New Ink-Jet Porcelain Brochure here!

New Ink-Jet & Porcelain Brochure here!

The new KREM brochure includes our new ranges of Ink-jet tiles plus our classic Porcelain tiles. These are entirely new ranges. Some sample pages follow:

Our slate-look Ardesia tiles in three different colours, each with five unique faces.


Atlanta is a top grade Porcelain tile in four subtly shaded colours.


The KREM range consists of Italian design Ink-jet tiles and pure porcelain screen print tiles. Innovated by intensive market research and production line development the colours and textures achievable using state of the art ink-jet technology on a coloured bisque convey the original charm and nature of the ranges, be they stone wood or concrete. The collection is specifically designed to integrate with contemporary architectural elements and trends. To further diversify the collection each style is printed and moulded from a different section of the master pattern providing numerous variations.

In our high grade porcelain collection particular patterns and colours that lend themselves to more accurate reproduction using classical screen print techniques such as lines and granular textures are included in the range. All tiles in the KREM collection can also be used on walls to extraordinary effect. They come in multiple sizes including large format. Options include rivens with a natural, rustic effect.

Download the complete brochure by clicking on any of the images above.

Enquiries here MOQ: 1 full container.

Things to know when buying black tile

There are risks in buying black tiles in particular. You should be aware of these to avoid problems and complaints from customers later.

Black tiles from China in particular can be of several different levels of quality owing to different production methods. Avoid buying black ink-jet tiles. For reasons  of chemistry black is very difficult to achieve using an ink-jet process at present. The safest is to buy a full body black tile that way even if the tile experiences surface wearing the black body will retain it's colour. All super black polished porcelain tiles with nano finish can face fading problems. The nano layer consists of very fine particles suspended in a wax. When applied to the tile these particles fill up the microscopic holes that naturally occur in the body of the tile This results in a much smoother surface and a better, blacker colour. But... the durability of the tile will depend on the quality of the body material, the water absorption rating and the quality of the nano wax. To avoid complaints from customers it is critical that we inform customers in advance of the nature of the particular tile and ensure that the customer's proposed use of the tile is appropriate.

Check what the body of the tile is made of.
1. The body is made from really pure black material mixed with black pigment which is very expensive and then polished – the result is that the polished face and the back of the tile are very similar in color – the surface is not "painted" black and as the tile wears the body will not show through the surface as a different colour. Washing the floor will not remove the surface colour. A good black tile will cost between $6 to $7 or more depending on how black the body material is.
2. The body is made from grey to red color material that has iron in it. The color of the body is not black. This tile is rubbish. The surface is polished and is NOT black until they add a black color nano – this is like "paint" on the tile surface. Once the "paint" is applied it is polished further and looks great (sometimes even better than the tile above) - BUT – once the floor is used, washed, wears etc. the surface colour WILL come out. Then you get patches of grey or red of the body showing through.  – I have had claims before when not checking the production…. and lost money – actually lost 4 containers once – all the surface washed out! This tile cost is from $4 to $5.

The glossiness on the surface cannot tell you how good or bad the tile is – you have to compare the bodies, then the surface – is it painted or natural? Then the size of the "holes" between the surface particles – to tell you if they used coarse (cheap) or fine (expensive) material. This will tell you how long the nano will stay in the surface pores.

So there it is – not so easy…. But if your customer is paying cash up front and wants the rubbish black just make sure he knows there you will not accept claims. For the rest of the people – explain / show / test and sell the good tile.

What is LVT?

Luxury Vinyl Tiles. Although we should point out LVT is often in the form of planks rather than tiles. LVT is part of what is known in the floor covering industry as "resilient flooring" which also includes sheet vinyl flooring and rubber flooring. In many ways LVT is similar to laminated wood flooring, the major difference being that it is made of vinyl rather than High Density Fibreboard (HDF) which is processed and compressed wood particles. Like laminate flooring LVT's strength lies not in the base material per se but in the layers that make it up. Both have wear layers.

LVT is made of layers too; its primary component is PVC vinyl which makes LVT dimensionally stable and flexible. Because of its composition LVT is waterproof as against laminate which can swell and rupture if waterlogged.

