Floors tiles can be one of the most misunderstood products on the market. There
are different formats, textures, glazes and materials to choose from.
At Kalafrana Ceramics Sydney showroom, we take our time to make sure that clients are fully aware
of all the pros and cons of there choice of floor tile. Floors can be classified
as glazed and vitrified, with either a matt, honed or polished finish.
Glazed tiles can come with either a clay/ceramic body or a porcelain
body with a hard wearing coating applied to it. These tiles are durable,
require no ongoing maintenance or sealing, easy to clean, greater scope in
design and look. The latest High Definition Inkjet Print Technology from Europe allows for remarkable copies of natural materials. The variation form tile to tile and the small pixilation of the print make it hard to separate from the natural stone.....and without the maintenance.
Vitrified tiles are a
porcelain-based body with hardly any porosity. They are an extremely hardwearing,
durable surface. The solid colors and dotted (salt and pepper) range
are true vitrified tiles with the same color through the body. The lines
with any movement or design in the top face are generally double charged -
where the design is only on the top layer, with a similar base underneath.
The benefit of vitrified tiles is that they can come in matt, honed, textured
(outdoor), and polished finishes. The major drawback is as the tile has
no actual glaze they can be harder to clean in the matt finish, and may require
sealing in the honed or polished version.
A new product from
Spain is the glass coated range of tiles. They are a porcelain tile with
a glaze, then a final glaze of glass. As the glass is polished, not the
tile as in a typical polished porcelain, there is no need for sealing as no pin
holes open up on the polishing stage. Also as it's a glaze print, the
manufacturers can imitate stone to such a degree it's hard to tell the difference
to the real thing. The glass finish also gives a higher shine and adds
depth to the shine. These are ideal where a client wants polished stone(marble,
travertine, etc) but does not want the maintenance required with the real
product.
So as you can see there are a few things to consider.
When you visit our showroom we take the time to go through all the above
with you - so you make the correct choice, and select a tile that suits you.
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