PORCELAIN FLOOR TILES.
We have covered most of the charateristics under porclain wall tiles but here are a few points specific to floors..
There is quite a lot of highly polished porcelain product being sold which really needs careful consideration. This can, like polished Marble tiles, look like a mosaic of mirrors all reflecting light at random and can look weird and badly laid. No matter how hard the tiler tries, it is nigh on impossible to get this material to look perfectly flat and give a good reflection of straight lines etc. We would suggest you avoid this or at least take a look at an existing floor just to be sure you like the effect.
Porcelain is notoriously difficult to cut and this has generated a whole industry devoted to this newly created problem. Now, a tiler need’s a collection of drills and cutting equipment that probably cost more than his van did. He also has to use adhesives that had to be specially developed to fix porcelain which are very expensive, therefore expect to pay more to have porcelain tiles fixed than we used to charge for ceramics.
Porcelain can occasionaly stain, so we will always give it an initial seal with one of the Filo,Lithothin or Hagasan products and advise that this is done from time to time. Be warned, it is stated more or less everywhere that porcelain does not require sealing. We know for a fact that it does, and if you do so, the floor and the grouting will look vastly better as the floor ages..
All tilers resented porcelain when it first came onto the market. Since its introduction it has been left to tilers to struggle through explanations to customers as to why it is more costly, complicated and time consuming to fix. This has often been embarrassing and created ill will and cynicism.
However, the product has recently become slightly more user friendly, although traditional ceramic floor tiles will always remain a vastly better value for money floor from an adhesive and labour point of view.