ceramic (non porcelain) tiles on bathroom floor - why not

[cowgomoo]

Hi Y'all, is it a matter of strength or porosity or wear & tear or just what precisely. Surely thousands of m2 have been tiled non porcelain before porcelain became within the budget of most people and if they all came off or were crappy then the fashion for tiling floors would never have got started except for the super rich ? Just been bugging me and I like to know the answers, Cow.

[GirlRacerRed]

hi cow

I have ceramic tiles on my en-suite and bathroom floors. They are glazed but not shiny, one room has totally smooth tiles and the other has bumpy tiles. both rooms have been down for more than a year now and I've had no problems with the floor tiles in either room. Both sets of tiles were 9-10mm from what I remember so I don't think they will wear out too soon

[cowgomoo]

Very interesting, so maybe you think it may just be a wear and tear problem in a kitchen or a hallway or any other heavy traffic area ? Cow

[GirlRacerRed]

Very interesting, so maybe you think it may just be a wear and tear problem in a kitchen or a hallway or any other heavy traffic area ? Cow

I have ceramics in my kitchen, hallway and utility room. All 3 areas are high traffic areas as we use the front door to get into the house (hallway), we have to go through the kitchen to get to the back door in the utility room and the utility room houses the dog, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer. I've seen no wear or tear problems in any of those areas yet. Kitchen floor has been down almost 3 years, grout lines are dirty because I used a beige grout rather than a grey. But all of the other rooms appear fine. Grout isn't failing, none of the tiles are damaged despite mine and Mr GRR's best efforts at being clumsy.

My reason for choosing ceramics is because I didn't have a lot of money to spend on tiles. Considering travertine and porcelain cost upwards of £16 a square metre, I chose cheaper ceramics in my house for now, and spent the £16sqm on lovely carpets upstairs

[grumpygrouter]

Why do you think they must be porcelain, not common or garden ceramics Cowgomoo?

[cowgomoo]

No particular reason Grumps other than received wisdom, would non porcelain be acceptable in a wet room too ?

[Stewart]

I wouldn't use ceramic (non porcelain) in a wet-room as biscuit of the tile can absorb water, resulting in discoloured or blown tiles.

Ceramic tiles are fine for most domestic floors if they are of reasonable quality, but I always recommend porcelain as it's far more durable.....

[TPW]

Hi Cow

It all to do with the PEI rating of the tiles the higher the rating the more durable the tile (the scale is from 0-5) so for a main toilet shower room you would really want a tile with a PEI of 3.

PEI 0 - Tiles technically unsuitable for floors.
PEI 1 - Residential and commercial wall and bare foot traffic.
PEI 2 - Wall and residential bath floor, and soft soled traffic.
PEI 3 - All residential floors and light commercial floors.
PEI 4 - Medium commercial, light industrial and institutional, moderate soiling.
PEI 5 - Extra heavy traffic, abrasive dirt, chemically more resistant.

hope this helps.

[TPW]

sorry thats was meant to be 2 or 3 depanding on how safe you want to be .

Thanks

[grumpygrouter]

No particular reason Grumps other than received wisdom, would non porcelain be acceptable in a wet room too ?

A lot would depend on the situation I suppose. If the wet room had only little use i.e a guest bathroom then any water ingress may be small and evaporate back out again. Also epoxy grout would help with ceramic as would sealing the grout too, though normally it would be easier and better to use porcelain if there was as style the customer liked.

[cowgomoo]

Hi TPW, that is most helpful. Is this number rating anywhere obvious on the box for example or would you have to contact the manufacturer ? Cow.

[TPW]

If the store you bought them from cant help you, i would give the manufacturer a ring and they should be able to tell you .

[Rich]

Tiles

This post might give you a little bit more info on the difference between ceramic and porcelain. All the info you need on the tiles SHOULD (not all the time) be on the box, they will state whether they are suitable for walls or floors. As above, if the info is not on the box, get hold of the supplier/manufacturer and check