The great Australian dream is about entertaining family and friends at home, eating, drinking, and playing a game of cricket in the backyard. It’s about delicious grazing tables and catching up with the latest stories. This entertainment often leads outdoors, in alfresco’s and shady gardens.
The perfect home requires a durable outdoor floor that provides a safe environment while remaining visually appealing. We hope to make this article as interesting as possible without it being too scientific and boring. This leads to the obvious question:
Why do I need outdoor tiles for my home?
While there are many options for outdoor floors, including poured aggregate, stone, timber decking and brick paving to mention a few, porcelain tiles are fast becoming a popular alternative.
Why choose porcelain tiles for your outdoor area?
That’s because there are good reasons for selecting porcelain outdoor tiles for your home.
Unlike timber decking, which is a popular outdoor floor covering, outdoor porcelain tiles will never fade in the harsh direct sunlight. Even with years of exposure, Porcelain tiles will not fade and are now made to look identical to timber planking, and this makes these tiles a wonderful alternative to timber decking. No more sanding and polishing is required. This will free up time to entertain and just relax.
It is commonly accepted that porcelain tiles are extremely durable. This also holds true on its stain resistance. This makes porcelain a better option than porous pavers that can stain over time. Say goodbye to weeds, growing through pavers and ant trails. This is more proof that porcelain is the best option for outdoor tiles.
A correctly laid porcelain outdoor tile will offer you many years of no maintenance. This makes outdoor tiles the clear winner over pavers, timber decking and concrete.
We save the best till last.
The majority of indoor tiles that we sell have the outdoor version available.
This offers a seamless transition from indoor living to outdoor living. This opens up two spaces making their area seem very very large. Great for parties. Keep in mind that certain outdoor tiles require a lead time to import, which can add up to 16 weeks to your delivery.
Pro tip:
When extending indoor tiles through to the outdoors, make sure your tiler continues the grout lines to match.
We hope we have answered the question: Why do I need outdoor tiles for my home.
It is quite clear that porcelain outdoor tiles are by far the superior choice over other coverings.
What you achieve with porcelain tiles is colour fade resistance, durability, indoor to outdoor seamless transition and no maintenance. It’s a no-brainer. Porcelain tiles are the best for outdoor settings.
Choosing the right outdoor tiles
Having now decided to use outdoor tiles, the question now is what do I look for in an outdoor tile?.
The first consideration and by far the most important one is the tile’s grip factor.
While indoor tiles have a smooth or natural surface texture making them easy to clean. What you are looking for in an outdoor tile is something more gritty.
The surface texture of an outdoor tile will be very similar to fine sandpaper.
Outdoor tiles will have a grip rating or commonly known as an r coding. “R” meaning ramp test. Before choosing your outdoor tile, make sure it has a minimum rating of R10 or R11. This information can often be pulled down from the product details.
Pro Tip:
Regardless of what colour tile you choose for your outdoors, it is always recommended to use grey grout. It is also pointless to seal the grout in an outdoor situation. If your outdoor tile is to be used on a balcony. Make sure that the floor is correctly waterproofed prior to tiling.
At Ceramics International, we carry a wide range of wonderful outdoor tiles in our showroom in Osborne Park, Perth.
Some of the most popular styles of outdoor tiles include terrazzo. This style of tile will often have large chips and has a high variation in shade giving it an authentic stone look. Wood-look tiles are very commonly used in outdoor settings. In particular, balconies look great with a wood-look tile on the floor. Add some greenery and pot plants and you’ll create a wonderful space. Concrete look tiles are very popular for the modern look. These outdoor tiles look fantastic when they extend to the outdoor pool area. Stone look tiles when laid in the French pattern look amazing in a backyard. Consider mixing different styles like wood-look tiles with concrete look tiles.
Our outdoor tiles offer you a wine variety of styles and colours which is not achievable with brick pavers or poured concrete.
Make sure to visit our showroom before choosing your outdoor tile. We offer expert advice and very friendly service.
We also partner with an installation company, offering you a one-stop-shop when it comes to buying and laying your outdoor tiles.
