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What You Need to Know Before Installing Tile

Tile is one of the most beautiful flooring options available for homes today, and its classic look ensures that it will never go out of style. But installing tile in your home isn’t as simple as picking out a style that you like and having it put down. Before you even pull up your old […]

Tile is one of the most beautiful flooring options available for homes today, and its classic look ensures that it will never go out of style. But installing tile in your home isn’t as simple as picking out a style that you like and having it put down. Before you even pull up your old flooring, match colors or study the different tile options, it’s important to know where tile comes from and how all the different options are made. For example, the raw materials that will make up your new floor have to be mined, mixed, pressed, fired, and glazed. Here we take a behind-the-scenes look at how tile is made before it even hits the shelves.

Mining the Materials

Ceramic, the most common material for tiles, is made of natural clay and sand that is mined straight from the earth. Porcelain tiles, also an excellent choice for many applications, are made of a different and much denser clay, but the process for making both ceramic and porcelain tiles is about the same.

Mixing the Clay

After the basic tile ingredients have been harvested, manufacturers will combine the clay, sand, a few other minerals, and a little bit of water into a gritty, muddy consistency. This slurry has to be well mixed before being put into a giant dryer, which will turn the mixture into a fine, almost powdery material.

Pressing the Shapes

Most manufacturers use a method known as pressing to shape the tiles. From the dryer, the tile mixture makes its way into molds, where it is pressed into a dense tile shape. At this stage, the tiles are called green tiles, because although they begin to resemble real tiles, their high water content makes them unusable until the firing stage. Before firing, however, the green tiles must be allowed to dry out as much as possible.

Firing the Tiles

Finally, many of the green tiles are ready to become real ceramic tiles. The firing process takes place in kilns, similar to the kilns that were used hundreds of years ago when our predecessors first began making tiles. Of course, the process is much more precise today – each tile is fired at a temperature of 2000 degrees F for ceramic, and even higher for porcelain.

Adding a Glaze

Some, but not all, tiles are glazed before they enter the firing kiln. Single fired tiles are glazed once before firing, while double fired tiles are fired, glazed, then fired again. In terms of suitability for home use, there isn’t much difference; but there is a difference between glazed and unglazed tile. Glazing adds a beautiful shine and touchable finish to tiles that are usually more suitable for walls, while unglazed tiles offer more richness and texture. Unglazed tiles tend to be more forgiving when it comes to scratches and scuffs, so they are often the ideal choice for flooring in high traffic areas.
Contact your local Windows Floors & Decor rep to talk to find out what kind of tile is most suitable for your home renovation project today.