Chinese Porceline floor tiles

redser7

Hi
We've been looking for a polished porceline tile for the kitchen floor. We found a nice crema marfil 80 x 80 tile. It is Chinese made.
I've read that Spanish or Italian is best and Chinese is not so good. But how true is that? Would we really expect a terrible product if it is Chinese made?
Thanks for any advise!

gooseygander

redser7 wrote: »

Hi
We've been looking for a polished porceline tile for the kitchen floor. We found a nice crema marfil 80 x 80 tile. It is Chinese made.
I've read that Spanish or Italian is best and Chinese is not so good. But how true is that? Would we really expect a terrible product if it is Chinese made?
Thanks for any advise!

Hi Redser, I don't believe that there would be much of a difference, is porcelain not porcelain ??, I am also in the market for a crema marafil tile of that size and recently priced the marble, which came back way too expensive. would you mind p.m me the supplier details for your tile and rough pricing if you have it, many thanks

redser7

I believe the issues are with the manufacture and sealing and it can in some cases make a big difference. But I'm wondering how much worse and at what price ranges.
I saw one I liked in Nationwide Tiles - 80 x 80 Crema Marfil Inkjet = 30 euro per sq m. Made in China. Normal price 70 euro per sq m. It is a 50% reduction sale but I think they always have one on if you know what I mean.

scwazrh

We just fitted a showroom with 600sqm of porcelain tiles and given the massive price difference between chinese and european tiles we chose the chinese tile.
The main differences I'm aware of are
1- Chinese porcelain tiles when damaged or chipped on the surface you can see white underneath where as most european tiles are porcelain right the way through .
2- The quality control on the Chinese tiles seems to be of a lesser quality - we found we had to get an extra 10% of tiles due to some of the tiles received having poor finish and rough surfaces.
3 - the Chinese tiles don't seem to be as strong .They cut much easier than the Spanish or Italian

Depending on quantity you should be able to get chinese porcelain from 20 euro upwards. B&Q had black porcelain before xmas at 18euro per sqm

893bet

I have seen baldocer porcelain recently at 17 per sq. Great price.

redser7

Thanks very much, that's very helpful. Found a 60 x 60 Spanish tile in House of tiles for 25 per square meter gooseygander - might go for that. Again it's on sale.

gooseygander

Hi Redser, got a sample of that 80 x 80 Chinese tile and a quote for doing 93 sq metres including adhesive and grout coming in at just under 2900 including vat. this price is the cheapest by far that we have received and that is even before any good old irish haggling. we like the tile but all advice (albeit from other tile shops) is to steer clear of Chinese tiles. we are seriously thinking of taking a chance, oh decisions, decisions, decisions, my head is wrecked. my wallet is screaming at me to go for it but head is saying don't.

redser7

I hear you. We are veering towards the smaller tile in House of Tiles because they are Spanish. Let me know what you decide and how you get on!