Tile choice often comes down to practicality, budget, and look. When choosing a tile, you want something that enhances your home’s appeal while fitting into your budget and providing the resistance to stains and cracks you need. Consider the possibilities offered by ceramic, porcelain, subway tile, glass, marble, and granite.
Stone and tile floors are made to last and they are easy to maintain, repair and restore if needed.
Ceramic Tile
Ceramic tile offers a great choice for many applications, making it one of the most versatile and popular choices for home improvement. In addition to its wide range of uses, ceramic is one of the most affordable and durable options. It’s an excellent choice for any room, including the bathroom, kitchen, or front entrance.
In addition, glazed ceramic tile provides more protection from stains and scuffs versus wood, carpet, or vinyl plank flooring.
Porcelain Tile
Porcelain is one of the most excellent looking and most durable ceramic tile options. Its superiority results from its higher ratio of silica and quartz. In addition, it is baked or fired at a higher temperature, increasing its quality. Because of these factors, it makes for a stronger floor versus red clay ceramic tiles.
Porcelain also comes in a large variety of colors and patterns. For example, glazed, etched, and texturized are available that resemble hardwood, luxurious marble, or industrial bricks.
For DIYers, porcelain presents more installation challenges than ceramic. It is more difficult to work with because of its higher tensile strength and density. Porcelain installation also requires a diamond blade wet saw.
Subway Tile
This new innovation, now gaining popularity as backsplashes for kitchens and bathrooms, creates a fashionable look on a budget. These rectangular tiles, once seen only in the New York City subway, have become fashionable as a pinnacle tile shape for backsplashes in recent years.
Subway tiles offer easy customization. They allow you to utilize differing lay patterns, providing design dimensionality. They are also more neutral in terms of shape and style. In addition, they pair well with either fancy or minimalist designs.
Glass Tile
Glass tiles sparkle, giving your backsplash or shower tile a glamorous aesthetic. Compared to other tiles, glass offers the best stain resistance. They even resist stains from red wine and lemon juice. However, they are a poor choice if you have children or are accident-prone. They easily chip or crack. Glass is not ideal for flooring because it can break when anything is dropped. It provides a better choice for wall tiles.
For instance, glass tiles can provide a romantic sparkle to bathroom mirrors. They also make a space appear larger through their ability to reflect light throughout the room.
Marble Tile
Marble tiles offer elegance to your home without the need to spend money like it’s going out of style. Though not terribly expensive, it is still more expensive than most natural stone options. However, small quantities can add a splash of elegance to your home for a reasonable cost.
Marble’s aesthetic appeal stems from its uniqueness and deeply veined mineral lines. These natural designs are formed from many years of heat and pressure under the Earth, so you can be assured that the gorgeous design you enjoy is available only in your home. If you want something refreshingly different and beautiful, consider marble tile.
Marble provides depth and contrast and dazzling color arrays in uncountable varieties. Almost any imaginable color is available, from green to gray, beige, white, black, and many more.
DIYers should inspect marble for rough areas. These need extra sealing because their porosity leads to higher sustainability.
Granite Tile
Granite tiles provide the uniqueness and style of marble at a lower cost. Its aesthetic appeal results from natural specks and flecks of various colors. Granite is considered a bit less elegant and may not offer as much panache. However, it is more durable, so much less likely to chip or crack, a great advantage for high-traffic areas.
Granite is also relatively water resistant so that it can work well in wet areas. It also provides strong stain resistance. Though not as costly as marble, granite is one of the more expensive tile options. It tends to come in large slabs, which is most economical for larger formats.
Whatever your taste or budget, there is a tile available that can enhance your home without breaking the bank. In addition to aesthetics and price, it’s also important to consider durability and stain resistance. For example, marble and granite provide excellent looks and decent durability but may not be the best for high-traffic areas. If the tile is going to be in heavy use, porcelain or ceramic may be more practical.
Time to Restore Your Floors?
Taking care of your floors is part of taking care of your home and it’s a good thing stone and tile are durable and don’t need much maintenance. But when the time comes to revive them, just like any other floor material, you should consider restoring them with professional stone and tile restoration services. It costs less than replacing and will bring your floors back to life, like a new floor installation.
Restore-A Floor are a trusted Michigan floor restoration company that does not disappoint. We have been repairing and bringing all types of stone floors, tiles and countertops back to life with expert services. Our stone refinishing techniques and grout cleaning methods ensure your floors, countertops, and walls can look new again, so you remember why you installed them in the first place. Call and speak to a flooring specialist today and schedule a Free Estimate. You will be so glad you did!