Floor Tiles
Floor tile is a popular material to use to walk on for a number of reasons. Many people don’t realize that flooring tile is really artificial stone. Rock is naturally hard, so it makes sense that it would make a durable and long-lasting floor. Look at the marble and granite floors in thousands of government buildings around the USA.
Floor tiles are typically made from clay that’s heated in a kiln. The heating process alters the mineralogy of the clay transforming it into a harder material, that has crystal structure similar to some rocks. This is especially true of the clear glazing that’s applied to floor tile. The glazing is an ultra-thin layer of quartz. Quartz is an incredibly durable mineral that is a primary component of granite.
CLICK this image and listen to the second call on the podcast. I talked to Greg about what can be done with porcelain tile, including borders to offset certain spaces. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter
Tile floors can be found in many homes. The tile itself is waterproof, so it’s an ideal material that’s used in showers, bathrooms and kitchens. Visit a commercial kitchen, and you’ll typically see red quarry tile with black grout lines. That black isn’t dirt, the grout is tinted black so it doesn’t show dirt.
I’ve installed countless boxes of ceramic floor tile in my lifetime. As crazy as this sounds, I enjoy doing it. As I’ve gotten older, it’s much harder on my back and knees, but the pleasure derived from seeing the tile go in evenly, squarely and uniformly is often worth the muscle aches the next day. I really like the flooring tiles that have a texture to them that resembles the cleavage you see on pieces of natural slate. When sunlight streams across tile like this, you see all the texture. It adds character to the tile.
Ceramic flooring tile is also very easy to care for. The glazed surface of the tile resembles glass, so most things don’t stick well to the highly polished surface. A quick mopping usually works well when cleaning a tile floor. But the grout between the tile is another story. It can be very difficult to clean. The best product I’ve used to clean ceramic tile grout is Oxygen Bleach. The oxygen ions in the solution blast apart stain molecules that attach themselves to the porous grout.
Vinyl floor tiles are another popular flooring material. Thousands of commercial stores around the USA are covered with this material. Vinyl floor tile is really just a form of plastic, and we all know how durable certain plastics can be. In the past few years, vinyl-tile flooring has made huge strides in becoming an attractive floor that appeals to consumers. For years, the simplistic patterns that you’d see at the grocery store or in the merchandise stores were pretty boring. But now you can get vinyl tiles that really look like wood, marble and other materials. The best part is it’s easy to install and care for.
Bathroom floor tile is where most homeowners see tile. It’s the flooring material of choice in most houses as it’s so waterproof. Because tile comes in so many patterns, colors, shapes, sizes, etc., it’s easy to create a gorgeous floor that most homeowners get great pleasure looking at each day. All too often people forget that’s one of the reasons they should pick things in their homes - select products because they make you feel good!
Porcelain tile flooring has become very popular in the past few years. It has two qualities that make it appealing. First, the color of the tile is almost always consistent through the body of the material. This means that if the tile gets chipped or deeply scratched, it’s hard to see the defect. With traditional tile, this was not the case as the red, orange or white core of the tile would show if there was a chip. Second, the porcelain tile has a high amount of silica in it, so when it’s fired in the kiln, it gets extremely hard. This means it wears like granite or iron. It’s nearly impossible to wear it out.
Ceramic-tile floors can add a great warmth to a room if you select the right tile. Add a distinctive area rug on top of a tile floor for a layered look. The rug will also help absorb sound as flooring tile will bounce sound waves around a room faster than a ricocheting bullet!
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