Ceramic tile is clay that has been shaped, dried and fired in a kiln until it hardens. It is the oldest manufactured tile surface still in common use, and it is still the most versatile one on the market. Because the surface of a glazed ceramic tile is essentially man-made, it can be produced in nearly any color, pattern, finish or texture a manufacturer can imagine.
How ceramic tile is made
After the clay and minerals are refined, they are shaped. The most common method is the dust press: an almost dry mixture of clays, talc and other ingredients is pressed into a mold under extremely high pressure, then fired in a kiln to harden it. What happens after that firing is what separates the two families of ceramic tile.
Unglazed
The color is in the body of the tile itself, present during firing. Unglazed tile wears well because the color goes all the way through, but the surface is porous and needs to be sealed for stain resistance.
Glazed
A glasslike coating is bonded to the tile surface after firing. Glazing allows brighter and more varied colors than unglazed tile, and it adds stain resistance without sealing. The tradeoff is that the glaze is a surface layer, so a deep chip shows the clay body underneath.
Where ceramic tile works best
Ceramic is at its best on walls and on surfaces that do not take heavy foot traffic. It is the workhorse of the kitchen backsplash, and it is an excellent choice for bathroom walls, tub surrounds and wainscot.
It is also easier to work with than porcelain. Ceramic has a softer body, which means cleaner cuts around outlets, corners and fixtures, and less waste on an intricate layout. On a detailed backsplash with a lot of small cuts, that softer body is a genuine advantage.
Where we usually recommend something else
We would rather tell you this before the tile is ordered than after it is installed.
- High-traffic floors. A glazed ceramic floor tile in an entry, hallway or kitchen will show wear paths over time. For floors that take real traffic we recommend porcelain tile instead.
- Anywhere outdoors in Northern Colorado. Ceramic absorbs more moisture than porcelain. Water that soaks into a tile and then freezes will eventually break it, and our freeze-thaw swings are hard on any porous surface. Ceramic belongs indoors here.
- Shower floors. Most ceramic is too absorbent and often too slick underfoot for a shower pan. A porcelain or natural stone mosaic is the better call.
Durability ratings, and what they actually mean
Ceramic floor tile carries a PEI rating from I to V describing how well the glazed surface resists wear. PEI I is wall-only. PEI III handles normal residential floor traffic. PEI IV and V are built for heavy residential and commercial use. A tile with a beautiful glaze and a PEI I rating is not a floor tile no matter how good it looks in the showroom.
Rating numbers only describe the surface, not the installation. We go into more detail in our guide on how to determine the surface durability of tile, and on how to choose the correct tile for a given room.
Maintenance
Glazed ceramic is close to maintenance free. Sweep it, damp mop it, and keep the grout clean. Unglazed ceramic needs to be sealed, and the seal reapplied periodically depending on the product and the traffic.
In practice the grout fails long before the tile does. That is why we use a stain-proof epoxy grout on most of our work rather than a standard cementitious grout – it does not absorb, it does not stain, and it does not need sealing. There is more on that in our guide to picking the perfect grout.
How we install ceramic tile
The tile is the part you see. Everything under it is the part that determines whether the installation lasts.
We build to the TCNA and ANSI standards, which means the substrate gets checked for flatness and deflection before anything is set, movement joints go where the standards say they go, and the mortar is matched to the tile and the substrate rather than to whatever is on the truck. In wet areas we waterproof with the Schluter Kerdi membrane – see our Kerdi shower preparation page for what that involves and why we stopped using liquid membranes.
Front Range floors move. Expansive soils and seasonal swings mean a floor that was flat in July may not be in January, and a tile installation that was not built to accommodate that movement is where cracks come from. This is most of the reason installations fail, and almost none of it is visible once the job is done.
What ceramic costs
Ceramic is generally the least expensive tile surface, which is a large part of why it is so common. Porcelain sits above it, and natural stone above that. The material cost is usually the smaller half of a tile job though – the labor and the preparation underneath do not get cheaper because the tile did.
The cheapest quote and the cheapest job are rarely the same thing. Our installation methods page covers what we do differently and why it costs what it costs.
Ceramic tile installation in Fort Collins and Northern Colorado
We have been installing ceramic tile since 1998. TileArt is a Certified Tile Installer (CTI #847) through the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation, the only third-party, hands-on certification in the trade, in a state that does not license tile contractors at all.
If you are planning a backsplash, a bathroom or a full remodel in Fort Collins or anywhere in Northern Colorado, fill out our contact form or give us a call and we will walk through the options with you.
