Italian Porcelain Paving

Italian porcelain paving is manufactured to the highest quality standard and has a much more realistic appearance in the premium quality of its designs. It is known to be harder wearing and more consistent to cut then tiles produced in other countries due to quality of the raw materials used. Add to that the high level of anti slip surface texture, wide range of colours, premium packaging quality then you will see why Italian Porcelain is so popular.

Porcelain is manmade to be extremely strong and hard wearing, meaning it requires little maintenance and is resistant to algae, moss, water and sunlight. Indian sandstone is cheaper to buy in full crates and easier to lay without professional help due to the less specific tolerances in joint widths and levels, and is available in a greater variety of colours - but please note natural sandstone can turn green over time and will need cleaning on a semi-regular basis.

This is a question that sparks great debate! Here at Melton Stone, we believe that a dedicated porcelain grout is the best choice when it comes to finishing and grouting your patio. It is hard wearing, flexible and does not shrink. The only negative is that it is time consuming to install and takes a lot of cleaning off the surface. Some homeowners and contractors are using a ‘brush in’ resin based jointing compound, but technically these are designed for use on natural stone, not porcelain. They are quick and easy to install but can blow out of the joints under the pressure of a jet washer during cleaning.

If your Porcelain Paving tiles are installed correctly, they are very unlikely to chip once in place. Ensuring they are laid on a full contact mortar bed and grouted correctly will ensure the edges and corners are protected. Giving you an incredibly hard, durable and low maintenance porcelain patio.

Porcelain paving has a very low porosity level therefore moss and algae can't stick to the surface, so as a general rule no it does not require sealing. Porcelain paving is however prone to rust staining and leaf tannin staining which can be removed with a specialist cleaner and pressure washer. There are pre sealers available which can be applied the newly laid porcelain surface prior to grouting, this makes the area less prone to staining during the grouting process.