The ability to replicate real hardwoods and stones using advanced photographic technologies is the foundation of luxury vinyl flooring systems. There are four distinct layers fused together to produce the final product: a resilient vinyl backing, a vinyl color layer, a photographic film layer, and a urethane or aluminum oxide top layer. The protective top layer (also called the wearlayer or mil layer) is very important to the durability of the product. Quality products will have as high as a 40 mil layer. Commercial applications can successfully utilize 20 mil or above. Lower mil layers are available, but should be specified only for light traffic applications. Good LVT has an extremely hard aluminum oxide wear layer that resists scratches and provides UV protection to prevent fading from prolonged exposure to sunlight. LVT may also have a clear vinyl coating and a urethane coating to protect it.

LVT also has the advantage of being warmer to the touch and because of the manufacturing process it is easier to create surface texture so LVT most often has a realistic wood grain or a texture like natural stone.

Our factory is ISO 9001:2008 certified and produces LVT planks measuring 128mm x 1,25m long to real AC3 standard. In other words the flooring is 8,3mm thick overall. The coreboard is between 850-880g/m2 and the wear layer is 38g/m2 right in the top range of the AC3 classification.

What is the most common tile problem?

Customers can be quick to blame the tile when it comes loose or cracks or when the shower leaks, but rarely is the tile itself the real problem. While many issues facing the unsuspecting homeowner can be obvious, flooring is not one of them. Showers are especially difficult to evaluate, and often cost unsuspecting buyers thousands of dollars in repairs and days of inconvenience.

The tile industry, unlike many other floor covering products, has well established Standards for Installation published by national bodies such as the South African Bureau of Standards and the American National Standards Institute. Tile installations have specific tried and tested guidelines to follow to assure successful installations.

The most common complaint by far is loosened tile. Technically this is called delaminating or debonding. This is when tile has come loose from the substrate (mounting surface). The tile may sound hollow, have a grinding sound, or actually ‘tent’ up from the floor. This especially occurs on concrete slabs. The cause of the failure is almost invariably poor installation and may be primarily due to a lack of control joints or soft joints in the tilework and around the perimeter of the area and/or insufficient coverage of adhesive. It is important to the long-term success of a tile installation to provide for movement, which is certain to occur.

The technical reason this failure occurs is that ceramic tile expands and contracts with moisture and temperature at different rates than a concrete slab. Generally speaking, concrete slabs tend to shrink as they cure. This shrinkage can take place for many years. If there is no space to allow a release of the tension created by differential expansion,  the tile will come loose. Only the grout will be holding it in place and only for so long. Ceramic tile must be installed with the proper setting materials and provisions made for this expected movement. Also buildings move with seismic shifts, settling, heavy winds, material changes over time, and other factors. It cannot be stressed enough that movement accommodation and/or control joints are required in a tile job of any size, even the smallest bathroom.

What is a PEI Rating?

A PEI rating measured the durability of the enamel glaze on a tile. The Porcelain Enamel Institute (PEI) came up with the testing system to rate the strength of the glaze that is applied to the tile against scratching and wearing. The PEI Rating system uses numbers, 1 being the least scratch and wear resistant, 5 being the most scratch and wear resistant, to rate the strength of the glaze on the tile. Once the Tile is produced, most tile manufacturers will send the finished tile to the Porcelain Enamel Institute to test the strength of the glaze, or they will test the glaze strength themselves if they have the proper equipment in the factory. The test is performed on a special machine by placing a carbide wheel to the surface of the tile with weights on the top of the wheel to keep even pressure. The carbide wheel is then turned in a circular motion over the tile, and depending on how many revolutions it takes to penetrate the glaze of the tile is the number rating it receives. For example, for a tile to receive the highest rating, which is a PEI RATING of 5, the glaze will have to withstand over 10,000 revolutions on the machine.

PEI 1       Very Light Traffic
These Tiles can be used on all Indoor Wall applications, Interior Light use Countertops such as Bathroom, etc., and Very Light Traffic Residential Bathroom Floors. These Tiles are not recommended for any area that will have any constant or heavy foot traffic.

PEI 2       Light Traffic
These Tiles can be used on all Interior Wall Applications, All Interior Countertop applications, and Light Traffic Residential Interior Floors. This Tile should not be used in areas such as kitchens, entry ways, stairs, or areas with heavy traffic.

