I am not asking about the installation, but rather what to look for in a porcelain tile submittal that might raise a flag or concerns?
I dont run across porcelain too often, but one performance requirement that Im aware of is the max 5% moisture content. Of course a manuf would be pretty dumb to call it porcelain and list the moisture content if it was too high.
The defining feature of porcelain tile vs. “regular” ceramic tile is an absorption rate of no greater than 0.5 percent. I cannot imagine how porcelain tile could fail other than due to some tremendous error in its manufacture then I doubt the product would make it out of the factory.
I’m not sure that porcelain tile will really fail as a product. What you will get is failure of the tile if the application is wrong and it cracks or chips. There is an ANSI standard for porcelain tile: A137.3 Specification for Gauged Porcelain Tile and Gauged Porcelain Tile Panels/Slabs. As James noted the maximum absorption is 0.5% (not 5%) along with a variety of other properties in the spec.
If you want to deal with installation, you should specify that the installer have ACT certification for porcelain tile. Go to http://www.tilecertifications.com/ to read more about the various installation certifications including one for porcelain tile.
Thanks for mentioning ACT certification, Brian. With wider use of large format tile it is very important that installers have as much knowledge as they can get about good technique and possible pitfalls. I do my best to get these experts in front of the designers as well since the designers select what I have to specify.
Hi Jerome,
The question to ask is,did the designer select a Gauged Porcelain tile or just a regular/ traditional Porcelain tile? There are two ANSI classifications for Porcelain tile. As Brian mentioned ANSI A137.3 is the newest. ANSI A 137.3 Gauged Porcelain tiles and gauged porcelain tile panels/slabs. Most of us think of the 137.3 for porcelain tiles over 1 square meter but in actuality the difference between ANSI 137.3 and 137.1 is based on the thickness of the porcelain tile / panel. The Gauged Porcelain tiles and Gagued Porcelain tile panels / Slabs are 6.5 mm or less can be made much larger than the standard manufacturing process of the (old, Traditional porcelain) tile that are typically 8 mm or greater. These larger gauged porcelain tile panels/ slabs have a new installation method ANSI A108.19. You need to be very clear which type of porcelain (traditional porcelain tile 8mm or greater smaller than 1 square meter in facial size or less than 8mm in thickness and larger than 1 square meter in facial size) is being installed. The new method for the Gauged tile panels / slabs will cost more to install than traditional thickness and size of Porcelain tile. Along with ACT certification you also require a PTCA certification, (Porcelain Tile Certification Agency). With all certifications you will limit the amount of qualified products and labor that do not want to or cannot pay for the certification. You could specify porcelain tile by performance standards. For example as Brain mentioned requiring an Impervious tile of 0.5% water absorption per ANSI A 137.1 than there are a whole range of other standards also including caliber range, warpage and abrasion resistance from ANSI A 137.1