Tile Trends & Tips with Annette Walter
To dig into the latest tile trends and tips, we teamed up with one of the most knowledgeable people in the tile world, Annette Walter. Annette, a representative of Ames Tile & Stone, has been surrounded by the tile industry her entire life—growing up in the family business of tile manufacturing.
This blog is an adaptation of our “Tile Trends & Tips” podcast episode. If you’d prefer to listen and watch head to YouTube & Spotify.
COMMON TILE MISTAKES
Using a Wall Tile on the Floor
One of the first topics we tackled is the common mistake of using wall tiles as flooring. So, why can’t you use a wall tile on the floor? Annette explains that wall tiles are designed differently than floor tiles. They’re often thinner, less dense, more slippery, and less durable, making them unsuitable for the wear and tear that floor tiles endure.
Using an Interior Tile Outside
The strongest difference between indoor and outdoor tile is frost resistance. Anywhere with a colder climate where you go from plus 10 to -20 within a day, like Calgary, Alberta, needs to have a tile that is frost proof. If the tile is not frost proof the bisque in the tile absorbs the moisture and when it freezes suddenly, it spalls. You’ll have quarter shaped pieces of the tile being blown out of the tile.
Porcelain tiles that are rated for outdoor use have a DCOF rating of > 0.55, which means they are anti slip. They should also have an absorption rate of 0.5%. This means it’s so dense that it has 0.5% or less water absorption in order to make sure that it is frost resistant and applicable for outdoor installs.
Confusing Ceramic with Porcelain
We typically hear of two primary tile types: ceramic, and porcelain. Sometimes, we hear them used interchangeably. Are they the same thing? No, they’re not. They’re made of similar compounds, but the differences are why you might not specify a ceramic tile the same way you would a porcelain tile.
The biggest difference between ceramic and porcelain is hardness and durability. For a floor tile, you need the hardness to take the impact and the scratching and the day-to-day wear and tear that it gets. Ceramic tile is not as dense. It doesn’t take as much impact. Ceramic tile is also more slippery than porcelain tile.
Porcelain has been the formula of tile that we’ve used most frequently in a residential application since around 1983 when it was introduced to the North American tile industry.
Porcelain has become so popular is in most cases because it can be frost resistant. It’s very dense, so it has a remarkably high impact resistance.
TILE TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS
In the last few years, the technology has soared to the point where the size range of porcelain tile has expanded, and the graphics can be whatever someone is looking for. An exterior mural? A graphic of a radish in your kitchen? The world is your oyster.
Tile technology advancements have allowed a natural variation of colour. The production has shifted from making tiles individually to making in in 50ft sheets. Those sheets are then cut into whatever size is required by the factory at that time. So the more cuts you have, the more variation you’ll have within that batch.
For instance, a 12 by 24 tile can easily have anywhere from 14 to 54 variations. The more variation, the more natural it looks. If you’ve got something with a lot of pattern, it’s usually better to get it in a slightly larger format as it goes down quieter because the pattern continues within the piece. If you’ve got a really strong pattern in a 12 by 24, the next one to it could be quite different and it can look odd.
WHERE TO SPLURGE ON TILE
There are few areas Annette and Krista suggest you splurge on tile. Backslashes in kitchens, bars, ensuites, and dressing rooms are all small enough that you can really do something interesting and different and have it be your jewellery.
TILE TRENDS
Annette and Krista remarked that they were seeing a lot of large-scale tiles for a long time, and they’re still prevalent. However, the sizes, textures and colours are shifting from greys and whites to warmer tones and mixed use of varied sizes. There’s a lot of terracotta, pinks, oranges, and bright colours. Fluted wood grain tiles are big. Wood grain tiles allow you to use a warm wood colour in a wet area where you might not be able to use wood due to wetness or traffic. We’re seeing metallics and smoky mirrors. People are having fun with tile.
If you love large format tile, don’t stop using them. The benefit of using a large format slab is minimal grout lines. If you want something extremely easy to clean with the depth and look of stone or the maintenance or cost of stone. Using a large format tile as a backsplash can create a very luxe, beautiful, powerful impact.
WHY SPECIFICATIONS MATTER
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT TILE
We are so grateful to Annette Walter and Ames Tile for being part of this Tile Trends and Tips podcast. If you’re thinking about a renovation or just love learning about the latest in design, this podcast is packed with valuable information. We had a fun time chatting with Annette and hope you find her insights as enlightening as we did.
Don’t forget to head over and be inspired by our latest posted projects.