The Advance of Porcelain Tiles

Article by: John Bridge

Ceramic tile. , Wow! Outdoor s - Any Image, Any Size Now there's a term for you. When hearing or reading it, most people think of the highly glazed "bathroom" tiles , Using Art Prints With A Minimalist Home Decor of years gone by or of decorative tiles , Designing Your Kitchen for Your Budget which are used to dress up otherwise plain tile , What Are Some Of The Different Types Of Welding? installations. After all, aren't there many different kinds of clay tiles? Aren't ceramic tiles , Natural Stone s Â– The Confusion Surrounding Sealing just a small part of the field?

Actually, no. The term "ceramic tile" covers almost every clay product , When To Purchase Window Replacements produced and used within the tile , Duct Cleaning - Is Video Inspection Necessary? industry. In addition to four-and-a-quarter-inch bathroom tiles , Panasonic Vacuum Cleaners – Advanced Technological Cleaning Power! and colorful "decos," there are "monocottura" or single-fired floor , Natural Stone Tiles Â– The Confusion Surrounding Sealing tiles, 1-inch and 2-inch "mosaic" tiles , TV Lamps - A Brief History mounted on sheets, double-, triple-, and even quadruple-fired tiles , Feng Shui Interprets the Haunted House decorated in dozens of different ways, and large format porcelain tiles , Shower Heads: Women vs. Men which are used on floors , Wow! Outdoor Tiles - Any Image, Any Size and walls. , Wow! Outdoor Tiles - Any Image, Any Size It is this last category of tiles , Living Off the Grid; Is It for You? that we will concern ourselves with here. There is a great deal of confusion concerning the status of porcelain tiles, , Designing Your Kitchen for Your Budget most of it generated within the tile , When To Purchase Window Replacements industry itself.

Sales of floor , A Guide To Wood ing tiles in the U.S. and Canada have doubled in slightly over a decade, and the popularity of tiled floors , Decorative Metal Tile continues to increase at a dramatic rate. The rise in tile , Library Ladders sales can be attributed to two factors primarily: a determined and well-thought-out effort developed and sustained by marketing and sales forces within the industry; and by constant and significant improvements , Conveyor Belt Tracking achieved by tile , ICE DAMS: What To Do? manufacturers over the past couple of decades. In slightly over twenty years we've come from fairly soft "knob-back" floor , Choosing the proper frame style when installing new windows tiles made from terracotta-like clays to extremely dense dust pressed porcelains that are all but indestructible. Walk into any tile , When To Purchase Window Replacements salesroom today, and you will find mostly porcelain tiles , Working With Your Home, Not Against It displayed.

Ask a tile , Simple Flat Roof Leak sales person whether porcelain tiles , Is an Electric Fireplace Right for You? are stronger and more durable than ceramic tiles , What is Energy Star Lighting? and in most cases the answer will be yes. But although porcelain tiles , Color Help: Many Factors Affect Color Preference are indeed strong and durable, that answer is essentially incorrect. As I stated above, porcelain tiles , How Old Should You Be Before You Buy A Loft Bed? ARE ceramic tiles. , Living Off the Grid; Is It for You? Porcelain is simply a type of ceramic clay. Porcelain tiles , Duct Cleaning - Is Video Inspection Necessary? are those which have the lowest absorption rates of all the ceramic tiles , Ten Tips to Ensure That You Choose the Right Carpet For Your Home or Office available. To be classed as "porcelain," a tile , A Guide To Wood Flooring cannot absorb more than .5 percent of it's total mass in water. , Living Off the Grid; Is It for You? Many porcelain tiles , Feng Shui Interprets the Haunted House absorb less than that -- down to as little as .1 percent. In the industry, these tiles , Successfully Installing Soundproof Windows are called "impervious."

There is no confusion on this matter among installers. We call , Panasonic Vacuum Cleaners – Advanced Technological Cleaning Power! ourselves ceramic tile , Designing Your Kitchen for Your Budget setters, not porcelain tile , What To Look For In USPS Mailboxes setters. It's just that as it turns out, most of the floor , Do You Need A Cordless Jigsaw? tiles we install nowadays are made from porcelain.

But the misinformation continues. The Porcelain Enamel Institute rates glazed floor , To Frame or Not to Frame... That is the Question tiles as to their resistance to abrasion. Glazed tiles , Panasonic Vacuum Cleaners – Advanced Technological Cleaning Power! are those to which a decorative layer has been applied over the clay body of the tile. , Decorative Metal Glazes are rated 1 through 5 with 5 being the highest or most durable grade. Many, if not most, porcelain tiles , Panasonic Vacuum Cleaners – Advanced Technological Cleaning Power! are not glazed, yet ask your tile , Is Teak Wood Outdoor Furniture Right For Me? sales person about the PEI rating of the porcelain tile , Panasonic Vacuum Cleaners – Advanced Technological Cleaning Power! you are examining in the showroom. It's very likely you'll hear something like, "Oh, this is a grade 5 porcelain tile. , Shower Heads: Women vs. Men You could lay this baby in a car factory."

I certainly don't aim to demean tile , Conveyor Belt Tracking sales people. We need them and love them. Without them we'd be out of work. I do wish they'd get themselves a little better informed, though, so they can better inform the buying public about the virtues of ALL ceramic tiles. , Choosing the proper frame style when installing new windows

John P. Bridge is the author of three books on tile , Simple Flat Roof Leak setting: Ceramic Tile , Choosing the proper frame style when installing new windows Setting, McGraw-Hill, 1992; Tile Your World, Mistflower Press, 2003; The Kerdi Shower , Laminate Floor - Some Advice to Think Over Book (eBook), Mistflower Press, 2005. Bridge also operates the John Bridge Ceramic Tile , How Old Should You Be Before You Buy A Loft Bed? Forums on the Internet. , Let the Home Improvement Season Begin http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php

A veteran of 33 years in the tile , Designing Your Kitchen for Your Budget business, John is a residential tile , Do You Need A Cordless Jigsaw? contractor in Houston, Texas, where he resides with his wife Patti.

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