Outdoor tiling

[Lee Nowell]

Hi,

We have a room with bifold doors opening out onto a patio area. We are looking at flooring materials and was thinking of using cream

60x60 porcelain tiles both inside and outside so it looks like a continuous space when the doors are open.

I am a little worried that having the tiles outside would be a mistake as they would be slippery when wet as they don't absorb any water. The tile companies say it is fine provided you don't have the polished type and some of the more textured ones are suitable for swimming pools so must be ok. We borrowed a couple of matt tiles and tried the water test and to me, they were slippy enough for someone to fall.

I was wondering if anyone has had any practical experience with this. Also, is anyone aware of a patio slab which would look similar enough to the cream 60x60 tiles to create the effect but made of stone/ concrete that wouldn't be so slippy.

thanks

Lee.

[Steve Walker]

You can certainly get slip resistant tiles. Normal matt ones can still be very slippery when wet - we sometimes borrow a house in France and the kitchen floor is lethal with any spillage.

SteveW

[The Natural Philosopher]

Indeed. So is a plastic bath, and bathroom tiles, And I had three cracked ribs to prove it..

So are a bag of kids marbles, a banana skin, a pet cat.. so what?

[Lee Nowell]

I guess the thought is that going out on the patio when it has been/ is raining would be dangerous. At least with more traditional patio slabs, they absorb the water and water can seep between them (unless you completely seal the gaps). With tiles, since they are not porous, the water will sit on top and therefore make it more dangerous/ slippy even with the run off. I guess the question is, how much worse is it?

[S Viemeister]

Use small matte tiles. A large smooth surface is more slippery than one which is broken up by grout lines.

[Andrew May]

I have seen this done very effectively with polished limestone tiles inside leading seamlessly to unsealed and unpolished limestone slabs of the same size outside. Interior floor was smooth and easy to clean exterior was rough and non-slip.

You can probably substitute something similar but cheaper than limestone if you so desire.

Andrew

[pete]

if the tiles are meant for indoors use, it would be worth checking if they were frostproof (and the adhesive & grout, too). You might find that the continuous effect gets spoilt a bit if the outside tiles become dirty, with residue from rain or lichem starts growing on then. This is much more noticable with light coloured tiles.

By having the same ones inside (which I assume would remain clean) and outside (exposed to the elements), you may just be contrasting the amount of gunge that exists on all patios / tiled areas. Someone might be spending an awful lot of time trying to keep them at the same state of cleanliness!

[robert]

In message , Lee Nowell writes

We laid some 30x45 porcelain floor tiles from Wickes on our kitchen floor a couple of months ago and they are definitely non-slip, even when a significant spillage occurs. It was a non-negotiable requirement when the tiles were chosen - we took a sample tile home and tipped water on it to check it. We also left blobs of cooking oil, red wine, vinegar, and other stuff that I cannot recall on the sample for 12 hours to check for potential staining before deciding that it was a sensible buy.

Exterior adhesive and grout is easy to come by - I use Mapei which is ok for swimming pools so it should be fine for a patio.

I am planning on tiling our terrace area next year. The only problem with porcelain floor tiles is that they are slow to cut using a tile bench saw.

[Lee Nowell]

thanks Robert - seems like some thorough testing...... Which tiles did you get from Wickes? I'll pop down to our local store so I can compare the "roughness" to the ones we were looking at.

thanks

Lee.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can get grooved blades which cut a deal faster - but don't give as clean an edge. Which probably wouldn't notice outside.

[robert]

You should be aware that at the time that we bought them there were two very distinct shades of this tile with the same description/code number

- we chose the paler one.

[robert]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

I started using a relatively cheap blade from Wickes and quickly moved to a Marcrist Pro blade from Toolstation which was definitely worth the

30+ukp expenditure. It goes through ordinary 9mm ceramic tiles very cleanly and very fast but it was still slow with the porcelain floor tiles.

[mike]

How do you slip on a pet cat? Surely it's a tripping hazard.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Depends on how heavy you are...;-)

[PeterC]

The blood's slippery.