Polished Porcelain - Tile Advice

[Colo]

Good Morning,

Wickes Norton Ivory Porcelain Wall & Floor Tile 600 x 300mm | Wickes.co.uk

Wickes Norton Ivory Porcelain Wall & Floor Tile 600 x 300mm

www.wickes.co.uk

Has any one any experience of these tiles from Wickes and are they any good on a kitchen floor. It does not give a PEI rating for these polished porcelain tiles but they have a similar glazed floor tile which is only rated at PEI 3.

I would also welcome any opinions regarding the durability of polished porcelain in busy areas.

Thanks for any response

Col

 

[Paulg83]

Good Morning,

Wickes Norton Ivory Porcelain Wall & Floor Tile 600 x 300mm | Wickes.co.uk

Wickes Norton Ivory Porcelain Wall & Floor Tile 600 x 300mm

www.wickes.co.uk

Has any one any experience of these tiles from Wickes and are they any good on a kitchen floor. It does not give a PEI rating for these polished porcelain tiles but they have a similar glazed floor tile which is only rated at PEI 3.

I would also welcome any opinions regarding the durability of polished porcelain in busy areas.

Thanks for any response

Col

For busy traffic areas (commercial scenario) you're really wanting grade 4-5, strong durable tiles for longevity

 

[Colo]

For busy traffic areas (commercial scenario) you're really wanting grade 4-5, strong durable tiles for longevity

Hi,
Thanks for the reply

 

[Dumbo]

My understanding is porcelain doesn't have a pei rating as it substantially outperforms that test

 

[Colo]

My understanding is porcelain doesn't have a pei rating as it substantially outperforms that test

Thanks for the advice I appreciate it. Some of their polished porcelain is marked as pei 3 but there is no listing on this one Customer Services are going to contact supplier to see if they can give pei rating.

 

[Andy Allen]

polished porcelain tiles are unglazed, it's just a porcelain body tile put through a honing machine to create the polished surface.
from experience the cheaper the tile, the less quality the porcelain is, and is more porous and fragile ..

 

[Colo]

polished porcelain tiles are unglazed, it's just a porcelain body tile put through a honing machine to create the polished surface.
from experience the cheaper the tile, the less quality the porcelain is, and is more porous and fragile ..

Hi,
Thanks for the advise. Wickes got back to me with some jargon from the supplier that steered round the question I asked.

I went on the manufacturers web site and it describes some of their porcelain tiles as being polished glazed porcelain. I would have thought they were either polished or glazed.

Cheers

Col

 

[finlay]

My experience with wickes tiles isn’t great poor quality go to a proper tile distributor
You get what you pay for generally

 

[Colo]

My experience with wickes tiles isn’t great poor quality go to a proper tile distributor
You get what you pay for generally

Thanks, thats why I asked wickes to provide me with a pei numbe

 

[Dumbo]

Pei is not the be all and end all , you want to think about squareness and flatness and all sorts of things during manufacture that may make them cut well or cut badly, also how open the surface of the tile is (pores ) so how susceptible they are to staining ,

 

[Anthony]

Wouldn’t worry about ratings. Get 20 minutes in and you’ll probably have 5mm joints or none at all. Poor for size and quality!

 

[Colo]

Pei is not the be all and end all , you want to think about squareness and flatness and all sorts of things during manufacture that may make them cut well or cut badly, also how open the surface of the tile is (pores ) so how susceptible they are to staining ,

Thanks for the advice It is appreciated. I totally agree with all your points and have taken them all into consideration. I am aware that any honed or polished porcelain will be porous and a good sealer will be used but the PEI number is what the consumer relies upon to determine which tiles are more suited to purpose and location. I understood that this classification takes porosity and staining into account before being given a PEI number.
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Wouldn’t worry about ratings. Get 20 minutes in and you’ll probably have 5mm joints or none at all. Poor for size and quality!

Thanks for the advice I think you are right and will follow the advice of Finlay above and 'go to a proper tile distributor'.
i have used cheap tiles in the past and as you all state and I struggled with gaps and size regularity when a few minutes into the job.
Cheer's
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My experience with wickes tiles isn’t great poor quality go to a proper tile distributor
You get what you pay for generally

Thanks for the sound advice which I am going to follow.

 

[Dumbo]

Pei numbers are for wear / abrasion resistance not for staining or porosity

 

[Colo]

Pei numbers are for wear / abrasion resistance not for staining or porosity

Thanks for the clarification.
I contacted a 'proper tile distributor', as recommended by Finlay in an earlier post, who has supplied me with a PEI 4 tile and guaranteed the quality for not a great deal more money. He had the same tiles on his showroom floor which get trampled on all day and still look as good as new. Like Finlay says 'you get what you pay for'

 

[Colo]

My understanding is porcelain doesn't have a pei rating as it substantially outperforms that test

Thank you for that information. It has come in very useful for another room I am starting. I think the problem I had was that the cheap tiles I was initially looking at were glazed porcelain which much lower the abrasion resistance.
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Hello Lads I would like to thank you all for your help and sharing your hard earned knowledge. It is appreciated.
Thank you