TILE

What Each Range Is For

Porcelain floor tiles are fired dense with very low water absorption, which is what makes them the default for wet areas and floors that get used.

Glazed porcelain tiles are the same dense body with a fired glass surface on top. That layer carries the pattern, so this is where the stone, timber and marble looks live. It is our largest range.

Homogeneous tiles are full body: the colour runs right through, so scuffs and chips barely show. This is the specification for shops, offices, corridors and busy family homes.

Double loading porcelain tiles sit between the two, with a thick pressed colour layer instead of a thin glaze.

Ceramic tiles are the affordable, practical choice for walls and rooms that do not take heavy traffic.

Nano polished tiles are the high-gloss floor for dry living and dining areas, and wall tiles and brick and stone veneer cover backsplashes and feature walls.

Whatever you choose, the tiles adhesive and grout should be picked at the same time, not on the day of laying.

Matching the Tile to the Room

Wet floors first, because this is the one that matters. A Malaysian bathroom floor is soaked daily and a gloss surface with soap on it offers very little grip. Use a matt or textured finish on any floor that gets wet, and keep the gloss for the walls. Slip performance has its own rating, so ask for it rather than judging by eye.

Busy floors. The more traffic a floor takes, the more you want the colour to run through the tile rather than sit in a surface layer. A scuffed glaze shows a different colour underneath; a full-body tile does not.

Walls are the easy case. Nobody walks on a wall, so wear hardly matters and you can use the glossiest tile in the range.

Outdoors is its own question. Sun, rain and thermal movement change what the tile has to do, and not every tile is intended for it. Ask before you assume.

Size changes both the look and the difficulty. Larger formats mean fewer grout lines and a calmer floor, but they are far less forgiving of an uneven screed. If the substrate is not flat, level it or drop to a smaller format.

Buy the whole job in one batch. Shade and calibration vary between production runs, so an extra box bought later may not match. Allow for cuts and keep a few spares.