Porcelain Tile as We See It Now!

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In the early 1980’s the design profession was offered a new product to specify as a commercial floor. Porcelain tile arrived with very little fanfare but held some distinct market changing advantages over the incumbent products.

In those days this market was dominated by American produced quarry tile. On occasion, in an upscale area, a European split tile might have been selected. Quarry tile was most often produced in a red color with gray, brown, tan and a few other colors also available. The imported material, known as split tile or klinker, offered a more colors, especially a few “autumn” type color ranges. The sizes were also somewhat limited with 6”x6”, 4”x8” and 5”x10” being the norm. Another fact of life was maintenance, since a sealing program was necessary.

On the other hand, porcelain tile was composed of kaolin clay, feldspar and quartz and had a water absorption rate of less than 0.5%. Sealers were normally not required. Porcelain also offered more size and color options than either quarry tile or split tiles. It became a fairly simple Darwinian exercise for porcelain tile to gain market share very quickly.

Fast forward to today; porcelain tile now dominates the hard surface commercial flooring market. With the introduction of additional colors, stone visuals, textile visuals, wood visuals etc. porcelain has now also secured a solid place in the luxury residential market. Based on the images at the top and bottom of this post, these tiles are a profound fashion forward statement.

Country Floors is happy to introduce our  Q Stone Porcelain Collection . Since they are a “rectified” material, meaning their facial dimensions have been made more exact, a virtually  joint free installation is possible. A quick visit to one of the Country Floors locations all over America will help you discover more statements to be made with this hard wearing and easily maintained product!

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