Floor Tiles

These are commonly made of ceramic or stone, although recent technological advances have resulted in glass tiles for floors as well. Ceramic tiles may be painted and glazed. Small mosaic tiles may be laid in various patterns. Floor tiles are typically set into mortar consisting of sand, cement and often a latex additive for extra strength. The spaces between the tiles are nowadays filled with sanded or unsanded floor grout, but traditionally mortar was used.

Natural stone tiles can be especially beautiful. However, as a natural product they are often less uniform and require more planning for use and installation. Stone tiles described as "gauged" have very uniform width and length dimensions; "ungauged" stone tiles may vary from their nominal dimensions. Stone tiles such as granite can be sawn on both sides (and then polished on the facing up side) so that they have a uniform thickness. Other natural stone tiles such as slate are typically "riven" (split) on the facing up side so that the thickness of the tile varies from one spot on the tile to another and from one tile to another. Variations in tile thickness can be handled by adjusting the amount of mortar under each part of the tile, by using wide grout lines that "ramp" between different thicknesses, or by using a cold chisel to knock off high spots.

Some stone tiles such as polished granite and marble are inherently very slippery when wet. Stone tiles with a riven (split) surface such as slate or with a sawn and then sand-blasted surface--granite is occasionally prepared this way--will be more slip resistant. Ceramic tile for use in wet areas can be made more slip resistant either by using very small tiles so that the grout lines acts as grooves or by imprinting a contour pattern onto the face of the tile.

The hardness of natural stone tiles varies such that some of the softer stone tiles are not suitable for very heavy traffic floor areas. On the other hand, ceramic tiles typically have a glazed upper surface and when that become scratched or pitted the floor looks worn, whereas the same amount of wear on natural stone tiles won't show or will be less noticeable.

Natural stone tiles can be stained by spilled liquids; they must be sealed and periodically resealed with a sealant in contrast to ceramic tiles which only need their grout lines sealed. However, because of the complex, non repeating patterns in natural stone, small amounts of dirt on many natural stone floor tiles do not show.

Most vendors of stone tiles emphasize that there will be variation in color and pattern from one batch of tiles to another of the same description and variation within the same batch.

Stone floor tiles tend to be heavier than ceramic tiles and somewhat more prone to breakage during shipment.

Typical Installion for Tile and Stone

Information About Tile

Decorative Tile Work

Decorative tile work typically takes the form of mosaic upon the walls, floor, or ceiling of a building. Although decorative tile work was known and extensively practiced in the ancient world (as evidenced in the magnificent mosaics of Pompeii and Herculaneum), it perhaps reached its greatest expression during the Islamic period.

Some places, notably Portugal and São Luís, have a tradition of tile work (called azulejos) on buildings that continues today.

In the United States, decorative tiles were in vogue, especially in southern California, in the 1920s and 1930s. Prominent among art tile makers during this period was Ernest A. Batchelder.

Islamic Tile Work

Perhaps because of the tenets of Moslem law (sharia) which disavow religious icons and images in favor of more abstract and universal representations of the divine, many consider decorative tilework to have reached a pinnacle of expression and detail during the Islamic period. Palaces, public buildings, and mosques were heavily decorated with dense, often massive mosaics and friezes of astonishing complexity. As both the influence and the extent of Islam spread during the Middle Ages this artistic tradition was carried along, finding expression from the gardens and courtyards of Málaga in Moorish Spain to the mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

Typical tilework on buildings in Santarém, Portugal.

Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze but of different colors of clay. They are usually of two colors but a tile may be composed of as many as six. The pattern is inlaid into the body of the tile, so as the tile is worn down the design remains. Encaustic tiles may be glazed or unglazed and the inlay may be as shallow as an eighth of an inch, as is often the case with "printed" encaustic tile from the later medieval period, or as deep as a quarter inch.

What were called encaustic tiles in the Victorian Era were originally called inlaid tiles during the medieval period. The use of the word "encaustic" to describe an inlaid tile of two or more colors is technically incorrect. The word encaustic means "burning in" from the Greek en "in" and kaiein "to burn". The term originally described a process of painting with a beeswax-based paint that was then fixed with heat. It was also applied to a process of medieval enameling. The term did not come into use when describing tile until the 19th century. Supposedly, Victorians thought that the two color tiles strongly resembled enamel work and so called them encaustic. Despite the error, the term has now been in common use for so long that it is an accepted name for inlaid tile work.

Encaustic or inlaid tiles enjoyed two periods of great popularity. The first came in the 13th century and lasted until Henry the Eighth's reformation in the 16th century. These tiles caught the attention of craftsmen during the Gothic Revival who, after much trial and error mass-produced these tiles, making them available to the general public. During both periods tiles were made across Western Europe though the center of tile production was England. Companies in the United States of America also made encaustic tile during the Gothic Revival.

In both medieval times and in the 19th Century Gothic Revival, tiles were most often made for and laid in churches. Even tiles that were laid in private homes were often copies of those found in religious settings. Encaustic tile floors exist all over Europe and the United States but are most prevalent in England where the greatest numbers of inlaid tiles were made.