Wednesday, August 10, 2011
An Overview on Tiles
An Inspection on the Beauty of Baked Clay
In olden times, tiles were considered to be just building materials, but today the situation has changed, and they are creating a revolutionary change in the industry, owing to the varieties, designs, colours etc in which they are available in the market. Tiles are made of silica, clay, colour and the fluxes obtained from other materials. The main use of tiles is in paving the floors and walls of houses, buildings etc.
Tiles are made by the processes called red firing or white firing and the output of these processes are just raw slabs, which are not yet ready to be used. Such raw slabs are then coated with a vitreous coating called the ceramic glaze. The normal tile used for the purpose of paving walls, floors etc are made from baked clay and some sort of impermeable ceramic materials.
Today the construction industries have come up largely owing to the demand for more and more buildings, and the rates of building materials have also gone up sky high. This makes tiles more demanded compared to other costlier building materials like marbles, costly stones etc. The use of tiles became even more prominent with the increase in the varieties available. Tiles are most commonly used for flooring the interiors of the houses, and other public places like schools, hospitals etc. They can also be used for paving the exterior of a terrace, doing swimming pool flooring, factory flooring etc and can add elegance to any corporate office rooms, with their colour and unique designs. Along with floor tiles, there are wall tiles also available for tiling the kitchen walls, office room walls etc.
Types of Tiles
Three major types of tiles that are most commonly used are the Quarry type, the ceramic type and the stone type tiles. In these, the ceramic tiles are the ones available at the cheapest rates. The bi-cottura tiles, vitrified tiles etc are some other varieties of tiles which come under the category of pressed tiles.
Pros of Using Tiles
The best advantage of using tiles is that you get to choose from a large variety of different designs, colours, texture etc available in the market. This makes them the most demanded compared to other building materials of their kind, like the marble, granite etc. After all, beauty is one of the major factors that counts when it comes to decoration and arrangement of a new building! Another advantage is that it is quite easy to keep them clean, unlike marbles or granite. They can retain the fresh look for a long period of time. Moreover, most of the tiles are water proof and also replaceable easily, if some damage happens to it.
Cons of Using Tiles
Though the usage of tiles has many advantages, they have certain disadvantages also. Tiles can be suitable for places with a hot or humid climate, but they are definitely not suitable for places which have long and very cold winters. Another disadvantage of tiles is that they are not very strong, and if something heavy falls on them, they get broken. Hence, even the installation of tiles should be done carefully, in such a way that the tiles do not break during the process. Moreover, they are heavy and expensive, and can give trouble if the person handling it is inexperienced.
Tips for using Tiles
If you are a person looking to beautify your home, you can definitely find a large variety of tiles that suits your purpose, but always make sure you know how to maintain them, and treat them carefully, for longer durability.
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