Tiling
What are Ceramic Tiles?
by WJaegel
Ceramic tiles are variously shaped slabs, made from a mixture of clay, sand, and a host of other natural ingredients. Since decades, it has been a popular decorative option. According to certain records, its history dates back to 4th century BC when ceramic materials were used to grace houses. There are also records regarding its usage by Mesopotamians during the 4000 BC.
In China, it became more popular during the reign of Shang Yin Dynasty in between 1523 and 1028 BC. After sometimes, they became an important segment of Islamic architecture. Apart from these, Assyrians and Babylonians also used it. Meanwhile, its production and usage gained much popularity in Europe, the examples for which are the faiences of Antwerp and the floor tiles of renaissance Italy. Later, it was widely accepted across the world as a popular decorative and flooring option. Now, it has been fondly used as a popular wall and flooring options in a variety of areas like homes, offices, churches, and mosques.
As mentioned earlier, ceramic tiles are primarily made from clay and a range of raw materials. Sometimes, even items such as old florescent bulbs, auto windshields, and ground glass used for its making. Among the steps involved in the most modern production method are batching, mixing and blending, grinding, spray drying, drying, glazing, and firing.
Batching is to determine the amount and the type as well as the color of raw materials required for its manufacture. In mixing and grinding, clay and other materials are blended whose combination gives a semi fine powder. Later, some water is poured on it to get a mud-like item. Drying involves the pumping of this mud-like item to a large dryer, whose result is fine clay powder.
The next step is glazing, which provides it a glazing look. During this process, a liquid made of colored dyes and flirt (glass derivatives) is poured on the tile using a high-pressure spray or by directly pouring on the tile. The last but the important step is firing. In this phase, the tiles are heated at a desirable temperature in the kiln. On the completion of these steps, ceramic tiles attain properties like hardness, rigidity, and fragility.
Different types of ceramic tiles are now made available that suit your pocket and match with your lifestyle and preferences. The most popular category of ceramic tiles is glazed tiles and unglazed tiles. The main difference between both the tiles is that unglazed ones are fired only once, while manufacturing of glazed ones undergo a special process, namely, glazing. Glazed tiles are available in an infinite variety of colors and styles, apart from a range of finishes like matte, satin, and high gloss. Unlike glazed tiles, unglazed ceramic tiles possess natural colors. Clinker, red stoneware, and terracotta are some of the popular types of unglazed tiles.
The ceramic tiles are again classified into floor tiles and wall tiles. Floor tiles are considered one of the best options to beautify floors in areas like bedrooms and lounges, whereas wall tiles are used for surfacing fireplaces, kitchen and bathroom walls.
Depending upon its usage, ceramic tiles are again grouped into five categories. Soft as well as scuff, Group 1 is most suitable to surface bathrooms. Group 2 is considered the best for common residential purposes, however, not recommended in areas like kitchens. Apart from its applications in residential areas, Group 3 can be used in office spaces. Group 4 are used both in residential and commercial areas. The last group is intended for heavy traffic areas like restaurants, shopping complexes, and malls. There is also a special category, called whiteware, which are exclusively designed for special purposes like adorning the interior or exterior of a building or home.
In contrast to other flooring options like marble and granite, ceramic tiles offer a range of benefits, including easy installation, cost effectiveness, durability, resistant to chemicals, and stain resistant. Further, they are regarded as a boon for allergy and asthma sufferers, as they are easy to clean and are resistant to dust, abrasions, and chemicals. Above all, this flooring option can easily be fitted to any surface.
Nowadays, ceramic tiles come in a plethora of styles, fashions, designs, and finishes. A recent addition is decorative tile. Also, popular nowadays are hand painted ones.
About the Author
Maverand offers the largest variety of ceramic tile, marble and granite mosaic and garden decorations. All products are carefully selected and come from the most qualified factories in Hong Kong and China.
Procedures And Hints For Tiling Projects
by Galway
Whether it 's for a house extension, or as part of a factory new-build, attention to floor level is critical. Compare levels at doorways on each side of the room, check existing floor levels in adjacent rooms where walls are to be demolished, and ensure that any remedial work takes into account the thickness of your new tiles + the thickness of adhesive to be used.
String lines or water levels are invaluable assets in this procedure.
If the floor suffers from humps and bumps, it will probably be cheaper to lay a self-leveller than remove the bumps. This is certainly true where more than say 5% of the floor undulates by more than 6mm.
Current cement self-levelling products can be laid at up to 20mm in one pour, and walked on within 3 or 4 hours. Entrances to adjacent rooms should be considered before raising floor levels.
To reduce a floor by grinding is difficult and expensive.
Very often grinding will cost many times more than levelling up by self-leveller, so if you are not certain where levels should be, aim low!
Should your levels be worse than 20mm out then a mortar screed should be utilised. There are many proprietary screeds available, and providing the finished screed levels are reasonably flat, a tile adhesive will cope with any minor level deviations, allowing your tiles to lie flat. Assuming the floor to be flat we can begin preparing for tiling.
Floor Tiling:
When planning a tiling project, your main considerations will be:-
* Thickness of tiles
* Cutting tiles
* Setting out
* Types of tile material
* Floor levels
* Potential slip hazard.
Thickness of Tiles:
When using ceramic or porcelain tiles, these are more or less guaranteed to be calibrated, i.e. the same thickness throughout, and the same overall dimensions
Natural stone is less likely to be so, and some allowance for variation in shade, thickness, and overall dimensions should be accommodated.
It is not un-common to witness variations of 3 to 6mm in the thickness of natural stone tiles, and for this reason they are generally bedded into a sand-cement screed which can absorb these discrepancies. Variations in length and width can only be accommodated through the use of an appropriate joint width.
Natural stone can be supplied as a calibrated tile, but at some extra cost. Since calibrated tiles are generally laid into a thin-bed adhesive, a cheaper process than bedding in sand and cement, the cost of calibration will be mitigated by a reduced installation cost.
Cutting of Tiles:
Ceramic tiles can be successfully cut using 's criber' type devices. These carve a line through the tile glaze at the point where the tile needs to be snapped off, and a small leverage device actually carries out the snapping of the tile. These devices can be purchased at a cost of 50 pounds or thereabouts, paid for by the savings of doing the work yourself!
Thicker tiles, such as terrazzo or marble, need to be cut with a much bigger rotating diamond blade saw, which is water-fed. These can usually be hired from tool-hire shops, which also rent the transformers to power them.
This is a messy process, so make sure to have some waterproof clothing handy, and follow the hirers safety instructions.
Types of Tile Material:
This is quite a personal and subjective issue, but generally porcelain and ceramic tiles are cheaper and easier to install than natural stone, and much more readily available. Whether they look as good is a debatable point.
Give thought to the wear properties of each material, and consider what the area will be used for when it is finished. Do you need an anti-slip finish? Will chemicals be spilled onto the floor? Seek professional advice if you have any doubts.
Pay special attention to the floor levels before you choose your tiles. Floor grinding is a very expensive operation.
About the Author
Shaun Parker has been at the forefront of the industrial flooring industry for 15 years. For more information visit http://www.premfloor.co.uk
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