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.

What is nano treatment on tiles?

Porcelain tiles with a nano treatment are more dirt and stain resistant, glossier and have more intense colour. Nano treatment is more complex than you might have thought. It consists of applying two different compounds up to ten layers deep to the surface of the tile, polishing between each application and then firing at 1250ºC.

A non-hazardous water soluble nano polymer compound is pressed into the micro porosities of the polished porcelain tile surface. This consists of very light and hard organic nano particles ranging in size from 5nm to1µm. The surface is then polished and a second layer is applied, polished again and a third layer applied. The particles are smaller than the tiny pinholes and cracks in the tiles so they fill these gaps and these pores become permanently sealed.



The second compound applied is a solvent flourine polymer then the tile is polished again. Flouropolymers are characterized by a high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases. With repetitive plating, applied through high pressure sanding and polishing, the nano particles combine with the tile substance to form an organic nano film with a high density and stability, which achieves the distinguishing characteristics of nano treated tiles. Generally at least six layers of polymer application and polishing cycles are completed then a final water wash before high temperature firing.



The technique of application, polishing and firing ensures that the nano particles polymerise evenly on the surface of the tiles. The high surface sheen of nano tiles creates a protective layer so dirt cannot penetrate the tiles and they are easier to keep clean. The granular material of the protective layer enhances the tiles’ durability and slip resistance making them suitable for both domestic and commercial applications and, fired at 1250ºC, nano treated tiles have a hardness equivalent to that of granite.

But it’s not just a long process, it’s tricky too. The specially designed polishing heads must operate at an ideal temperature of between 35ºC and 70ºC, they must also be carefully aligned to move consistently over the surface of the tile polishing each part with the same even pressure. The amount of compound applied to the tile must also be very finely controlled to 35-50ml/m² to ensure even distribution of the particles.

Nano treated tiles are harder, glossier and more resistant to staining and wearing. See the technical details in the sidebar.

Our Classic Super White, Ivory and Monza tiles are all rectified, nano treated polished porcelain. Enquiries here.

What flooring is the most cost-effective?

When buying flooring most people, even professionals in the building industry would consider three main factors; style, suitability and cost.

Style would include the texture, appearance and in general whether the product will fit in with the interior (or exterior) design.

Suitability is a more complex issue and professional advice is necessary. For example outdoor tiles in a cold climate need to be specified as frost resistant, flooring used in commercial spaces needs to be suitably wear resistant AC4 for laminated flooring, porcelains for tiles and so forth.

Cost may seem a simple issue but it gets complicated. The cost of a flooring system per square meter (or square foot) is just the first factor to consider. What about installation costs? What about the cost and effort of cleaning materials for the floor every year. And how long is this floor going to last until it needs replacement? Taking all these factors and more into consideration the Tile Council of North America commissioned Scharf-Godfrey to undertake what is called a  Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for 17 different floor coverings. LCCA is defined as an economic method of project evaluation in which all costs arising from owning, operating, maintaining and disposing of a project are considered important to the decision.

Costs were amortized over the 40 year average lifetime of a building. The ratings in the table below take into account a multitude of factors and reduce them to a cost per area per year.

What you may find surprising is that ceramic and porcelain tiles are the most cost effective of all. This is not to say other flooring doesn’t have a place, just that for most applications ceramic tiles give the most bang for the buck! You may want to point this out to the next customer you serve.

More next time!

P.S. By the way VCT at the bottom of the table stands for Vinyl Composition Tile. It is a finished flooring material used primarily in commercial and institutional applications. VCT is composed of colored vinyl chips formed into solid sheets of varying thicknesses (4mm is common) by heat and pressure and cut into 30cm squares. Tiles are applied to a smooth, leveled sub-floor using a specially formulated vinyl adhesive that remains tacky but does not completely dry. Tiles are typically waxed and buffed using special materials and equipment.
VCT tiles have high resilience to abrasion and impact damage and can be repeatedly refinished with chemical strippers and mechanical buffing equipment. If properly installed, tiles can be easily removed and replaced when damaged. Tiles are available in a variety of colors from several major flooring manufacturers. Some manufacturers have created vinyl tiles that very closely resemble wood, stone terrazzo and concrete. Tiles can easily be cut and assembled into colorful and decorative patterns.
Vinyl composition tiles took the place of asbestos tiles, which were widely used in schools, hospitals, offices, and public buildings up until the 1980s. Use of tiles and adhesives containing asbestos were discontinued when asbestos materials were determined to be hazardous.