Choosing the best Suitable Tile for your Home
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| Tiles |
Residential tiles are available in many combinations of color, size and texture. It offers something for people with different style. In addition to this, tile is something that is easy to maintain and it is highly durable. Tiles are ideal for area where there will be dirt or moisture such as entryways or bathrooms.
There is a lot more to know while buying tiles than just finding a pattern or color. Every tile has its own intended use, and this use is made clear on the label pasted on the tile box. However, it will be printed in code. When you are planning for residential tiling, you need to understand this code mentioned on the box so that you can buy the right one for your project. It will also help you in saving the money. Follow the below mentioned tips before buying the tiles.
Tile ratings
The ratings on the hardness of the tile will help you in determining which tile is best suited for the area you are planning to install it. For the entryways, you will need abrasion-resistant, moisture proof and hard tile. For the bath, you will need non-slip, moisture free tiles. The nonslip tiles are treated with abrasive material for ensuring safety. Some tiles can be used for outdoor or indoor only, while some others can be used in both the places. If your house has ramps and you are planning to tile the ramp to keep the consistency in flooring with rest of the house, then you have to carefully go through all the slip-resistant tiles available in the market.
Care should be taken while going for residential tiling. Some types of tiles are harder when compared to others. Hence, tile is rated after conducting many standardized tests. These tests will evaluate the tile’s ability to withstand the wear and tear and water absorbent percentage. Also it will test the relative hardness of the tile.
Class I: These tiles are meant for wall use, no foot traffic is allowed.
Class II: This is suited for areas where only little abrasion occurs, like bathroom. This is for light traffic, mainly used in interior commercial and residential wall applications.
Class III: It is ideal for areas with normal foot traffic of residential settings. Also, suited for walls and counter tops.
Class IV: These tiles are acceptable to use in light institutional or medium commercial properties. They will also be used in the residential houses.
Class V: These tiles are approved tiles for heavy commercial work, institutional foot traffic and all residential properties.
These ratings will help you in providing a guideline for finding the correct tile for your use.
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| Home Tiles |
Porosity
These ratings are very important. Porosity rating helps in understanding about the percentage of water absorption in a tile. Ratio of air holes (voids) to solids in the tile is the porosity ratings. If the tile is denser, then it means it absorbs less water as it has only less air hole to fill the water in it.
It is very critical when you are choosing the tiles for bath or kitchen use as this area needs moisture- proof flooring. The tiles which absorb more water should not be used for outdoor purpose where there is cold weather. It will result in freezing the tiles which will be unsafe for use. The classification of the porosity tiles are
- Non-vitreous (most absorbent)
- Semi-vitreous
- Vitreous
- Impervious (least absorbent)
Size of the tiles
The floor tile usually comes in thickness of ½ inch or ¾ inch and will be manufactured in squares. Other shapes that are available in the market are rectangular, hexagonal and octagonal shapes. Wall tiles are thinner compared to floor tiles and come in square shape.
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