Supersize porcelain tiles make a versatile material almost limitless For a home builder, the holy grail of materials is one that can do everything.For a homeowner, the holy grail of materials is one that looks really good and requires no maintenance.Get more news about https://www.fs-monalisa.com/ Thin Porcelain Tile,you can vist our website! Such a material is now available but virtually unknown to most builders and homeowners in the United States.It’s not a miracle of nanotechnology or even new. It’s that old workhorse, porcelain ceramic tile, updated with modern equipment and manufacturing processes. Manufacturers can now produce porcelain tiles that are huge (5 feet by 11 feet), really thin (1/8- to ¼-inch thick) and absorb almost no water. This latter detail means these big tiles will not crack in freezing temperatures and can be used indoors, outdoors in temperate climates and for an astonishingly broad range of applications. The tiles also are made in smaller sizes and can be almost ¾-inch thick, depending on the intended use.The tiles are marketed in the United States by Tennessee-based Crossville, which calls its tiles Laminam, and four Spanish manufacturers. Cosentino calls its product Dekton, Grespania’s version is Coverlam, Inalco’s is Itopker and TheSize Surfaces’s is Neolith. Because this type of porcelain tile is so new, the industry has not yet settled on a generic name or price. Two terms used by the National Tile Contractors Association are “thin porcelain panels” and “thin porcelain tile.”In keeping with designers’ preference for a “soft” palette, the offerings of these firms favor grays, “greige” (a combination of beige and gray), light and dark brown, charcoal, cream and pure white. Some of the tiles are a solid color, but others mimic wood, concrete, textile patterns, metals and natural stone. They can be used to finish walls as well as for flooring, countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, kitchen sinks and fireplace surrounds. If you want to go really crazy, the thinnest tiles can be used to finish doors, tables, desks and stairs. Capitalizing on the unusually high heat resistance of the supersize tiles, the Spanish firm Inalco is experimenting with installing burners directly into the counter, which would eliminate the need for a separate cooktop. The tiles are extremely scratch and stain resistant. Spills do not have to be cleaned up right away, an appealing feature if you tend to leave the kitchen cleanup until the next morning. Another plus with the large tiles in the kitchen is crack resistance. Traditionally manufactured tiles can crack when heavy objects are dropped on them. These porcelain tiles, however, are manufactured with a different process that makes them extremely crack resistant. As Jacobo Pardo of Grespania explained, as long as the tile is installed properly, “you can drop a large cast iron frying pan on the counter, no problem. If you drop a big cast iron pan on the floor, it won’t crack.In addition to their size, another difference between these tiles and traditional ones is their surface finish, which can vary from a soft matte to a highly reflective gloss. The tiles range from a smooth surface to a “gentle relief” that feels slightly irregular, “bush hammered” with a uniform nubby surface, and “hand tooled” with deeper gauges that appear to be hand made.