Polished Porcelain Tiles

We are considering putting cream polished porcelain tiles down in our new house in kitchen-diner and out into hall as far as front door. I've seen them down in a couple of places and they seem to reflect the light make rooms feel very bright and airy.

I have two questions for anyone that has used these before:
1. How easy are they to maintain/keep clean, especially in kitchen area and do they get grubby very easily?
2. I'm worried about the surface scratching in the hall with stones being carried inside on shoes - is this an issue?

mobileme said:

We are considering putting cream polished porcelain tiles down in our new house in kitchen-diner and out into hall as far as front door. I've seen them down in a couple of places and they seem to reflect the light make rooms feel very bright and airy.

I have two questions for anyone that has used these before:

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I have them running from the front door, through the entrance hall, into kitchen / diner and then through into sunroom. A total area of over 100 sq. m.

mobileme said:

1. How easy are they to maintain/keep clean, especially in kitchen area and do they get grubby very easily?

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They can be a bit difficult to keep clean in the kitchen. Everything dropped on them shows up, food wise that is. Anything glass or delph thats dropped has no hope!!! Costing me a fortune!
They do need frequent mopping, etc. I was concerned about them being slippy when wet but this is not a problem.

mobileme said:

2. I'm worried about the surface scratching in the hall with stones being carried inside on shoes - is this an issue?

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This is not really as issue as far as I can see. They're hard as nails. I haven't observed any scratching a year on!

Thanks, there seems to be a few good deals around on them at the moment but I was concerned that I would regret it in the long run. Good to hear your experience is positive in the main.

mobileme said:

Thanks, there seems to be a few good deals around on them at the moment but I was concerned that I would regret it in the long run. Good to hear your experience is positive in the main.

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Yes, the overall experience is very good. Just watch out for staining from red wine, if you put them in the Kitchen. Really, all you have to do is clean is up pretty quickly and it will be fine.

Also, just make sure that whoever is laying them for you knows what they are doing. IMO they look best with a narrow joint 2mm or so, and this doesnt leave too much margin for error. Because of the close joints you cannot "lose" differences in heights, so ideally the floors should be levelled using levelling compound before starting. If they are "up and down" they wont look so good.

Best of luck with it.

We're just about to run cream polished porcelein tiles from our front door, right through to kitchen/diner/sitting area - and these were the same concerns I had.
Great to hear all the positives. Must ask tiler to lay them close.
Thanks

1carrot2 said:

We're just about to run cream polished porcelein tiles from our front door, right through to kitchen/diner/sitting area - and these were the same concerns I had.
Great to hear all the positives. Must ask tiler to lay them close.
Thanks

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Hi 1carrot2, do you mind me asking what you paid per sq yd for these tiles? There seems to be some good deals about at the moment but I haven't purchased yet.