Floor Tiles
The main function of a floor tile is to stand heavy wear. They must therefore be thick and tough enough to stand heavy use and weight.
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They should be easy to clean and there fore non-porous, so that dirt does not easily penetrate. The surface should be smooth and vitrified to withstand constant use and should not be slippery when wet. Floor tiles are classed as light domestic duty, or heavy industrial. Most light-duty floor tiles are glazed. Modern technology now supplies very hard glazes that withstand much wear. Many glazes are matt or the surface textured to prevent slipping if they become wet. Should a client wish to install large, thick terracotta floor tiles, which are porous by nature, they will have to be sealed. When laid and finished they will need two coats of pure boiled linseed oil followed by a coat of traffic wax. All this treatment can cost an extra 14 per cent to the cost of the tiles.
White ceramic floor tiles
Today, most floor tiles are porcelain, non-porous and frost-proof, being suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
Tiles are available in a mouth-watering array of colours. Apart from the relatively few types of glazed tile that are suitable for use on floors, the colours you can choose from tend to be the colours of the natural materials from which the tiles are made. There are exceptions to this — encaustic tiles for example, where the colour is not applied to the surface but goes right through the tile. If you do decide to limit yourself to unglazed tiles, the range of colours is still tantalizing, from green, blue and grcv slate, through the many colours of marble.
Just as you would when choosing paint for the walls, use the colours of
a tiled floor can blend or contrast with other colours in a room, such
as curtains, chair and sofa covers, pictures and objects. If the tiled floor
is to provide a background for rugs, rake their colours and the style and intricacy
of their patterns, if any, into account too. Look out of the windows of a room
and consider whether you want the colour of vour floor to contrast or blend
with what you see — be it a brown roofscapc,
massed buildings in red brick or grey stone, or a lush landscape of green
fields.
