What is the difference between Cross Cut and Vein Cut Travertine?

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Travertine is a natural stone like Marble, Granite or Slate. The key difference between Travertine and other natural stones is in the formation of the rock, the hardness of the stone and the appearance. Travertine is formed in hot springs and/or limestone caves. Travertine is not the same as Marble or Limestone which are metamorphic rocks. Once characteristics of Travertine is the small holes within the stone which are caused by carbon dioxide bubbling through during its formation. The vast majority of travertine which you see online or displayed in retail locations such as flooring companies, pool builders and home improvement companies is by default cross cut. This refers to the default way of cutting the travertine blocks which are harvested from the quarry. Pretty much the same applies with tiles emulating the stone! In order to produce vein cut travertine, the travertine blocks are rotated and the cuts take place across the vein. Think of it as cutting a tree. You can cut a tree vertically or horizontally. If you cut it vertically, the veins come out, same with Travertine. We have a number of Travertine tiles available in both cross cut and Vein cut. Jupiter Vein Cut is a long running success and we have a new beige vein cut we are about to launch called Traverse.  Contact us for more details. If you have not as yet had a look at Link International's KREM range, check out what we have to offer.

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Perfect Porcelain Planks!

Legno Romagna is a top end tile range from Brazil. Manufactured by the famous Lanzi factory, the series has a very detailed look with a smooth satin finish. Each design includes twelve different faces which means that the floor appearance is natural with no evident repetition. Planks are all rectified to a very accurate 25cm x 103cm. These tiles are incredibly realistic with deep colour detail. Legno Romagna is real porcelain and imminently suitable for walls or floors in even high traffic applications in bathrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, halls or commercial spaces. 


The range includes six colours, Tobacco, Noce, Amendoa, Prata, Castanho and Patina.

Enquiries for Legno Romagna are welcome. Contact us here.



Made in Brazil by

International Collaboration in Tile-Buying is Coming to the USA 

And we want you on board!
If you are interested in importing well priced, well branded, top porcelain and gres porcelain tiles that are in stock and available as you require them (without the hassles of waiting months for the next production) then this could be the best blog you read all year.

Link International is based in Malaysia and South Africa but manufacturing and warehousing ceramic and tiles in China. With deep pockets and an international network, Link has established a supply-chain that offers you:-

1. Great prices - Given their extensive network, Link International are able to flex considerable muscle when buying, and passes these savings on to you.
2. Quality - controlled by trained inspectors from the raw material stage to manufacturing, packaging, and dispatch.
3. Range - Link provides a breadth of range and the ability to combine certain lines with others in containers, filling full containers becomes quick, cost effective, and easy.
4. Availability - Link International keeps most of their key lines in stock nearly all the time, meaning quick lead times from order to dispatch.
5. Ease - Given that you are doing business with English-speaking suppliers who think the way you do, Link International removes a lot of the traditional hassles in dealing with Chinese suppliers. And we will have our Area Manager living in California as your first port of call.
6. Exclusivity - Link International wants to develop long term profitable relationships by providing service, well priced product and offering you protection in your market so you can make profits on our product.

We are coming to California at the end of August. 

   
Have a look at just some of our range at http://krem.co/ then contact us here to arrange a visit from our team at the end of August.



You’ll be kicking yourself if you miss out.

Really hi-tech ceramic tile!

Just for a change a ceramic story a little off the mainstream of construction and renovation. Ceramic tiles are common enough in commercial and domestic environments but they are also used on spacecraft including NASA's new Orion spacecraft which is designed to carry a crew of up to seven astronauts on missions to orbit and eventually Mars. Ceramic tiles are used precisely because of their outstanding physical properties. While similar to those used on the space shuttle, Orion only requires about 1,300 tiles compared to more than 24,000 on the shuttle. The tiles are made of ceramic and silica glass fibre. The tiles, along with the spacecraft’s heat shield, will protect Orion from the 3300 degree Celsius heat of re-entry. The tiles are individually shaped and specially formulated to rapidly release heat. It is not fast work. In fact, workers spent 11 months shaping the insulating blocks and laying on a heat-resistant, ceramic coating. They use a 5-axis mill loaded with precise dimensions to cut blank tiles to their shapes. Many of the tiles will have special cutouts for instruments to collect data. 

