Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Aug 23, 2011 1:59 pm We are building a house and will be using 600x600 tiles in our downstairs hallway, kitchen and living area. We like the 600x600 gloss white/off white tiles but are not sure if they show marks much? I am after peoples experience with tiles like this in living areas please. Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 2Aug 23, 2011 2:57 pm we have chosen 600 x 300 gloss porcelain tiles for our living area. We have a lightish beige in colour. It didn't appear to me that they showed marks that much. The concern I had for gloss v matte was for slipping so we ended up with matte in the bathrooms and laundry as they are wet areas and will therefore be more prone to slipping possibility Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 3Aug 25, 2011 11:21 am My advice would be to stay away from matt finish tiles they are a pain to look after and will mark. Glossy tiles can be slippery but it is not as bad as you might think. I have polished porcelains and young kids and they get use to it but no one has ever fallen over. Our wet areas are the same and no problems at all. Glazed tiles are the way to go. My rule of thumb is if non porous buy it. If porous than you want that tile outside where the rain hits. Keep in mind there a new porcalains coming out with different patterns on them designed by the glaze and some a ceramic on top with a porcelain body this is a concern as our customers are complaining on how hard it is to maintain as some show foot prints that will drive you crazy. The more you pay the less problems you will have and stay away from china imports if you can. I love polished ceramic myself although it is not polished but what they call double gazed, these tiles will never ever give you dramas. TIP if you buy these types of ceramic tiles make sure you have plenty of spare ones just in case you drop that cup of coffee. Craig Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 5Sep 05, 2011 3:17 pm Gloss or Matt whatever ?, choose porcelain over ceramic. Why ? If you chip ceramic you are left with an unsightly colour from underneath the tile. Porcelain on the other hand when it chips you still have the tile colour underneath the surface and it does not stand out as much. Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 6Sep 05, 2011 3:23 pm Hi - I have just put both types into my new house. Gloss porcelain can be hard to keep clean, so so can any glossy floor (wood, bamboo etc) The matte has a more natural look, but can stain easier, apparently it can accept liquid. I think I would prefer the gloss look over the matte. I like the way it reflects light and changes colour through the day. Building with Life$tyle Homes in Perth SOR Key Dates on First Page of my Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38761 Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 7Sep 05, 2011 3:46 pm Polished porcelains here!!! 600's from the front door to the back, except wet areas where the same tile has been used but in 300's. Only the bedrooms and main lounge are carpeted although the latter has a strip of 2 x 600 porcelains along the stacker door side of the room. Study has vinyl planks. The showers are also porcelain and they are NO more slippery than ceramic tiles in previous houses. The tilers didn't clean the wax coating off and I have to admit for the first few days they were slippery but once I cleaned them with white vinegar to remove the wax that's a thing of the past. Super easy to keep clean and I would have the same again in a heartbeat, just vacuum them once a week and spot wipe any marks with a damp microfibre cloth. Quite by accident a few months ago, I grabbed the bottle of pre-wash stain remover (generic Coles) and sprayed on the shower tiles only to discover it works better than the other cleaners I had been using and only costs $1.49 per bottle. A very light spray on the walls, glass screen and floor in the shower then wipe with a microfibre cloth and rinse while you are waiting for the hot water to get to the shower head. Couldn't be easier. Btw, the colour is a light cream with alabaster grout, always looks nice and everyone who has been here raves over them. Now having given porcelains a good wrap, it goes without saying they are very unforgiving if you drop anything breakable. Some years ago we owned a house which had Italian ceramic tiles (4 to a pattern) in the kitchen/dining/hall/breakfast bar and anytime something was dropped on them quite often the item survived the fall but the tile 'always' chipped. They were an expensive tile at the time. Sorry betHeEeee I'm not into looking up ladies skirts so can't comment....actually I don't know any ladies who wear skirts any more and think I have one skirt in the WIR that hasn't been worn for yonks!! Hope this helps CEK? Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 8Sep 05, 2011 4:15 pm HappyCamper - how long did it take you to clean the wax off your porcelain tiles and did you really just use white vinegar? We've been quoted $850 for someone our tile supplier recommended to come in and clean it off for us... For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 9Sep 05, 2011 4:33 pm Mclaren I read earlier where you had been quoted $850 and almost replied (cheekily) that if you bought me an airline ticket to SA I'd come and clean your tiles and still have $$$ left over!! Plain old cleaning vinegar...from the cleaning aisle in the supermarket as it's much cheaper there, not as refined as table vinegar but still cleans OK...mixed about 50/50 in a spray bottle with clean water although in a couple of places where the tiles seemed to be really waxy I used neat vinegar straight from the bottle on a microfibre cloth. Sprayed the floors with the vinegar/water then left it for around 10 mins or so, while I tied the microfibre cloth over a soft broom with some rubber bands, and wiped in circles. Every few minutes you'll need to wash the cloth in a bucket of water, but I didn't put anymore water on the tiles. If the tiles are still damp, wipe with an old bath towel so they aren't left streaky. The tiler told me to use methylated spirits while crawling on the floor but my knees don't crawl on floors these days so I chose a better option. Had metho for plan B but didn't need it as the vinegar did the trick. The wax is what makes the tiles slippery, specially when it's wet/damp so be careful you don't slip...once the wax is removed they are great. Hope this helps? Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 10Sep 05, 2011 4:39 pm Thanks for that - I'll get my hubby to give it a try and see if we can save $850!! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 12Sep 05, 2011 4:46 pm I know but I'm at work all day and we want to get it done this week if possible. Cheeky! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 13Sep 05, 2011 4:51 pm We had gloss at our last build, we have matt this time. The gloss were easy to look after, they were white, but so easy to keep clean, and we had alot of area covered with them. I find the matt, show the footprints, I am forever mopping them, they look good, but are hard work. The gloss looked great as well. Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 14Sep 05, 2011 7:56 pm Hi deb17, what type of tiles were your gloss tiles? Ceramic? BTW, is there such thing as matt glazed porcelain? I tend to agree with GP, as far as I'm aware, you can't go wrong with glazed porcelain. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 15Sep 05, 2011 9:00 pm Lex, they were ceramic, they had a high gloss on them, they looked great, they were very easy to keep clean. The only thing I would have changed, would have been the grout, we had white grout as the tiles were white. It was hard keeping the grout as clean/white as the tile, the tile being so white and glossy, definitely showed up the grout. We have grey matt tiles now and also have slate grey grout. A good hint for drying the tiles quickly, I do this for any floor type, is to put the fan on on the evap cooler, not the cooler just the fan. The floors will dry in minutes, I even do this during the winter, especially for tiles floors. Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 16Sep 06, 2011 7:16 am Yep, glossy ceramics are really easy to clean, we have them too. That's why I think that glazed porc would be just as easy, the surface layer is very similar (if not the same?? ). My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 17Sep 06, 2011 7:44 am Removing wax of polished porcelain is very easy to do, but I would not use an acid such as vinega which is 4.0 pH. The safest way is to buy some porcelain creme cleanser form http://spiritsealers.com/product.php?idProduct=4 This is what professional tile restorers use. Safe and very affective, in saying that we use a floor machine to agitate with a white scour pad. If you do not have a floor machine than you can use a doodle bug on a pole to agitate. If you are using vinega than just make sure you thoroughly rinse the floor afterwards as not to let the acid vinega affect your cementous grout. Craig Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 18Sep 06, 2011 7:53 am Lex BTW, is there such thing as matt glazed porcelain? I tend to agree with GP, as far as I'm aware, you can't go wrong with glazed porcelain. We've got matt glazed porcelain. If I had my time over again I'd go for the gloss version. Ours look fantastic when wet but when they dry they are a little ho hum. Re: Gloss or matt tiles?? 20Sep 06, 2011 1:04 pm We have matt grey tiles and I must admit they do show the dirt & dog hair when I don't maintain it every couple of days. This is mainly only able to be seen when the sun is shining directly on them, otherwise they are fine. The road to success is always under construction House completed April 2011 - slowly making it a home... I asked this question of one of the forum's resident cabinet makers who may/may not wish to identify himself to answer other questions if he sees this, but the rersponse… 3 7710 Hi, planning on using the attached stone pieces in my bathroom. I want to remove stains and gloss seal. Can I get some advice on best way to remove stains and best… 0 6700 This link might answer your question. I had the same issue and it turned out to be the roller. https://www.sherwin-williams.com/painti ... %20coating. 4 18126 |