You may have heard the term ‘The first impression is the last impression’ When it comes to your living space, the flooring sets the first impression of your home’s interior. If you are thinking of buying a new house, or want to renovate the flooring. Whatever may be the case, it is extremely important to choose the best tiles for your flooring.
The current trend in the market is to use vitrified tiles due to their durability and water impermeability. Still, vitrified tile is a broad term, it only provides an idea about the structure of the tiles. Further, there are four types of vitrified tiles and sub-types to choose from.
These are some common queries from people who were thinking of renovating their flooring with vitrified tiles. ‘What is vitrified tile? What are the different types of vitrified tiles? What are some advantages of using vitrified tiles? Which vitrified tiles will be the best fit for flooring? Here we aim to provide a detailed explanation of these questions. So you can choose the best tile for your flooring.
Here is a table that compares different attributes of different tiles.
| SR. No. | Ceramic Tiles | Marble | Vitrified Tiles | Granite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durability | Lowest | Medium | High | Highest |
| Water Absorption | 3-16 % | 0.04-0.8 % | <0.5 % | 0.1-0.8 % |
| Eco-friendliness | Moderate | Yes | No | Yes |
| Aesthetic/Look | High | Highest (veined) | Highest | High(speckled) |
| Creative Flexibility | Highest | No | High | No |
| Porosity | Highest | Medium | Lowest | Low |
| Budget Friendliness | Yes | No | Moderate | Variable |
| Scratch Resistance | No | No | Yes | Yes |
What Are Vitrified Tiles?
The name can give you a little idea about their manufacturing process. Tiles are produced from a hydraulic press and after goes through the process of vitrification. In this process, raw materials like clay, quartz, feldspar, and more are exposed to extreme temperatures.
Quartz is a hard and crystalline material that requires high temperatures to melt. After melting, quartz blends with clay slurry to form a hard and strong structure from which vitrified tiles are made. Silicon Dioxide present in quartz makes vitrified tiles negligibly impermeable to water.
This has made vitrified tiles a favorite for domestic and commercial purposes. Vitrified tiles are further divided into four types based on further processing and polishing. This may vary according to the sources and geography but fundamentally vitrified tiles are of four types.
4 Types of Vitrified Tiles
-
Full Body Vitrified Tiles
As the name suggests, full body vitrified tiles are consistent with their color and design in all parts of the tile. The required colors are added to the initial slurry itself. This makes these tiles thoroughly homogeneous and consistent with color and design.
Full body vitrified tile comes with a pro and a con. Let’s address the con first, further designing of the tile is not possible as the colors are already added, although some manufacturers still add a polishing layer on the top. The pro is that after years of use if a tile chips a little it will go unnoticeable due to the homogeneity of the tile.
-
Double Charge Vitrified Tiles
Ever thought about what double charged tiles mean? Double charge vitrified tiles are made of two layers. The top layers serve the purpose of design, it is usually 3-4 mm thick. The foundation layer or the bottom layer is a regular vitrified tile that provides durability and rigidness to the tile.
The two layers are easily visible from the side of the tile. The presence of two layers makes double charged tiles one of the most durable tiles in the tiles market. The only disadvantage being it is highly expensive, but provides value for money and generally lasts forever once installed.
-
Glazed Vitrified Tiles
Glazed vitrified tiles, also known as GVT, are in high demand on the tiles market, as they allow us to be creative with designs. We can incorporate almost any design on these tiles.
These tiles can be used in bedrooms, kitchen backsplash, and bathrooms. The one sub-type of GVT tiles is polished glazed vitrified tiles or PGVT, only difference is in the finishing. PGVT tiles contain a layer of polishing on the surface of the tiles. PGVT reduces the stress of consumers from designing tiles themselves. Still, you can buy GVT to express your creativity and give various finishes like matt, rustic, glossy, anti-skid, and more.
-
Soluble Salt Vitrified Tiles
Soluble salt vitrified tiles made from screen printing technology. A layer of soluble salt is allowed to pass through tiles after taking it out from the kiln. The salt layer dissolves into tiles giving it an elegant look. But the salt layers generally disappear after 2-3 years. But the Nano polishing technology has come in handy to improve the soluble salt tiles and make them shinier and scratch resistance. The improved version is often called a nano polished soluble salt tile. These tiles are the least expensive vitrified tiles. These tiles are immensely popular in Latin American countries.
What Are the Advantages of Vitrified Tiles?
Below are some vitrified tiles’ advantages and disadvantages;
Advantages:
- As vitrified tiles are available in a wide variety of styles and patterns to choose from.
- Vitrified tiles are one of the most durable tiles in the market. They are scratch resistant which makes them ideal for high-traffic areas like living room flooring, kitchens, bathrooms, and commercial buildings.
- These tiles are manufactured in a way that makes them lightweight and easy to install in your residence.
- Due to the process of vitrification during the manufacturing process, these tiles become highly smooth which makes them stain resistant. The perfect option for your home flooring and kitchen backsplash.
Disadvantages:
- One of the major disadvantages of vitrified tiles is that during the manufacturing process, a lot of carbon is released into the environment
- Some of the vitrified tiles types can be severely expensive, especially double charge vitrified tiles.
What Is the Difference Between Porcelain and Vitrified Tiles?
The properties of vitrified tiles are strikingly similar to porcelain tiles. There are some minor differences in terms of manufacturing and durability
- The major difference between porcelain and vitrified tiles is the manufacturing process. Vitrified involves the hydraulic press technique and vitrification that make the tile surface glossy and smooth. On the hand, porcelain tiles are made using a dust press process.
- Vitrified tiles are ideal for areas that often get crowdy like malls, parking areas, kitchens, etc. Porcelain tiles are great for medium-traffic areas like walls and bedrooms.
- There are various types of vitrified tiles, salt soluble, double charged, single body, and glazed surface vitrified tiles. Meanwhile, porcelain tiles come only in two types that are glazed and unglazed porcelain tiles.
- Vitrified tiles are more expensive than porcelain tiles due to the sophisticated manufacturing process.
- Installation of vitrified tiles is much simpler than porcelain tiles. This is mainly because of the dense and heavy nature of porcelain tiles, vitrified tiles are much lighter and easy to install.
As you learned a lot about different types of tiles. Now, you may have gotten the perfect picture of the tiles that you want to use for your flooring. At Octaria Tiles Shop in Bangalore we offer a wide range of flooring tiles. Choose the best design of vitrified tiles that will meet your design needs.