STONE & TILE TYPES
NATURAL STONE Perfectly imperfect – the beauty of natural stone means that there will be variations from piece to piece. There is no such things as a “perfect” piece of stone, which is what we love most about the unique nature of our products in this collection.
LIMESTONE Geology
MARBLE Geology
Tonal variation Natural stone almost always has some tonal variation from tile to tile and slab to slab. Natural stone and terracotta can carry slight chips and other blemishes. Allowances should be made for variations in size and thickness. To assess the natural variation of stone, we always recommend that you stand at least two metres away and look at the overall effect rather than each tile or slab, just as you would view a work of art by looking at the whole picture, before you start to inspect the brush strokes and the detail.
A sedimentary rock mostly formed during the Jurassic period by deposits of shells collecting on the sea-bed and being compressed over time. Key quality Shell and fossil patterns and an infinite range of shades – usually from cream through to yellow, but also encompassing white and black. SANDSTONE Geology A sedimentary rock made up of compacted grains of sand, bound together by a secondary mineral such as calcite, clay or silica. Key quality Hardwearing, frost-resistant and low-slip make it ideal for outdoors.
The geological process that produces the prominent veins and quartz in the surface of marble is called recrystallization. The vivid colours vary depending on the prevalent minerals in the area from which it is quarried. Key quality Very hard and very smooth, with myriad colour tones and markings that are beautiful and mesmerising to look at. A fine-grained rock derived from an original sedimentary rock made of clay or volcanic ash. Key quality The natural, slight undulations in the stone (caused by the way it is split when quarried) give it instant character. The dark colour makes it easy to maintain. SLATE Geology Ceramic Ceramic tiles are made using a clay based material that is then decorated with an undercoat. Once this has been applied, a glaze is then poured over the top. Ceramic tiles are typically recommended for use on walls only (unless specified that they can be used on floors) due to their strength. Crackle glaze ceramic tiles will require sealing. Glass Glass has its own beauty, but can also be transformed by the natural or ambient light with sparkles, reflections and fascinating changes of colour. It’s easy to maintain and non-porous.
TILES
Porcelain Porcelain tiles are made from a mixture of clays and minerals and fired at a very high temperature. This means that they are extremely hard wearing and very strong. Tip: Due to the nature of the manufacturing process, porcelain tiles may be subject to a very slight ‘bow’ along the length of larger tiles (this can normally be corrected using a specialist clip system). This slight bowing, which will fall within European Standards (and please be assured that all our tiles are CE compliant), can cause slight ‘lipping’ between one tile and the next. If you wish to minimize the effect of this, we recommend that tiles should be laid square, or staggered by not more than a third of a tile length, rather than laying brick-bond.
Rectified & Non-Rectified tiles Tiles are normally pressed in a mould then fired which causes them to shrink, so most larger format porcelain (30 x 60 upwards) and some ceramic tiles are then cut down to a specific size before packing to ensure that they do not vary to much in size, enabling a tighter grout joint, this process is known as rectification. Smaller format tiles are rarely rectified because they shrink less and do not require this extra process, they are known as non-rectified and recommend a 3mm minimum grout joint and spacers need to be used with care or not at all. For any larger format tiles we offer are non-rectified you will find this information on the product page and we do not recommend to mixing them for example in a chequer pattern.
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ANCILLARIES
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