Tile Conundrum: Finding a Low-Maintenance Surface that Really Sticks

When designers promise clients a low-maintenance finish, delivering on that promise requires upfront due diligence. How can you ensure that a wall or flooring surface will really be low maintenance over time? Absorption rates are key for surfaces when you’re considering ease of maintenance for your client. Tiles that are denser absorb less water so they are easier to clean and dry faster. Easy cleaning means a cost-effective maintenance schedule, and tile that dries faster is less susceptible to common undesirable conditions such as mildew (think about vertical tile at the baseboard level), and is also a safer choice for public areas where a wet floor in a high traffic area can spell disaster in the form of slip-and-fall accidents. For tile surfaces, look for the ASTM C373 rating, which needs to be 0.5% for porcelain tile surfaces.

Unfortunately this wonderful property that makes tile safe and easy to clean is useless if the tile doesn’t stay in place. The downside of great water resistance is that the tile may be so resistant to liquid that it will not adhere properly to the substrate because it is impervious to the wet mortar and may not cling to it during the installation. If that happens, the bond between the setting material and the tile will be insufficient to keep the tile in place over time. Talk about high maintenance!

Mosa specializes in identifying and solving problems that hold design professionals back from creating interiors and exteriors that will endure beautifully and sustainably. The innovators at Mosa have developed full-body porcelain tiles that are manufactured in a unique, two-layer process, with a very low absorption rate in the top layer for easy cleaning and a higher absorption rate in the lower layer for superior bond adhesion. This ensures that the setting material can do its job holding onto one of the most beautiful, sleek, and enduring surfaces in the world of design.