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Porcelain Tile Flooring

Choosing the perfect flooring for your home can be a daunting task. Not only are there numerous materials available for home flooring, but the designs and patterns in each type can leave you mesmerized. Porcelain tile flooring is one such flooring option which not only looks amazingly beautiful but has myriad other advantages. It hardly looks any different from ceramic tile flooring. However, in the hindsight, porcelain flooring has far more advantages than ceramic tile flooring. Let us discuss this magnificent flooring option in more detail.

Porcelain Tile Grades Porcelain tile flooring is manufactured from clay, crushed stone and other materials. These materials are heated in a furnace at very high temperatures. Firing of porcelain at such high temperatures makes it rock hard and impervious to water. Ceramic flooring is manufactured in similar way, except at lower temperatures. Depending upon the degree of heating, porcelain is classified in grades zero to five. Grade zero refers to lower heating temperatures and less imperviousness to water. Grade five is the finest quality porcelain manufactured at highest temperature. It has maximum hardness and is most impervious to water.

Applications As mentioned above, porcelain flooring is available in various grades according to their hardness and water resisting ability. Each of these grades of porcelain flooring has its own applications. For instance, low-grade porcelain tiles can be used for bathroom walls while higher grade versions are used for flooring purposes. The finest grade porcelain is used for outdoor applications as it can withstand inclement weather as well as heavy traffic. Apart from flooring, porcelain tiles can also be used for countertops as they are extremely chip resistant. Porcelain is available in glazed as well as unglazed versions. You can choose any of the two according to your purpose. Glazed version has better water resistivity, hence is apt for bathroom flooring.