TILE DEFINITIONS
Full Body / Unglazed Porcelain
Full body and unglazed porcelain tiles are a ‘colour-body' product. They are fully vitrified which means the colour runs completely through the tile. This characteristic makes the tile an extremely dense product that is very strong and hardwearing. Porcelain tiles are manufactured by dust pressing dyes at very high pressures and then fired in a kiln at over 1200 degrees centigrade.
They are available in various surfaces from matt to highly polished, patterned and studded finishes for slip resistance.
Glazed Porcelain
Glazed porcelain tiles are extremely durable.
Unlike unglazed porcelain, this single glazed porcelain product can have patterns, varying colours and ‘stone-look' finishes.
Glazed porcelain tiles can have a gloss or matt finish, and they can also be ground and polished to produce a completely flat surface.
Monocottura - Single fired glazed tile on top of a clay body. Suitable for flooring applications.
Bicottura - Double fired glazed tile on top of a clay body. Suitable only for wall applications.
PEI Rating
This is a measure of the abrasion resistance of glazed tiles (whether they are glazed porcelain or monocottura). It is the capacity of the glaze surface to resist wear caused by foot traffic. The wear action is linked to the mechanical agent (rubber sole, leather sole, etc) and the material carried onto the surface (water, sand, mud, etc). There are five classifications, depending on the areas that the tiles are to be used in
-
PEI I Tiles for areas with light traffic and without abrasive dirt, e.g. bathrooms, bedrooms.
-
PEI II Tiles for areas with average traffic and medium to low abrasion, e.g. study, living rooms
-
PEI III Tiles for areas with high medium to high traffic and average abrasion, e.g. foyer, kitchen in private residences.
-
PEI IV Tiles for areas with intense traffic, e.g. restaurants, offices, shops.
-
PEI V Tiles for areas with especially intense traffic.
Surface Hardness - is the capacity of the tile to resist scratching and etching. Under EN101 standard, tiles are classified on a scale of 1 to 10 based on the increased hardness of the minerals used to scratch them. EN176 standard requires tiles to have a surface hardness of not less than MOHS 5. The MOHS hardness scale is as follows:
1 Talc - 2 Chalk - 3 Calcite - 4 Flourite - 5 Apatite - 6 Feldspar - 7 Quartz - 8 Topaz - 9 Corundum - 10 Diamond
Naturale - refers to the flat, natural, finish that is produced on unglazed porcelain tiles
Honed - refers to the flat, smooth, finish that is produced on unglazed porcelain tiles
Polished - refers to the high gloss finish of unglazed porcelain tiles
Levigato - refers to the very highly polished finish that is produced on unglazed porcelain tiles
Lappato - refers to the semi-polished finish that is produced on unglazed porcelain tiles
Rectified - this means that the tile edges are ground to an exact tile size with a square edge finish.
Arissed - refers to the slight bevelled edge finish on tiles, also called chamfered
Lucido - Italian for gloss, refers to the highly glazed finish of monocottura or bicottura tiles, brillo in Spanish
Undulato - Italian for ripple, usually used in reference to wall tile
Elle - "L" shaped tile used to finish off any right angled edge
Listello - refers to wall border strips
Listone - refers to floor border strips
COLOURS
ENGLISH
ITALIAN
SPANISH
white
bianco
blanco
ivory
avorio
beige
cream
crema
crema
blue
bleu
azul
green
verde
verde
yellow
giallo
amarillo
red
rosso
rojo
pink
rosa
rosado
grey
grigio
gris
black
nero
negro
brown
marrone
marron
purple
viola
morado
Your Lifestyle - Our Design™
