Frequently Asked Questions

We sell tiles throughout our retail locations nationwide.

Please visit our store locator to find a knowledgeable Tile Company stockist near you

Slip ratings will show an R rating or a co-efficient of friction rating expressed as a number or more recently the new ‘C’ class rating from European suppliers.

New Zealand standards require a co-efficient rating of not less than 0.40 for exterior applications. As a rule of thumb, a R rating of R11 or higher is also suitable for exterior applications, although there is no formal correlation between the three different codes

With modern tile manufacturing processes, tiles can now have a lot of pattern or shade variation.
The better the tile manufacturer is, the more variation will be present in the tile range. this variation helps the tile range mimic natural movements in stone and cement.

V1: Uniform appearance:

Minimal to no difference among pieces from the same production run because each ceramic tile is manufactured using the same glaze applications and body texture.

V2: Slight variation:

Distinguishable differences in texture and/or pattern within similar colours

V3: Moderate variation:

Though the colours present in a single piece of ceramic tile may indicate the colour patterns to be expected on other tiles, the amount of colours on each piece might vary significantly.

V4: Random or Dramatic Variation:

Random colour variation from tile to tile, so that one ceramic tile may have a totally different colour from that on other tiles. Thus, the final installation will be unique.

When a tile is rectified, it is first pressed, glazed and baked to create a standard cushion edge tile. It then goes through a cutting process to cut all four edges of the tile to create an exact and uniform tile. This allows for laying with very tight (Down to 1.5mm) grout joints.

When a quality tile is manufactured it is given three codes: Batch – Tone – Calibre

Batch is the unique number that can take the tile manufacturer back to the time that the tile was manufacutured. This will not change for the entire duration of that production run.

Tone is the variation in colour. This may change during the batch run

Calibre is the thickness and size of the tile. This can also change during production runs.

It is very important to have enough tiles with the same Batch, Tone and Calibration onsite before you start your tiling project. The Tile Company cannot guarantee continues supply of the same batch if you run out.

In general, a porcelain tile is harder than a ceramic tile. Although both are made from clay and other naturally occurring materials fired in a kiln, the clay used to make porcelain tile is more refined and purified. It’s fired at a higher temperature and greater pressure, resulting in an extremely dense and hard material.

So porcelain is better right?

For floors absolutely, but due to the pressing and firing process, ceramic offers a greater range of colours and textures. This is why a lot of detailed and patterned wall tiles are still made from ceramic.

Tile faces are the number of prints that are included in the tile.

With the advances in ink jet print technology, quality ceramic and porcelain manufactures will have anything from six up to twenty prints (and sometimes over thirty) in the product design. This allows for a very natural look with large variations and difficulty detecting duplicate tile prints

When installing tiles with a brick bond pattern it is usual to see some lipping due to the tiles not being totally flat. We recommend a 1/4 or 1/3 offset pattern rather than a brick bond.

To work out the number of tiles you need and how many tiles there are per square meter, you can use this calculator.