Outdoor tiles

[Triptych]

I have a balcony which was tiled with ceramic tiles 10 years ago.They now have white patches - the surface appears to have come off. Could this have been caused by the cold winter? It has never happened before. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[diamondtiling]

We had an extremely cold winter, one of the coldest for many years so it is possible.

[doug boardley]

have you cleaned them with an acid based cleaner?

[Dave]

Move from guest forum to tiling forum.


Have you got any before and now pics..?

[Phil Hobson]

Ceramic tiles are not suitable for exterior use, sounds like glaze blown by frost. Porcelain or exterior grade quarries should have been used, sorry. If the balcony is exterior asphalt, again this is not a good substrate for tiles. Good luck

[Dave]

Just to add to phils... if they were frost proof , as in Vitrified then they are ok for outside..

[Phil Hobson]

Sorry, I might have misunderstood. When you said "the surface had come off" I thought it was glazed ceramic, thats why I thought it was frost damage.

[Triptych]

They are glazed ceramic so they've probably done pretty well to last for so long! Many thanks for all your answers and advice.