In general sweeping and occasional wiping with a damp mop, with just warm water, or a soapless detergent is all that is required. Soaps can leave a film which dulls the surface and can encourage mildew.
Stone Finishes:
Polished – is most commonly seen. It has a glossy surface that reflects light as well as emphasizing the color and markings of the material.
Honed – is a satin smooth surface with relatively little light reflection. The color and markings of the stone are not as pronounced on a honed surface.
Flamed Finish – is a rough textured surface.
Many times in kitchen and bath designs I like to combine different stones and finishes. It is fun to add in a wood top with the stone as well.
Keep in mind what you will be doing on the surface to ensure you choose the correct application.
Porcelain tile is a ceramic tile with some very distinct qualities. Porcelain tile is an excellent choice for many reasons. Porcelain tiles are pressed under very high pressure so the body is stronger than traditional ceramic tile. It is also fired at higher temperatures for longer periods of time than ceramic. The result is a dense, impervious body with extremely low porosity that has many advantages.
Porcelain tile has high resistance to bending and rapid climate changes, precision in calibration and flatness, low absorbent and therefore resistant to staining. It is resistant to chips due to the strength. Porcelain is 30% more dense than granite.
All porcelain tile is not created equal. For instance, glazed porcelain does not typically offer the high levels of slip resistance, deep abrasion resistance and resistance to chemicals for which unglazed porcelains are famous. Let’s take a deeper look at the different types of porcelain.
Glazed Porcelain – The body is porcelain but it has a glazed surface finish, so the color does not go all the way through. The porcelain bisques undergo a glazing which provides excellent aesthetic qualities along with outstanding technical characteristics. With glazed porcelain, the hardness or abrasion resistance of the glaze, not the tile body, determines a tiles’ suitability to specific environments. Some glazed porcelains are only appropriate for light to moderate use. Refer to the rating on the label or ask your supplier.
A non-slip finish on porcelain makes tile safe when exposed to water.
Glazed Through-Body Porcelain – Takes the glazed porcelain and adds an additional advantage. In this case, the manufacturer adds pigments to the porcelain mixture prior to glazing so that the body of the tile will match the color of the glaze surface to be later applied. This provides the distinct advantage that if the glaze surface is chipped or worn the color of the body beneath closely resembles the color of the glazed surface and therefore makes such damage unnoticeable. This added feature makes this type of porcelain often suitable for high traffic commercial applications.
Unglazed Porcelain – Is a porcelain product with no surface glaze therefore having the same composition throughout the entire body; this is often referred to as “through-body” porcelain tile. Through-body porcelain is manufactured as one block of tile without surface glazes or finishes. Unglazed porcelain provides the highest abrasion resistance due to the fact that the complete body of the tile is the wear layer; the tile exhibits the same properties throughout their thickness.
On all unglazed porcelain, chipping or high abrasion does not change the visual surface of the tile. Additionally, unglazed porcelains will usually provide a high slip resistance, especially when wet, that glazed porcelains often do not. Just about all unglazed porcelains will exceed ADA slip resistance requirements. Through-body or unglazed porcelains are perfect for areas where abusive heavy traffic is anticipated.
Porcelain has the ability to outperform ceramic, slate, marble and even granite. This article is taken in part from Tile Magazine and will hopefully help you to determine the best porcelain tile for your specific application.