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A Useful Day On The Tiles
24 August 2005
David Adams finds porcelain tiles are increasingly popular but require skilful laying.
THEY'RE tough, easy to clean and can even successfully fend off frost.These prized factors have long seen porcelain tiles used in commercial settings.But it's only since the early '90s in Australia that technological breakthroughs in production processes have meant they have come into their own in the domestic market.These days, walk into any tile shop and the majority of floor tiles are likely to be made of porcelain.Dario Piubellini, who trains apprentice tilers at Holmesglen TAFE after working for 15 years as a tiler, travelled to Italy in 2001 on an International Specialised Skills Institute (ISS)/TAFE fellowship to investigate the manufacture, cutting and laying of porcelain tiles.He found that there were a number of key issues to consider when laying porcelain tiles including minimising the need to cut the tiles through smart design (necessary because of the difficulty of cutting porcelain tiles given their hardness), using a superior adhesive to counter the impermeable nature of the tiles, and sanding the edge of the tiles to counter the "shattered glass" look the tile can get after cutting.Mr Piubellini says it's also extremely important when laying polished porcelain tiles to ensure the surface underneath them is absolutely flat.The fact that the polished tiles have a sharper edge instead of the more usual round edge coupled with a trend for larger tile sizes (up to as large as 1200 x 600 millimetres) means that any imperfection in the surface below the tile is likelyto be exaggerated when the tile is laid.ContactsDario Piubellini is conducting workshops for industry professionals on the laying of porcelain tiles this Friday and Saturday (August 26-27).For more details and registration, call the ISS Institute on 9882 0055.
