Ceramic Floor Tiles :: Function
The use of tiles as floor covering has a long history and because
of its versatility is now more popular than at any other period.
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The idea that natural materials
are generally the most beautiful and the
most pleasant to live with is
now prevalent in all areas of home life, from clothing to wall paints
and floor coverings.
Tiled floors fulfil this idea perfectly, at the same time offering a
greater choice in terms of material, colour and finish than was available
in earlier centuries. Modern techniques make a wider range of riles available
for use on floors — for example, glazes and methods of firing which make
ceramic tiles tougher than in previous centuries when they were considered
suitable for wall decoration alone.
Age-old methods of sealing and finishing floor tiles, such as sealing with boiled linseed oil and polishing with wax, have been joined by new approaches which can combine the best of old and new. Sealants and
waxes which include synthetic components can provide labour- saving finishes on tiles laid in areas of the home that suffer especially hard wear
— such as hallways, kitchens and children's playrooms.
Modem methods of transporting goods worldwide also mean that the home-owner in Europe or America can equally easily choose brightly-coloured ceramic tiles made in their home country, or antique French terracotta tiles, or slate tiles from Africa . Many of the techniques used in making tiles have hardly changed in centuries and, together with the tiles themselves, have stood the test of time. Terracotta tiles not only do not deteriorate, they positively improve with use; as a patina builds tip on the surface they become even more resilient to wear and tear, and their colours become richer and more mellow.
The combined result of all these elements means simply that there is a tiled floor to suit every purpose and style of decoration in the contemporary home. The only limiting factors are practical — some particularly heavy tiles are not well suited for use on upstairs floors, for instance, and glazed tiles are inevitably more vulnerable to wear than unglazed ones — but practical considerations are also those which often make a tiled floor the best choice, and have done so since Roman times and before.
If you are in any doubt about whether to lay a tiled floor, the best approach is to consider the alternatives. Of all contemporary floor coverings, that which is blindly adopted more often than any other is carpet.CERAMIC TILES GUIDE
