TILE & STONE
Photos: courtesy of Florim USA.
Porcelain tile getting better and bigger all the time By Ron Treister
I
n the commercial construction arena over the last three decades, porcelain tile has become the flooring of choice. For starters, the body of a porcelain tile is denser, and thus less porous than a typical ceramic floor tile. This makes porce- lain tile very hard and extremely impervious to moisture.
In fact, in most
Ron Treister is president of Communi cators Inter - national, a Portland, Maine- based marketing firm. He can be reached at rlt@communicatorsintl.com.
cases, porcelain tile is rated as being as molecularly dense as solid granite – and, less water absorptive. It also is better suited for heavy traffic areas than ceramic tile. Whereas, porcelain was introduced to America in the 1980s with its largest size being 12- inch x 12-inch, today's sizes are much larger and stronger. It's no surprise that the world's top tile manufactur- ing firms all have jumped on the por- cellanato bandwagon in making these beautiful products that seem to get larger in format on a regular basis. One of the world's most venerated tile producers, The Florim Group, located in the tile producing capital of the world, Sassulo, Italy, knew
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porcelain was the wave of the future. So, roughly two decades ago, Florim began stateside production in Clarksville, Tenn., with a world-class facility that included creating state-of-the-
Stefano Rabaioli
art porcelain tiles. Commercial Construction & Renovation recently met with Florim USA's VP of sales & marketing, Stefano Rabaioli, to get the latest information on this material and how it has evolved to become more than just a building product, but rather a very sound investment.