Ceramic Tile:

Ceramic tiles come in wide varieties like floor tiles, wall tiles, mosaics and decorative tiles.

In creating the right look for your home color and design are important. This industry offers right blend of colors, sizes and textures that you find it easy to express your individuality.

Ceramic tiles are being used from centuries. Today’s ceramic tiles are indistinguishable virtually from travertines, slates, natural marbles and other stone products.

Porcelain tiles and glazed ceramic tiles are a great choice for kitchens, sunrooms, greatrooms, bathrooms and foyers.

Ceramic floor tiles are more durable than ceramic wall tiles. Wall tiles are available with a matte surface or a glaze of semi – gloss finish. This glazed surface has a very low slip resistance and becomes slippery when wet. So glazed wall tiles are much more suitable for countertop applications or wall applications rather than floors.

Glazed Tile:

Clay and water make up the two basic elements of glazed ceramic tile. Various clays are blended to a fine powder by mining them and grinding them and to form the body of the tile they are pressed together. To reduce the moisture content the pressed body is dried. Then they paint the surface of the tile with a colored glaze which is similar to glass. Then to fuse the glaze to the surface of the tile the tile is heated in kilns at approximately two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. This forms the finished product.

Porcelain Tile:

Porcelain tiles are used for both interior and exterior applications and it can withstand heavy foot traffic and at the same time maintain it’s color and beauty. A blend of fine – grain clays and other minerals are used to produce porcelain tile and this is highly resistant to moisture, wear and staining as it has a very dense body.

There are standardized industry tests and classifications to determine the overall performance and durability of glazed surface of ceramic tiles and this rates the tiles specific resistance to breaking, moisture, abrasion, scratching and more.

Patterns and designs can be chosen by planning floor patterns, wall patterns, floor borders and wall and floor combinations.

You can plan and design your own flooring by choosing the right design for your home. How do you do it ? By following the right pattern and choosing the right pattern for your home. This to a large extent depends on your taste and lifestyle.

You can be your own designer. You can do this by deciding on various factors like- scale, color, design style, texture and pattern.

Scale – You can use larger patterns for larger rooms and smaller patterns for smaller rooms.

Color- To choose the color of the floor tile find out the color of your wardrobe, your table, chair or sofa, wall and more. You have to base the color of the tile floor on the color of various gadgets in your room. Meaning that it is best if you choose a contrasting color of floor tile for your floor.

Design style: It is always a general notion that a theme will often reveal itself in colors, styles and textures. So, collect all of your favourite items like stamps, photos and other items of your interest and if possible collect and place them on a design board.

Texture and Pattern : Next comes texture and pattern after color and style. Every floor style and type has a texture.

How to protect your flooring investment:

1. Regularly sweep or vacuum to remove any grit or dirt;

2. Under heavy pieces of chairs and furniture use felt protectors ;

3. Clean residual from spill by removing spills promptly using a dry, clean, terry microfiber cloth ;

4. The grout and the glazed surface of the tile can be damaged by acids and ammonia discolors the grout. Therefore make sure that cleaners never contain acids or ammonia ;

5. Make it a point that all exterior entrances are protected by protective mats ;

6. Never use oil soaps or wax while cleaning your tile floor ;

7. See your flooring retailer for a professional strength grout cleaner while removing stains such as soap scums, mildew stains and grease from grout joints ;

8. Contact your flooring retailer for an adhesive remover and tile sealer when you have to remove waxes or sealers from your tile floor ;

9. Always bear in mind not to slide or roll appliances or heavy furniture across the floor; protect your floor when using a dolly for moving appliances or furniture.

This is probably one of the reasons why marble was as popular as a building material during the times of the Greeks and the Romans, wherein they used slabs and tiles of this natural stone to create works of art and sculptures, as well as wonderful architectural structures, which is why marble tiles are a great decorative choice for your home.

Marble’s Decorative Features

One aspect of marble tiles that makes them such a good decorative choice for your home is that it comes in an abundance of variety in colors, shapes and design patterns, giving its users a wide array of choices in improving their home’s aesthetic value. What is good about this is that the tiles can be chosen and incorporated to your home’s design, making it easier for you to find tiles that would simply complement the existing design of your home instead of changing everything just so your home or a particular room in your house and your marble tiles would complement each other. The myriad of choices allow you to pick the best marble tiles that would best accent your room or house without making too many drastic changes in your home.

Also, the variety in colors, shapes and designs allows you to incorporate the marble tiles in almost anywhere in the house possible. You can use these marble tiles as counter tops, wherein it can make your kitchen look even more beautiful. You can also uses these marble tiles as flooring materials, giving you with very little need for other improvements in the house since your floor alone is able to raise the aesthetic value of the house. And with the variety of colors, such as green shades, peachy-tones, shades of white, black and gray, and other colors, you can create whatever design and look that you want for a particular room or for the house in general.

Aside from these, marble tiles are also known for its versatility, wherein you can literally create different structures and sculptures using marble. The use of marble is not only limited to flooring and wall tiles, but it can also be used for sculptures and for other structures as well, giving you a wide array of applications for this type of natural stone. You can create sculptures to accent the look of your main hall way, or even create most of the structures in your home using marble as the main material, giving your home an imperial regality to it.

Marble tiles can also be created to give off a certain shine to them, thereby greatly improving the overall look of the room, or wherever you may choose to put it. And if installed properly, these marble tiles will require very little attention in terms of its maintenance, making it ideal as a decorative choice for your home, especially since these types of tiles are resilient and durable against certain damages, giving you very little reasons to worry.

Vanessa A. Doctor

Marble Tile – TileNet.Net

When you really want to create a rewarding project, your bathroom can be your aim. When you need to be different or just simply be stylish, you can remodel your bathroom floor tiles to your liking.

You can choose the right tiles for your project, but you also need to know their composition and notable feature. Here are some of the tiles that could bring out the best on your bathroom plan:

1. Glazed Ceramic Tile – Materials baked onto its surface. Very easy to maintain and gives an impression of looking like of a natural stone. Pick up the textured types to reduce slipping especially on the bathroom floor.

2. Decorative Tile – Consists of floral patterns along with geometrical design, they can create a nice and interesting pattern when you pick the same colored tiles. You can use them to go well with other fixtures and vanities installed.

3. Mosaic Tile – These are the ones being rectangular. They are held together with a mesh backing. As there can be many grout lines to easily add more texture to reduce slipping, as they are usually small.

4. Natural Stone Tile – This type of tile is made up of natural materials. Limestone, marble, slate, and granite are its common composition. They can easily be stained and can be a hassle when cleaning. You need to seal the limestone and slate types to keep the tile from having excessive stains. These natural-looking tiles can add up beauty to your project even if they are hard to clean.

5. Porcelain Tile – They are very resistant to staining. As they are manufactured at very high temperatures, the clay base can give out some very interesting colors. Porcelain tiles can mimic other tiles’ textures to get an impression of other types of tiles.

6. Quarry Tile – These tiles can give you a lot of options but very limited designs because of the red clay being used in the manufacturing process. A sealer will give it lesser chances to stain too much.

7. Terra Cotta Tile – The tiles that are called fired clay. They are commonly found on countries such as Mexico, Spain, and Italy. They can be machine made or by hand. Terra cotta tiles need to be sealed to reduce staining. They come in various sizes, textures and shapes to give you more options for your design project.

Tiles are commonly durable. There is also being more kinds of tiles to choose from. Bathroom tiles need to be unleveled to guide the water to the drain, so you should need tiles that can be flexible such a resilient tiles, wood parquet or laminated ones, check the type of tile and ask your supplier for extra instructions.