My wife and I are in the process of selecting ceramic floor tile for
our kitchen. Currently it's just covered with a standard, one-piece
linoleum vinyl that the house was built with. Under that is smooth
concrete, with no plywood, etc.

We really like the glazed ceramic tiles that look smooth and shiny,
pretty much like glass. They go for $1.75 to $2.50 per sq. ft. Are
there any negatives to this type of tile, compared to the
rough-finished, natural-stone type?

Of course, it's slippery and a little colder than the vinyl, but that's
not really a consideration for us. I'm more concerned about that glassy
shine becoming dull from wear; does that happen? I should point out
that it's just the two of us: we're quiet, in our 50's, no kids or big
dogs, no muddy work boots, etc. (not in the kitchen, anyway...).

My wife is one of those who likes to keep the house immaculately clean,
especially the kitchen, so understandably, she's VERY attracted to the
"sparkling" appearance of this kind of floor tile. But are there any
warnings or red flags we need to know about?

Take oil, for example. When we fry something on the stove, a few little
droplets of hot oil will inevitably spatter out onto the floor. Would
this soak into the tile and make a spot? Is there anything you
absolutely can NOT allow on this kind of tile?

Advice/tips would be greatly appreciated, before we make the swan dive
blindfolded into the abyss.... (-;

Ron M.

Ron M. wrote:
Advice/tips would be greatly appreciated, before we make the swan dive
blindfolded into the abyss.... (-;

Non-porous tiles make good kitchen floor coverings, but there are a few
downsides that come to mind:

1) They can be hard on your feet if you stand on them for hours at a
time.

2) If you drop anything on them usually either the tile or the dropped
object will break, chip, or crack, depending on the hardness of the
dropped object compared to the hardness of the tile. Especially true if
glass jars fall out of the refrigerator or pans are dropped from a
cabinet.

3) If the existing substrate isn't rigid and in excellent condition you
risk flexing and cracking of the tiles. Consider installing a rubber
membrane between the concrete slab and the tile to mitigate this.

4) As you have noted tiles are slippery when wet.

Ron M. wrote:
My wife and I are in the process of selecting ceramic floor tile for
our kitchen. Currently it's just covered with a standard, one-piece
linoleum vinyl that the house was built with. Under that is smooth
concrete, with no plywood, etc.

We really like the glazed ceramic tiles that look smooth and shiny,
pretty much like glass. They go for $1.75 to $2.50 per sq. ft. Are
there any negatives to this type of tile, compared to the
rough-finished, natural-stone type?

Of course, it's slippery and a little colder than the vinyl, but
that's not really a consideration for us. I'm more concerned about
that glassy shine becoming dull from wear; does that happen?

Only if you track in some sort of abrasive harder than glass. If you
live in an area where there is corundum (sapphire/ruby/etc.) or diamond
dust for example

Quartz sand could scratch it if you scuffed it around but scratching
isn't likely.

________________

Take oil, for example. When we fry something on the stove, a few
little droplets of hot oil will inevitably spatter out onto the
floor. Would this soak into the tile and make a spot?

Into the tile, no. Into the grout, probably. Good idea to use dark
grout as regardless of what you do it is hard to keep clean looking if
it is light.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

We installed tile in our kitchen, lr,dr and hallway many years ago and
have never regretted it. As another person pointed out if there are
any cracks in your slab us an isolation membrane. Also, I recommend
you buy some extra tiles in case you everr need to replace one or more
later. A perticular color/size/style may not be available in the
future. Also, new cracks can develope in a slab and if it cracks the
tile will also. Use the latax additive in the grout. Putting tile on
a slab is easy. Establish your layout carefully, snap your chalk lines
and away you go. Read a book if you've never tiled

"dadiOH" wrote in message
news:Nh3if.301$to5.259@trnddc04...
Ron M. wrote:
My wife and I are in the process of selecting ceramic floor tile for
our kitchen. Currently it's just covered with a standard, one-piece
linoleum vinyl that the house was built with. Under that is smooth
concrete, with no plywood, etc.

We really like the glazed ceramic tiles that look smooth and shiny,
pretty much like glass. They go for $1.75 to $2.50 per sq. ft. Are
there any negatives to this type of tile, compared to the
rough-finished, natural-stone type?

Of course, it's slippery and a little colder than the vinyl, but
that's not really a consideration for us. I'm more concerned about
that glassy shine becoming dull from wear; does that happen?

Only if you track in some sort of abrasive harder than glass. If you
live in an area where there is corundum (sapphire/ruby/etc.) or diamond
dust for example

Quartz sand could scratch it if you scuffed it around but scratching
isn't likely.

________________

Take oil, for example. When we fry something on the stove, a few
little droplets of hot oil will inevitably spatter out onto the
floor. Would this soak into the tile and make a spot?

Into the tile, no. Into the grout, probably. Good idea to use dark
grout as regardless of what you do it is hard to keep clean looking if
it is light.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

shiny tiles will tend to be more slippery if they get water/oil on them than
textured tiles.