Education about Tiles & Tiling: Ceramic tiles are one of the most popular flooring and wall cladding materials in this modern era of construction. However, it is not uncommon to see the disappointment of designers and space owners both, from tiled surfaces. Cracks, uneven edges, visible curvature, corners not falling in same plane, detachment from substrate, scratches all over, chipping, shade inconsistency, and even broken tiles, are some of the worst scenarios that no one wants.

Why do all Construction Professionals require Education About Tiles & Tiling?

The consulting architect and designer who specify the material are very much concerned and wonder what went wrong and why; particularly, when they recommended a good brand. The situation calls for little deeper understanding of the material as well as installation technique. To shorten the length of this article, let us divide the subject into five parts.

1). Why Tiles?

All good ceramic tiles have an impervious Top-surface. Yes, you heard it right, even the ones which are said to have ‘high water absorption’ tiles. Tiles do not rust and rot due to water and moisture, you know it.

Natural stones and wood, come with a high environment and sustainability cost. Tiles, are manmade, use commonly occurring natural material in lesser quantity for every square foot, there is minimum waste of material and have a long life.

Bigger sizes, variety of aesthetics, interesting textures, high mechanical strength, high scratch resistance, frost resistance, long term durability and host of functional benefits made tiles a preferred surface covering.

2). What can go wrong without Education about Tiles & Tiling?

One major criteria to choose tiles for a project is its design and the texture on the surface. Prima facie, there is nothing wrong in doing so because visual inspection can tell a lot about a material. Unfortunately, when it comes to modern-day tiles, it is not true in many cases. Technically very different tiles can appear very similar, if not the same in visual inspection, and even when their texture is also the same. Your favorite Statuario marble design tiles come in all formats, in different body composition and glaze quality that decides the performance of tiles in long run. They may look same but perform differently. Is not it like humans? It is indeed.

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Like any other product category, your consignment of tiles could also be of bad quality. Or it may happen that they behaved badly because the either they were not meant for the application you did or the way mason tried to install them. Some of the most common issues that crop up during or after tiling are -shade variation, chipping, cracks, fractures, scratches all over, uneven joints between the tiles, tenting or budging of tiles, detachment of tiles from and white patches on tiled surface.

There are two major issues that produce dissatisfactory tiled surfaces from new age tiles. First is lack of information about the materials – new varieties of tiles and their characteristics, different types of adhesives for different types of tiles and applications. For example, the information in public domain says that ‘vitrified / porcelain’ tiles have hardest surface to scratch. It is not true anymore. Similarly, the wide scale confusion related to ‘water absorption’ often cause stress in decision making. The other problem is shortage of masons who know the right installation of new large size porcelain tiles.

3). Why is it important to know the Tiles & Tiling?

Material knowledge is a very essential subject for all construction professionals both from design integration, as well as performance and longevity of the surfaces created. Tiles have evolved and new varieties have come up which carry different characteristics responsible for performance under different usage environments.

While there could be multiple reasons to blame for the spoiled tiled floor, blaming does not help in any situation. Knowing is essential. Know your tiles, the performance criteria, quality standards, implications of each parameter, understand technicalities in tile adhesive to choose the right one. Communication by the brands in this industry remains limited to their offerings and more of marketing talks. You cannot compare products of two brands in the same category!

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On The Floor is taking initiative to address this information and education gap by its content initiative, publications, and interactions with subject matter experts.

4). How can a construction professional achieve satisfactory results in Tiling?

It is not the rocket science, right. But absence of correct and sufficient information in the public domain and general ignorance by the product manufactures have allowed the tile and tiling related disappointments continue. A Proper understanding on following four points can enable you getting the best out of modern ceramic tiles:

1. Choosing right tiles as per the usage conditions
2. Choosing right adhesive and grouts
3. Ensuring proper installation method
4. Take precautions at site and care, post-installation.

5). What resources can help you in getting right information about Tiles & Tiling Education?

The first source of information could be the tile suppliers. You can refer the technical specifications provided by all good brands. The only point to note is that all the SKUs (products) presented brochure / catalogue, may not comply to all the parameters given in the technical sheet in that document.

For example, if you refer the GVT (glazed vitrified tiles) catalogue of a tile brand, you will not know the scratch resistance / wear resistant of the chosen, individual tile. That catalogue will have tiles in different finishes say high gloss, glossy polished, matte and textured which may have different ratings individually. You should ask the manufacture about your tile’s characteristics.

Another challenge is customers and specifiers are not in position to compare different options in the market. To do the comparison, it needs generic, brand-neutral, authentic information not the overwhelming marketing information. Next source could be the almighty google, although, the authenticity of all information cannot be known always.

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On The Floor understands this challenge and is committed to fill the existing information gap. We are pleased to announce that we are also in the process of publishing a handbook on modern ceramic tiles for construction professionals. Also, you can subscribe to this portal and associated YouTube channel to read articles and watch informative videos. Your feed-back will help us and we thank you for that in anticipation.