Buyers Guide to External Porcelain Tiles

More and more people in the UK are enjoying an all-year-round indoor-outdoor living experience – and that really is great news. Decks, terraces, efficient outdoor heating and effective outdoor lighting mean that even in the winter months we can enjoy the great outdoors a whole lot more than was ever possible before.

At Wood and Beyond, we’re renowned for the quality of decking we’ve supplied over the years and continue to supply to this day, but one of the things we’ve been asked for more and more often recently is external porcelain tiles.

For anyone who’s a close follower of our blog, you’ll know that it’s not all that long ago that we started stocking porcelain tiles. The reason for that is that we take our flooring solutions really seriously and invested a whole lot of time to find the right tile solution to add to our already highly popular wood flooring solutions.

We now have a number of tile ranges, but on this page of our website, you’ll find the external porcelain tiles that we’re particularly proud of and want to talk to you about today. If you’re looking to tile an outdoor space, you really can’t go wrong with this choice. But if you’re shopping around for external porcelain tiles right now, we’re sure you’ll find this Buyer’s Guide helpful.

Here’s what you need to look out for when you’re shopping for external porcelain tiles:

Anti-slip rating

When choosing external porcelain tiles, it’s essential that you remember that outdoors can be a slippery place, even when the weather is warm and dry. Things like foliage and mud can play havoc with paths and terraces, so it’s essential that you choose a tile with a high anti-slip rating. This range of external porcelain tiles that we stock at Wood and Beyond has an R10 anti-slip rating which means it has extra grip, making it the ideal choice for your outside spaces, no matter the season.

Frost resistance

Frost is something that doesn’t even feature on your radar when you’re choosing tiles for your bathroom, kitchen, or indeed any other room in the home. But, like it or not, the ground can get pretty darned cold here in the UK. Ground frost can play havoc with outdoor surfaces if you’re not careful and don’t choose your surfaces wisely. Once again, the tiles we recommend at Wood and Beyond have a high frost resistance, which means you won’t be looking at having to replace them after a couple of winters because they’ve cracked under the strain.

Stain resistance

No matter how busy your household, irrespective of how often you need to shout at your crew to wipe their feet and rub down the wet dog before they come into your house, the mess indoors is nothing compared to outdoors. Trees shed their leaves, grass cuttings overflow on to paths, wellington boots go from the potting shed to the vegetable garden – it’s a given. What this means is that when you choose external porcelain tiles you must think about stain resistance. You want to know that stains won’t get drawn into your tiles and spoil their look. Once again these tiles we have in stock are a great example, because they’re highly stain resistant.

Water absorption

Most materials absorb moisture at some point or another. But outside tiling can become a real nightmare if it’s prone to absorbing too much. When you’re buying external porcelain tiling it’s important to check the level of water absorption the manufacturer anticipates. The tiles we stock at Wood and Beyond have a minimum level of water absorption, which means that while some moisture will ultimately penetrate their surface it won’t end up a problem.

We hope you’ve found our Buyer’s Guide to External Porcelain Tiles helpful, but if you need any further help or information don’t forget we’re here for you. All you need to do is get in touch by chatting with us on our website, emailing us, phoning us or coming down to our Golders Green showroom to meet the team. We’d love to help you make the right choices for your indoor and your outdoor spaces.