What Types Of Tile Are There?

At Dolphin Carpet & Tile, we love providing our customers with the perfect home flooring. Whether it’s soft and comfortable carpet, sleek luxury vinyl, versatile laminate, stately hardwood, or customizable and durable tile flooring, our goal is to give our customers the flooring of their dreams. From initial interest to final installation, the primary goal of the Dolphin Carpet & Tile team is to ensure that our customers are happy. It fuels every decision we make, product we carry, and interaction that we have. 

As a part of our tireless pursuit to provide customers with flooring products and brands that they desire most, we have, over the years, worked to offer even more fantastic tile offerings. It’s in our name, after all! However, we have found that when many customers come to our store and speak to us over the phone about their tile wants and needs, they have questions about the different types of tile and what the benefits are of each type. This blog was written with those customers in mind.

So, if you’re interested in brand new tile flooring but don’t know ceramic from porcelain and so forth, we wanted to provide a resource to help better educate you on the types of tile out there.

Dolphin Carpet & Tile may not offer all of these types of tile at a given time. If you have questions about our inventory or tile offerings, contact us today or visit our showroom locations.

Ceramic Tile

Ceramic tile is one of the most prevalent tile options in homes. With its advanced durability and assortment of stylish looks, ceramic is an incredibly versatile tile option that works well in various parts of a home, including kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, bedrooms, living spaces, etc. As a flooring option, ceramic tile is easy to clean and will require only basic broom sweeping to continue looking great and functioning well. 

Ceramic tile is slightly less dense than porcelain tile (we’ll be covering this soon) and, thus, is available at a lower overall cost. Ceramic tile is durable like most tile options are, but someone shopping for ceramic and seeking additional durability should opt for glazed instead of unglazed. 

Porcelain Tile

Consider porcelain for indoor and outdoor spaces for a slightly more sturdy and versatile tile option. Porcelain tile can effectively emulate the look of wood, stone, and brick, and thanks to its density, it is very durable. 

Much like ceramic tile, porcelain tile requires little in the way of upkeep and maintenance, and of course, there is versatility in the porcelain stylings available. In addition to its ability to emulate the aforementioned wood, stone, or brick, porcelain is also available in a slew of colors, styles, and designs for your home. Porcelain tile can work great on floors or as kitchen backsplashes. However, because of its overall durability, it does cost more than ceramic tile.

Cement Tile

Cement tile offers a range of colors, styles, and designs for indoor and outdoor use. As a material, cement is quite versatile and can function well in high-traffic areas within the home. Cement tiles differ from ceramic and porcelain tiles in that they can be sanded and resealed, similar to hardwood, as they age. 

It also offers more in the way of ornate designs. Overall, cement is less expensive than ceramic or porcelain tile, but it may not age as well as the years pass. Be on the lookout for part two of our types of tile blog coming next month.

In the meantime, contact us with any questions about tile flooring or our incredible selection.