Thin Tiles for Floors and Walls from freeamfva's blog

Thin Tiles for Floors and Walls

Tile trends from Coverings 2014 continue with thin tiles for floors and walls. Everyone likes to be thinner, so why not make our walls and floors skinny, too!Get more news about Thin Porcelain Tile,you can vist our website!

This is the fourth article in the series about tile trends from Coverings 2014 which took place April 29 through May 2, 2014 in the Las Vegas Convention Center. I started with Patchwork Tile, then Hexagon Tile Trends, 9 Glass Mosaic Tile Trends from Coverings 2014 and now we are going to explore thin tile for floors and walls.
I know what you are thinking; if the tile is thin, is it cheap or brittle. Well that is not the case.

You'll find plenty of articles written about this latest trend in tile production. For example, the April 2014 issue of Floor Trends features an article by Matthew Spieler titled Thinner Tiles Create More Options Without Sacrificing Performance which discusses thin tile in big sizes (see photo above)!

Thin tile has been around for a few years now and is just starting to trend in the United States. What's particularly interesting about thin tile is that it can be installed over existing floor and wall tiles. As Floor Trends states,
The benefit in commercial tile installations is that thin tile weighs less than regular tile which means less weight in and on a building. The large format thin tiles can be used in elevators, main floors and bathrooms to tile over large areas. What a plus for the building industry! Not only do these thinner tiles create less weight on the structures, but installers will be shocked at the ease of handling these thinner and lighter tiles. The durability remains the same and the products are tested with industry standards to meet code requirements.

On the residential side, thin tiles are now being provided in sizes and formats that will work for homes as well. You'll find the wood plank look in thin tile (see image below) as well as some of the more popular residential sizes such as 20x40 and 24x24.

What's interesting is that once the tiles are laid on the floor or wall you will not know how thick or thin they are. The installer, though, will remember how heavy or light they are to install.
During the visit, we viewed the new thin porcelain tiles presented in large panels. As you can see in the image at the top of the article, these thin tiles are very large! Imagine looking up at these large panels and seeing an entire wall or floor with minimal grouting. Thin tiles are strong, too; some are even supported with a mesh backing for added strength.

The image above shows you how large thin tile panels are shipped on a large pallet in a crate for protection.I was surprised at how light the small format thin tiles were: I was able to pick up a box of 32x32 thin tiles with no problem.

The best part of the thin tile demonstration I observed was the ability to take a straight edge and a utility knife, score the thin tile piece and then snap it with both hands to make a cut. The material was surprisingly easy to handle although it would take some mastery to make intricate cuts.To wrap thin tile around a column, you would simply score the piece; the mesh backing will hold it in place and you then wrap the piece around the column.
These large panels and smaller format thin tiles really caught my eye. We hear all the time how heavy larger format tiles are and this now takes that element out of the equation. Not to mention that being able to install over existing floors and walls is a plus. My house is currently on two layers of tile and thin tile would be my only option to tile it again.