PEI 3       Moderate Traffic
These Tiles can be used on all Interior Wall Applications, All Interior Countertop applications, and all Residential Interior Floors. This Tile should not be used for Commercial Use.

PEI 4       Moderate to Heavy Traffic
These Tiles can be used on all Interior Wall Applications, All Interior Countertop applications, all Residential Interior Floors, and all Light Commercial applications, such as Restaurants, Lobbies, etc. This Tile should not be used for Heavy Commercial Use.

PEI 5       Heavy Traffic
These Tiles can be used on all Interior Wall Applications, All Interior Countertop applications, all Residential Interior Floors, and all Heavy Commercial applications, such as Airports, Shopping Malls and Supermarkets. This Tile is an excellent choice for Industrial applications where extreme durability is required.

ABRASIMETER FOR DETERMINING ABRASION RESISTANCE OF GLAZED CERAMIC SURFACES

Suitable for carrying out P.E.I. (wet) method tests to the ISO 10545-7 norm.

The test involves exposing the glazed material to the abrasive action of a charge comprising balls of different diameters with the addition of corundum and distilled water. The different abrasion stages are achieved by programming the machine at an increasingly higher number of revs, with fixed instrument speed as required by the standard

Our New Inkjet Tiles are in Production!

Our Managing Director flew out to China on Friday to oversee the first production run of our new inkjet tiles. While the technology has been around for over ten years it is only within the last two years or so that the matured technology has become sufficiently reliable and ubiquitous that we can confidently produce inkjet tiles in China. Nonetheless we were very careful in selecting our preferred factory. We have worked with them before so we know their quality is up to standard plus they have a state-of-the-art modern inkjet facility. The designs for our new tile ranged come from a design house in Italy. We sent a team including some of our most experienced customers over to Europe a month ago to finalise the design selection. This process included selecting textures, specific face variants and colours for each design. We finally settled on four inkjet designs each in three to four colours and each with five face variants. This means that for a particular design-colour there are twenty ways to lay the tiles for a non-uniform arrangement that looks just like natural cut stone. When the designs were completed we downloaded them via the very useful WeTransfer.com but it took almost two days! Each face file was 333 Megabytes! Of course when I got them unzipped and opened in Photoshop I could zoom into detail that left me feeling I was aboard the ISS looking down on an infinitely detailed landscape from orbit. Amazing! Below is a zoomed in section of the complete tile which is shown below. Impressed? We are. Our brochures for the new ranges will be available shortly. Watch this space or drop us an email to subscribe to our blog emailing list.

How to up-sell bathroom tiles for immediate results.

How can you increase your tile sales by up-selling? Mostly this is simply a matter of giving good professional advice to your customers.

Today I want to give you some pointers on how to up-sell bathroom tiles on the basis of SAFETY. In a bathroom this means: as few sharp corners or edges as possible and most importantly non-slip tiles.

Slip resistance is the Coefficient Of Friction, abbreviated as C.O.F. Simply put it is a tile’s natural resistance to slip. Technically it is the force required to slide an object across a surface divided by the weight of the object. A lower C.O.F. number indicates less friction so the floor will provide less traction. Higher C.O.F. numbers mean a floor will be less slippery. For example a good slip resistant tile may be rated with a C.O.F. of 10 and a slip degree angle of between 6 & 9 degrees. (based on DIN51130 testing criteria) So… how do you use this to increase profit?

1. Up-sell for safety - Talk about chilldren and elderly people using the bathroom. People fall and hurt themselves all the time.
2. Up-sell to more expensive tiles with a high slip resistance rating - They should have a rating of more than 8.
3. Up-sell to smaller tiles and mosaics. Smaller tiles don't slip as easily. More grout lines means less chance of slipping. Up-sell to your best grout.
4. Up-sell specialist pieces - such as rounded corners, radius or bullnose edges. And while you’re at it up-sell specialist tiles as accents e.g. a dado-rail strip.
Lastly, remember to insist that your customer buy 10% more for cutting, breakages and spares.

WHAT NOW?  

1. Check out our best-selling Tesscera catalogue.

2. Email us for a quote.