Black Porcelain tiles (Jakarta from Tile Giant)

Genmod55

I am trying to decide on a tile for my new kitchen and have decided to go with a black polished porcelain tile. I have seen the tile "Jakarta" from Tile Giant and was just wondering if anyone else has this tile? If so, how bad is it for showing the dropped bits and also mopped water marks and does it scratch easily?

I am also considering a tile called Lounge Black but I am not sure of the manufacturer. Any help would be much appreciated.

keystone

You should be fine but you MUST seal them before laying with a good impregnator/sealer and then seal the full floor again before grouting.

This is because the polishing process opens millions of tiny holes in the tile surface and dirt and grime can get into them and cause surface dulling.

If you are laying them yourself you will also need a good wetsaw (I mean a good one not the £25 jobbies from the sheds) as porc is very hard.

Cheers

Ionkontrol

I have these tiles in my kitchen.
Before they were laid, I sealed them by hand with 3 coats of sealer and once again when laid.
They are now resistant to nuclear attack.

Genmod55

keystone wrote: »

You should be fine but you MUST seal them before laying with a good impregnator/sealer and then seal the full floor again before grouting.

This is because the polishing process opens millions of tiny holes in the tile surface and dirt and grime can get into them and cause surface dulling.

If you are laying them yourself you will also need a good wetsaw (I mean a good one not the £25 jobbies from the sheds) as porc is very hard.

Cheers

Thanks for the info. I was not planning on doing the job myself (sounds like there is too much to go wrong) and I was told by Tile Giant that they had to be sealed so I will make sure the person laying the tiles does this.

Genmod55

Ionkontrol wrote: »

I have these tiles in my kitchen.
Before they were laid, I sealed them by hand with 3 coats of sealer and once again when laid.
They are now resistant to nuclear attack.

Thanks for your info. Are they hard work to keep clean? Do they show all the crumbs and mop marks, and what about scratching (I was told that the polished tiles scratch easily)?

Also does anyone know if I can use my steam cleaner on them? Thanks for your help.

har0ld

If it is truly polished porcelain I'd be very surprised that you would need to seal the tile. Porcelain tiles are extremely hard wearing and tough and unlesss you are in the habit of wearing diamond encrusted shoes will show very little wear or scratches for years. These tiles were developed for commercial areas such as hotel foyers and are meant to very low maintenance and extremely hard wearing; however they are extremely tough,not just to cut, but to drill - you need to use diamond core drills normally.
Remember also that porcelain tiles require a chemically setting adhesive (not pre mixed tub adhesive) - ideally a fast setting adhesive; and if on wood you must use a flexible adhesive.

tpt

harOld - i'm afraid the other guys are right, they will need sealing. Glazed porkys dont need sealing but polished and other unglazed ones will.

Genmod55 - they will look great and be hard wearing, but they will show every mark/crumb/footprint so be ready to clean them a lot - this is true of every high polished flat colour.

Also be aware that they will be slippy when wet and also when dry in just your socks

you'd have to work very very hard to scratch them so dont worry too much about that.

Ionkontrol

Genmod55 wrote: »

Thanks for your info. Are they hard work to keep clean? Do they show all the crumbs and mop marks, and what about scratching (I was told that the polished tiles scratch easily)?

Also does anyone know if I can use my steam cleaner on them? Thanks for your help.

They don't show water marks and certainly do not scratch.
If you drop something white on them, then yes it will show up.

Genmod55

Ionkontrol wrote: »

They don't show water marks and certainly do not scratch.
If you drop something white on them, then yes it will show up.

Many thanks for your help.

keystone

har0ld wrote: »

If it is truly polished porcelain I'd be very surprised that you would need to seal the tile.

Stand by to be surprised then 'cos they do for the reason I've already stated.

Cheers

Doozergirl

We had them. I sealed them three times - twice before they were even laid. It was painful on my back and I was ready to kill someone. Was it worth it? No.

They were on our floor for about, ooh, a year before I covered them with a wood floor. The lights above caused it to reflect everything. And yes, they would water mark, they would show every remotely dirty or sweaty footprint and when I cleaned them I had to get down on my hands and knees afterwards with two tea towels to buff it up enough to be happy with the shine, otherwise they would show water marks where they dried.

It's much like a black granite worktop. They too will show where you wet wipe, as do black gloss kitchen doors. I can cope with it on granite because it is at a height that makes buffing manageable and it isn't my entire floor area! I've had enough of buffing vast expanses of black or dark coloured gloss doors, so I won't be buying them again. If you have friends with black granite tops, go and have a look at what happens if you wipe with a wet cloth but don't dry it.

I had the floor, I heard it showed every mark, I made my decision anyway and regretted it. They are slippery too - drop a carrot peeling on the floor and go flying if you tread on it!

I have some other large format tiles now up on my bathroom floor from CTD which are black, more matt with a slightly dimpled texture, so almost smooth to the touch but not slippery and with lovely specks of a dark silver sparkle in the light. They do water mark too if it sits for too long, but it's a bathroom and I have two kids and a hairy husband :rotfl: and nowhere near to the the degree that the polished porcelains would and I've bought myself a fabulous steam cleaner which makes very easy work of keeping it clean. From experience, if you want something shiny and dark, you will have to put up with marking to some degree, imvho.

Not exactly detailed, but here's the bathroom floor: