Porcelain tiles are a completely versatile material. It is used as a decorative and/or protective cladding for walls, floors, pools and other surfaces in a wide variety of spaces. Countertops for kitchen cutting tables are even made from large-format slabs. But the advantages of ceramic granite are especially noticeable in such areas of application as floors and paving, stairs, as well as exterior decoration of buildings, and first of all, systems of suspended ventilated facades. It is these most important areas of application of porcelain stoneware that we will dwell in more detail.
If design issues are resolved within the framework of each specific architectural project, then such features as the type of surface treatment, format, thickness, calibration, to a greater or lesser extent, must be taken into account when deciding on the method of using porcelain stoneware.
Porcelain tiles underfoot
Finishing floors, stairs, balconies and terraces, porches, paving open areas - these are the areas in which porcelain stoneware shows its most advantageous practical and aesthetic properties. The main criteria for choosing ceramic floor tiles for high traffic areas, which include floors and stairs, are mechanical strength and abrasion resistance. Unglazed porcelain tiles with a natural matte surface are highly resistant to abrasion and mechanical strength. Therefore, it can be used in any areas of the residential sector (halls, corridors, stairs), in public spaces with low traffic intensity, as well as in crowded places - supermarkets, airports, halls of large hotels, and so on.
For the floor, choose tiles with a thickness of at least 8 mm. For extremely high loads (car showrooms, shopping malls, industrial premises) a thicker thickness is recommended. For such cases, special technical porcelain stoneware with a thickness of 12 mm is produced. The breaking load on such a floor is 450 kg; for 8 mm thick tiles this figure is 200 kg. As they say, feel the difference!
Another important characteristic for the tiles that appear under our feet is that they should not be slippery. Especially outdoors and in rooms where water or other liquid can easily end up on the floor (swimming pools, bathrooms, showers, kitchens), as well as on stairs. Therefore, for such places it is recommended to choose unpolished (matte) porcelain stoneware or tiles with various types of structured surface.
Up and down porcelain tiles
External and interior interfloor stairs belong to passage areas that are subject to increased operational loads. Ceramic granite with its high mechanical strength and abrasion resistance is ideal for facing them. For this purpose, special facing elements - steps - are produced. There are steps “with a beak” and “with a blockage”, with a profiled surface. Beak steps are more massive and are used mainly for external stairs. Profiled steps “with a blockage” are used, most often, for finishing interfloor flights of stairs in public buildings.
Fake but very convenient
Raised floor is a modular system with a gap between the subfloor and the floor covering. This free space contains technical communications - electrical wires, water pipes, air ducts, and so on. The height of the gap can vary from 5 to 120 cm. Not so long ago, raised floors were mainly used in industrial facilities; today they are used to equip office, banking, retail premises, airports, museums and exhibition centers, and even private houses and apartments. The modular raised floor consists of the following elements: supporting panel; load-bearing metal rack frame, adjustable in height; finishing decorative coating. Recently, porcelain tiles with an increased thickness of 2 cm have increasingly become used as finishing decorative coatings for raised floors.
The article was based on the following materials:
“Ceramic granite in architecture” comp. Semyonova T.S., Ogadzhanov K.G.