Sunday, May 8, 2016

Tile Flooring Naples FL Options

By Laura Walker


Tiles are hard pieces of items that come in an array of shapes meant to cover floors and decorate it. Tile flooring is also known to come in a number of colour options and patterns to suit customer appeal. Generally, they are manufactured from quartz, clay, stone, terrazzo and even metal. Nonetheless, due to public demand in Naples, Florida, most tiles are made from ceramic and natural stone. Below is an outline of the favorite tile flooring Naples FL options.

Ceramic tiles are basically made from quarried clay. The clay is processed to develop either a porcelain or non-porcelain ceramic. The traditional version of ceramic is the non-porcelain type. It is usually made from red, brown and/or white clay. It also may contain other minerals. The porcelain ceramic tile version, although made from the same clay, contains 50% feldspar. The feldspar gives the final product more structural integrity.

The two ceramic types may either be available as glazed or non-glazed. Glazing involves double kiln-firing to give tiles that finished smooth semi-gloss or high-gloss appearance. New technology however, allows for automated firing processing in a single step which reduces cost and time of production. Compared to unglazed ceramics, the glazed ceramics, although more expensive, are able to resist scratches, traction and water absorption to a much higher degree.

Natural stone flooring tiles can be made either from either marble, slate, limestone (like travertine) or granite. These stones are quarried, slabbed, filed and cut to sizeable pieces as per popular demand. How the tile from a specific stone may look can change from one quarry site to another. This is because the minerology also changes from one place to the next. Also, each type of natural stone tile has its own unique properties.

Granite is one of many igneous rock types. It tends to be very hard and highly dense with distinct minerals speckled on its surface and a unique kind of veining. They are available in all sorts of colours depending on where they were quarried from. Granite is almost completely water resistant and can also be scratch resistant once honed and polished. It is best suited for kitchens in homes.

Being a metamorphic rock, marble has very rich surface veining and it is acquirable in many tones of colours. It does tend to be porous unlike granite though. Thus it is unfortunately ill suited for kitchens, although polishing and sealing regularly can help fix this. Nevertheless, it can still be used in non-water prone areas such as living rooms and bed rooms.

Limestone, a sedimentary rock, has a natural earthy appearance to it and it is acquirable in both light and dark shades of this colour. The surface may or may not be polished subject to how you would like it and which part of the house you would want to have them. Its lower density makes these tiles vulnerable to scratches and is therefore not suited for kitchens.

Slate is another metamorphic rock. However, this rock is extremely dense and a lot more durable. It is available in earthy colours of dark tones. It usually has a textured surface, unless a smoother, polished surface is required. This stone tile is one of the best suited for kitchens.




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