I have a large downstairs area to cover and want some plain colored cream granito as the wife calls them, floor tiles.

However on a trip around the Homemarts/Homepros I am presented with many terms (Nano/Porcelain/Homegenous/Grade AAA) many prices and little coherent explaination of the differences. Trawling the net also is not turning up much sense.

Seen These brands today

RCI - www.rci.co.th

Central Premier - http://www.centralpremier.co.th/CP%20Group/home.htm

Any laymans help would be appreciated.

i don't claim to be an expert, far from it but I was going to lay some of these when i was back in the UK and did some research back then but didn't get around to it. But I have had a floor layed over here recently which i got from Homemart

granito is known as polished porcelain tiles in the UK, they are basically ceramic tiles made from clay so if you search for polished porcelain you should get a lot more info

They are porous so need some kind of impregnator sealer otherwise they may get dirt, stains in them which are impossible to remove.

some say to seal before laying and some after, or even try placing staining them e.g. tea, red wine etc on a cut off piece to see if they have been sealed properly

In Thailand, most shops selling will tell you that they don't need sealing as they most probably don't know.

The ones I got from homemart had this nano technology which were more expensive which I was told didn't need sealing after I specifically asked if it was required. And guess what ..... after I few months I now have some stains under some vases placed on the tiles ...so it seems this Nano technology is just a marketing ploy. Don't believe the sales people most don't know their a??? from their elbows. I'm not sure why the stains are there but they wont come out.

I have just bought some more last week, and a cheap place to get if price matters to you is www.siamtak.com, these are most probably inferior Chinese tiles but fit the task for me as I need some cheap flooring and these are only slightly more expensive than standard ceramic tiles and if just walking around in bare feet/socks there should be no problems i hope. btw they also do more expensive ones if you want. Most are grade A.

I wanted white but they were more expensive so went for some which where off white at 229B/m2.. however they seem more cream colour in the room they are layed in.. maybe it was the lighting in the shop they made them look whiter

you need some good installers as they are not the easiest to lay at 60x60 or larger. Any uneveness will spoil your floor and the larger the area is the more likelihood mistakes will happen. The first time I got them layed at 180B/m2. This time I have a price of 120B/m2 and an ok job so far on a 3x4 room.

Also, Thai's won't start the tiles in the center of the room unless you tell them to and they cut them with their angle grinders so the edges will be chipped therefore skirting is recommended

hope this helps

Thanks Gouda

Helped somewhat, got me thinking about tile sealants now arghhhhhhh needle in a haystack!