Porcelain tile is ceramic tile. That surprises people, but it is accurate: porcelain is a subcategory of ceramic, made from a refined clay body pressed and fired twice at higher temperatures until it becomes dense, fine grained and very hard.
The practical difference is water. Under the ANSI A137.1 standard, a tile only qualifies as porcelain if it absorbs 0.5 percent or less of its weight in water. Ordinary ceramic can absorb several times that. Nearly everything else that makes porcelain behave differently follows from that one number.
What that density actually buys you
- It handles water. A tile that barely absorbs moisture is the right surface for showers, tub surrounds, bathroom floors, mudrooms and laundry rooms.
- It survives Colorado winters. Water that soaks into a porous tile and then freezes will break it. Low absorption is what makes porcelain frost resistant, and it is why porcelain is the only manufactured tile we will put on an exterior surface in Northern Colorado.
- It takes traffic. Porcelain is harder than standard ceramic and holds up in entries, hallways, kitchens and commercial floors where a glazed ceramic would show wear paths.
- It is dimensionally stable. That is what makes the large format sizes possible at all.
Through-body versus glazed porcelain
Through-body porcelain, sometimes called full-body, carries its color and pattern all the way through the tile. If it chips, the chip is close to invisible because what is underneath looks like what is on top. This is what we specify for heavy-use floors and commercial work.
Glazed porcelain has a decorative surface layer over the porcelain body, which allows finishes a through-body tile cannot achieve – convincing wood grain, marble veining, concrete, textile. The body is still porcelain, so it still resists water. A deep chip will show the lighter body underneath, which is why we tend to steer away from glazed porcelain in a mudroom and toward it in a bathroom.
Unglazed porcelain also tends to offer better slip resistance, which matters on a shower floor and on any exterior surface.
Large format porcelain
Large format means any tile with a side of 15 inches or more, and it is where most of the market has gone. It looks excellent – fewer grout lines, a calmer floor, a more contemporary room.
It is also much less forgiving to install. A large tile cannot follow a wavy floor the way a 12 inch tile can, so the substrate has to be genuinely flat, within about 1/8 inch over 10 feet, before anything gets set. Large format also needs a medium-bed or large-format mortar rather than standard thinset, and full mortar coverage under the tile, or the unsupported spots become the tiles that crack later. If a bid for a large format floor does not mention ensuring the substrate is sufficiently flat, that is worth asking about.
Cutting and setting porcelain
The same hardness that makes porcelain durable makes it difficult to work. It requires quality diamond blades and bits, slower and more careful cuts, and considerably more patience on outside corners, niches and any curved or mitered detail. It is unforgiving of a rushed installer.
This is one of the places where experience shows up directly in the finished job. The tile is not more expensive to buy than mid-range ceramic in most lines. It is more expensive to install well.
Maintenance
Porcelain is about as low maintenance as a hard surface gets. It does not need sealing, it does not stain, and it does not care about normal household cleaners. Sweep it and damp mop it.
As with any tile, the grout is the weak point rather than the tile. We use a stain-proof epoxy grout on most of our installations so the joints do not absorb, stain or require sealing – the reasoning is in our guide to picking the perfect grout.
How we install porcelain tile
We build to TCNA and ANSI standards. The substrate is checked for flatness and deflection before any tile is set, movement joints go where the standards require, and the mortar is matched to the tile size and the substrate. Front Range floors move – expansive soils and big seasonal swings mean a floor that is flat in July may not be in January – and an installation that does not accommodate that movement is where cracks come from.
In wet areas we normally waterproof with the Schluter Kerdi membrane. Our Kerdi shower preparation page covers what that involves and why we prefer Kerdi. For showers specifically, see shower tile; for floors, floor tile.
Porcelain or ceramic?
A short version, since this is what most people actually want to know:
- Backsplash or bathroom walls – either works. Ceramic is cheaper and easier to cut around outlets and corners.
- Any floor – porcelain.
- Shower floor, wet room, anything exterior – porcelain, without much argument.
- Wood-look or stone-look planks – porcelain, since that is where those product lines live.
If you want to compare against stone, our natural stone page covers that side, and how to choose the correct tile walks through the decision room by room.
Porcelain tile installation in Fort Collins and Northern Colorado
We have been installing porcelain since 1998. TileArt is Certified Tile Installer (CTI #847) through the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation, the only third-party, hands-on certification in a trade Colorado does not license.
If you are planning a floor, a shower 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 go through the options with you.
