smooth with a flat or shiny finish depending on the purchaser's preference. With all of these options and more there is a myriad of ways to lay out and design ceramic tile floor patterns.

The most recent addition to the ceramic tile floor pattern family is a tile that contains actual fossils that have been formed in the stone. Although costly, this tile provides the homeowner with the ability of showcasing the unique qualities of each tile to their guests. Choosing these tiles to create a ceramic floor tile pattern is truly the most interesting way to expand on an already very extensive art form.

David has been writing articles for nearly 2 years. Come visit his latest website that discusses some great ideas on home renovating products such as the best ceramic tile flooring and some great garage tile flooring ideas that can be used for the garage just to add that extra something to a room that is usually forgotten
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