Ceramic Tiles

Ceramic tiles for bath, kitchen, pools, spas, remodel your home with tiles find out what tiles are right for your project.

The word tile comes from the Latin word tegula and the French word tuile, Which means a roof tile of baked clay. In addition it can be used for any kind of earthenware slab applied to any surface of a building.
Throughout our history man has been known for wanting to improve their living spaces. And the use of pottery and ceramic tiles have accomplished this for over 4000 years. You can find beautiful tiled surfaces in the oldest pyramids, the ruins of Babylon, and ancient ruins of Greek cities.

In the early days, the tiles were hand-made, each tile was hand-formed and hand-painted, each was a work of art. Ceramic tile was used almost everywhere on walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces, in murals, and as an exterior shield on buildings.



Today,  Ceramic tile for the most part is not hand-made or hand-painted. Automated manufacturing techniques are used and the human hand does not enter into the picture until it is time to install the tile. In commercial buildings tile are used mostly in lobby areas restrooms kitchens where both beauty and durability are considerations.

 

 

Ceramic tile is graded and rated for several criteria of use by the Porcelain Enamel Institute.
  • Class 1 Is generally recommended for interior commercial and residential walls only.
  • Class 2 Is generally recommended for interior commercial and residential walls and residential bathroom floors.
  • Class 3 Is generally recommended for interior commercial and residential walls, countertops and residential bathroom floors.
  • Class 4 Is generally recommended for moderate to heavy traffic, including all residential and most commercial applications.
  • Class 4+ Is generally recommended for extra heavy traffic in all residential and commercial applications.

You should also consider the Water Absorption For your projects.
ASTM C-373 rates the amount of water absorption of bisque. 7-20% Non-vitreous, 3-7% Semi- vitreous, 0.5-3% Vitreous, less than .5% Porcelain Impervious. Porcelain tile is safe to use in high moisture applications such as steam rooms & swimming pools beacuse of its resistants to water.
Glaze hardness:
The minerals used in glaze on tiles are rated on their hardness from talc at number 1 to diamonds at number 10 and the minerals ability in the scale to scratch the surface. Most glazes used on ceramic tile fall in the range of five to six, which is also slightly harder than most steels.

Design
 You can put ceramic with natural materials--granite and marble and limestone--and glass with marble and granite and limestone, but the colors need to work together. If you’re looking for natural stone look for tumbled marble and honed limestone, which have a casual look that blend with the soft look of earth tones. Unlike the polished stones, they have irregular shapes and a muted appearance.

Cost
 Ceramic tiles sell in stores for 1$ to 6$ per square foot for the Comerical tiles but if your looking for that exceptional hand painted they could run from 25$ and up per square foot. Natural stones, such as marble and limestone, are priced from $5 to $20 per square foot, and are more common in higher priced renovation. Glass tiles can cost as much as $25 to $50 per square foot, depending upon the style.