You want to select tile flooring for its strength, durability and its unmatched beauty. The good news is that you can choose from several types of tiles when it comes to your flooring. This article describes porcelain, ceramic, luxury vinyl and laminate tile and the best places to install them in your in Tampa, FL, home.
Porcelain Tile
Porcelain tile is a ceramic made by firing fine, kaolin-rich clay at higher temperatures than regular ceramic tile. This makes the tile very hard and able to resemble much more expensive materials, such as marble and exotic hardwood. Manufacturers can glaze porcelain tiles, which makes them excellent for use in wet rooms.
Ceramic
Manufacturers fire coarse clay in a kiln at a lower temperature than porcelain. This makes the tiles softer than porcelain tile and just a bit less water-resistant unless there is a glazing process. However, ceramic tile generally costs less than porcelain tile and is less brittle.
Luxury Vinyl Tile
Like porcelain tile, manufacturers can make luxury vinyl tile, or LVT, look like pricier materials, such as stone or hardwood. LVT is great to place in public rooms and bedrooms. It’s actually made of layers of PVC vinyl. These layers are the PVC core, which is the base, the vinyl layer, a very realistic photographic layer and a transparent wear layer to protect it.
Laminate
Laminate floor tiles differ from luxury vinyl tiles in that they have a base made of particleboard, which is a waste material from woodworking. Laminate tiles, like LVT, have an image layer and a wear layer that’s transparent. They are different in that laminate installs differently and is actually more stain and fire-resistant than LVT.
Since 1944, Yeager Flooring has served our customers in the Tampa, FL, area. Besides installing your tile floors, we also repair water-damaged floors and refinish hardwood floors. Call us to ask about our types of tile flooring today.
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About the Author: Jim Yeager, Owner
