The Types of Tiles

Porcelain Tile: Porcelain tile is very common. The most common difference between porcelain and ceramic is the firing temperature during manufacture. The high temperatures of making porcelain make it very resistant to moisture, more stain-resistant, and less porous. You can use porcelain tiles for outdoor and indoor installations. Porcelain is costlier than ceramic because of the labor cost required to cut them. Porcelain is harder, denser, and hard to cut; therefore, the labor and cost involved are high. These tiles are found in matter, high-polished, and unglazed finishes.

Mosaic Tile: Mosaic is under six inches square and comes from clay or porcelain material. Tile mosaic offers you the capability to be creative while designing your project. You can see these tiles in smaller areas like small counter space locations, kitchen backsplashes, and bathrooms. Many of them are shaped like hexagons, octagons, and squares. Tiles will be bought on fabric mesh sheets or pre-mounted paper.

Natural stone: This is a product of nature as no two tiles are similar. These tiles are the natural solid formation for one or many minerals formed over many years through pressure. The crust of the earth started to expand and erode through time pressure, and heat pushed solid minerals to the surface of the earth, which ended up forming colossal rock beds around the world. This has resulted in many types of stone that have been quarried for many years. The quarries are all over the world. The majority of natural stones are from Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, China, India, Greece, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Canada, and the United States.

Travertine Tile: This one comes in beige stone shades and is applied in backsplashes, countertops, and the kitchen. It is also great to apply in the bathroom countertops, floors, and shower areas.

Marble Tile: Marble is a natural stone that has been in use for many years in commercial and residential buildings to create luxurious feels and looks. There are a lot of color variations in each tile; therefore, it creates a design that cannot be duplicated naturally. Marble is porous and has to be sealed.

Granite Tile: This tile has been applied on kitchen countertops for so many years. Its application has also been in the bath, on the counters, and showers walls. Granite tiles from South Florida tile installers provide an antibacterial surface that cannot get damaged with water. This is the reason granite is a popular choice for bathroom and kitchen installations.

Slate Tile: Slate is a natural material that comes in different color shades like grey, black, blue, and purple. You can use them for exterior projects and interior projects in the home since it comes in different colors and looks for your choice. These tiles are very populous today than before due to their availability.

Quarry tile: This is an unglazed ceramic tile. This tile type is a durable and cost-effective production. This tile is unlikely to scratch or chip. You can get grades of the tile that stands up to tough cold weather, plus hot climates. This is a sound choice for business and home projects as you can use it both outdoors and indoors. This tile can get stained and is porous; therefore, it gets covered with wax finishing or glazes seal to protect it from chipping and staining. This tile type comes in several selections of color, but you can also find it in shades of all colors.

The commonest colors of this tile are grey, orange, red, and brown. Since this tile type is less slippery as compared to many other choices, you will see it being used in pool areas, kitchen floors, kitchen floors, and hallway floors. You need to make sure you use minimum water until when you are sealed, grouted, and glazed properly. You are risking the growth of mold and damage of water to the tiles.

Glass: These tiles were common in the mid-20th-century baths and glass is making a comeback to the market with vintage looks. It provides many advantages like glazed ceramic with transparency that is appealing in showers or walls. Glass tile is more expensive than other ceramic options. It usually comes in pre-designed sheets with colors and pattern gradations that are inbuilt. It works well independently or when combined with stone and ceramic tiles as an inflection.

Engineered Stone: This newcomer looks like stone but is not very natural. This tile is made up of small stone bits in the epoxy-based matrix. This tile is more water-resistant and predictable than natural stone, with surfaces that are hard to damage. However, it does not look very natural. Other homeowners like the human-made looks of this material, going for stone tiles that have glittery, bright colors. This stone is quite expensive but lower in price as compared to natural stone.

There are different types of tiles for your flooring installation, and they include terrazzo and agglomerate. Terrazzo is made from marble or granite then combined with Portland or matrix cement. Agglomerate, conversely, is almost similar but in the place of mixing with epoxy or Portland cement, they get combined with polyester resin. They are polished, but regardless of the result, they will remain non-reflective.