 DIY Tips : What are tiles | |
What are tiles
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, and walls, or other objects such as tabletops.
In the past twenty years, the technology surrounding porcelain tile and glass tiles has become more efficient, allowing more mass production. Similarly, the invention of automated tile lines that use diamonds to cut and finish stone slabs into tiles has made stone tiles more available. This has allowed these tiles to move from being niche items into broader markets.
Floor tiles
These are commonly made of ceramic or stone, although recent technological advances have resulted in glass tiles for floors as well. Ceramic tiles may be painted and glazed. Small mosaic tiles may be laid in various patterns. Floor tiles are typically set into mortar consisting of sand, cement and often a latex additive for extra adhesion. The spaces between the tiles are nowadays filled with sanded or unsanded floor grout, but traditionally mortar was used.
Natural stone tiles can be especially beautiful. However, as a natural product they are a little less uniform in color and pattern and require more planning for use and installation. Since stone tiles are mass-produced, they have very uniform width and length dimensions. Stone tiles such as those of granite or marble are sawn on both sides and then polished or finished on the facing up side, so that they have a uniform thickness. Other natural stone tiles such as slate are typically "riven" (split) on the facing up side so that the thickness of the tile varies slightly from one spot on the tile to another and from one tile to another. Variations in tile thickness can be handled by adjusting the amount of mortar under each part of the tile, by using wide grout lines that "ramp" between different thicknesses, or by using a cold chisel.
Natural stone tiles can be stained by spilled liquids; they must be sealed and periodically resealed with a sealant in contrast to ceramic tiles which only need their grout lines sealed. However, because of the complex, non repeating patterns in natural stone, small amounts of dirt on many natural stone floor tiles do not show.
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