Porcelain tiles are growing more and more popular. They have adavantages over more traditional ceramic tiles, some of these being that they are often made in larger formats, they are more durable and stronger, and in some cases, as an ‘engineered’ product, a slightly better finish can be obtained.
There can be draw backs for porcelain tiles as well, there added strength can also mean that they are harder to cut and drill, requiring more specialist and proffesional drilling and cutting equipment as the strength of the tile can blunt a drill very quickly and having the wrong bits can require 10 or more drill bits for one hole! So you do need to make sure that you have the right tools dor the job.
As was mentioned earlier, the engineering aspect of porcelain tiles is different from ceramic. Most ceramic tiles are ‘pressed’ this means that the edges of the tiles are slightly rounded, which is absolutely fine in most bathroom or kitchen environments. However, in a room where a very specific design is required and the tiles are required to be butted against each other tiles with flat, 90 degree edges are the only tiles that will work in these scenarios. The 90 degree edge is known in the trade as ‘rectified’, this allows flush fitting without a grout joint if necessary.
