Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Tile the never ending floor and useful information.....






Who knew 700 sq ft would take this long to tile.  If it weren't for the Ditra we would be finished by now.   Because of developing Hand strain, I can only tile 1 50 lb bag of mortar every two days.  That means 12 tiles a day or 24 sq ft a day.  It adds up slowly.



Onto fascinating tile information.

Tiles are graded in several ways, in composition, durability, and color vaviation.

Durability - What is a PEI rating?
PEI is a measurement of the “abrasion resistance” of a tile, meaning how much “rubbing” does it take to physically impact the look of the tile. The test is scored on a scale of 1 to 5 and each value represents a durability to withstand increasingly more demanding traffic.
PEI 1, Very Light Traffic - These tiles can be used on all indoor wall applications, for countertops such as bathrooms, and very light traffic residential bathroom floors. These tiles are not recommended for any area that will have any constant or heavy floor traffic. Floor & Decor does not recommend these to be used on floors.
PEI 2, Light Traffic - These tiles can be used on all indoor wall applications, interior countertops applications and light traffic residential bathroom floors. These tiles should not be used in areas such as kitchens, entry ways, stairs or areas with heavy traffic. Floor & Decor does not recommend these to be used on floors.
PEI 3, Moderate Traffic - These tiles can be used on all indoor wall applications, all interior countertop applications and all residential interior floors. This tile should not be used in commercial applications.
PEI 4, Moderate to Heavy Traffic - These tiles can be used on all indoor wall applications, all interior countertop applications, all residential interior floors and all light commercial applications, such as restaurants and lobbies. This tile should not be used in heavy commercial applications.
PEI 5, Heavy Traffic - These tiles can be used on all indoor wall applications, all interior countertops applications, all residential interior floors and all heavy commercial applications, such as airports, shopping malls, supermarkets, etc. This tile is an excellent choice for industrial applications where extreme durability is required.


Color variation

V1-Uniform Appearance:
Minimal to no difference among pieces from the same production run because each ceramic tile is manufactured using the same glaze applications and body texture.
V2-Slight Variation:
Distinguishable differences in texture and/or pattern within similar colors.
V3-Moderate Variation:
Though the colors present in a single piece of ceramic tile may indicate the colors to be expected on other tiles, the amount of colors on each piece might vary significantly.
V4-Random or Dramatic Variation:
Random color variation from tile to tile, so that one ceramic tile may have a totally different color from that on other tiles. Thus, the final installation will be unique.

This tile is rated PEI 4, V2 porcelain.  
Despite the V2 rating, we had to open up several boxes, about 20% to sort the patterns to get a truly random placement of the patterns..  Random was a lot harder than it looked.   60% of these tiles are plain, and 40% have a striped pattern that imitates granite. 


2 comments:

celkalee said...

So sorry your hand is still acting up. At least you are still at it even though it is at a lesser speed.
Something is better than nothing, yes? The floor looks really good. I have seen that floor done well and I have seen it not done so well. It's a good look.

ELMO said...

Thank you celkalee, it's amazing to me how different it looks in person vs. the photograph. It is less busy in person. The resolutions on these cameras are really a good way to look at things. They'er even good for quilts :)