The Orion spacecraft, launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on its first test flight and re entry in December 2014 was a great success. It is only scheduled to fly humans in 2023.

At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians bond thermal protection system tiles to Orion's backshell panels. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston


Enquiries for high performance porcelain tiles are welcome. Contact us here.

                

Vision Large Format Porcelain

This is Vision, another absolutely stunning new tile range designed and produced in Brazil. Vision is a premium inkjet porcelain. Tiles are large format rectangles measuring 51 x 103cm. All tiles are rectified and have a smooth satin finish. Vision has four different plain and four different deco faces. The deco can be used as room edging, in feature areas or as mix & match accents scattered among the plain tiles. The design is sophisticated and resembles an age-faded fresco painting of flowers and vegetation that might have graced an old conservatory. The plain tiles are colour matched and two have a very subtle irregular pattern that mirrors the deco design. Vision also lends itself to wall applications. Enquiries for Vision are welcome. Contact us here.

Hyperealistic Porcelain Planks

This is part of our Legno series. Legno is Italian for wood. Giordano and Native are two top end tile ranges from Brazil. The series has a rough hewn look with evident saw marks producing a very rustic effect. Each design includes ten different faces which means that the floor appearance is natural with no evident repetition. Planks are rectified 25cm x 103cm. The surface finish is a smooth satin with gentle, wood-like texturing. These tiles are incredibly realistic with deep colour detail. Legno are all real porcelain and imminently suitable for high traffic commercial spaces.


Legno Native Noce


Legno Giordano Noce


Legno Native Patina


Legno Giordano Patina

Enquiries for Legno Giordano and Legno Native are welcome. Contact us here.

What to do about "Tiles that just won't stay clean."

How often have you heard a customer complain that their tiles "just don't stay clean." They will claim they clean them but then the next day they look dirty again. "even though no-one has even walked in that area!"

Now tiles as you know are very easy to clean and maintain. Normally tiles require very little time and effort to keep clean: you should only need a bit of water and vinegar once a week.
On the other hand, some tiles will seem like they're impossible to keep clean: they're always either dirty, or they become dirty really quickly after cleaning. This is one of the more common complaints we hear, but despite customers complaining that there must be something wrong with the tile surface in reality it's not a problem with the actual tiles, and is very easily fixed.

What's the real cause?

1.  Grout haze. When tiles are laid and grouted, there will be some grout left on the surface of the tiles which should be removed. If not, a thin film of almost invisible grout remains hardened onto the tiles and traps dirt. The dirt can be washed away, but the grout film is very hard and remains. As soon as the tile is dry it will start picking up even airborne dust all over again.
2.  Soap scum. The other cause, ironically, is detergent. If detergent (or anything containing soap) is used to wash a floor, it needs to be rinsed thoroughly. A film of detergent "soap scum" can dry on the tiles and trap dirt. Continuing to wash with detergent can even make the problem worse. The layer of soap scum can build up to the point where the tiles actually appear to be going white. To test for detergent build-up like this is to pour a couple of tablespoons of water on a small area of the floor and scrub with a green scouring pad. If you can get suds to appear, the floor is soapy.

What's the solution?

Both problems have the same simple solution: Clean the floor properly! A 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water and some elbow grease with a scouring sponge should do the trick. Alternatively a heavy duty tile & grout cleaner or a speciality grout haze remover, which is normally a mild acid formulation, may be necessary. These will remove both the grout residue an any detergent build-up. It is vital to follow the directions and most importantly to rinse thoroughly afterwards or you will have the same problem over again.

Our brochures are available here.
Product enquiries are welcome. Contact us here.