CERAMICS

Downtown Lumber Home building Centre is proud to be the largest tile importer of the Downtown Toronto area. In our showroom you will be able to choose from hundreds of different tiles in red or white paste, Porcelain and also a variety of stones.
We import directly from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Brazil and we also deal with suppliers from India, Turkey, China, and of course Canada.
At our Tile Centre you are sure to find the option that suits your style and budget. With carefully chosen high quality products, our Tile Centre showroom displays the latest trends and also the classical options in wall and floor ceramic coverings.
Our friendly staff will gladly help you and give you information on which options is most suitable for you situation.

As always we are happy to be of assistance. Below you will be able to find some helpful hints to help you chose the kind of material that better suits your needs.

Types of Ceramic:

Red - A body formed from red or colored clay, visible if unglazed and invisible if glazed. Red clays owe their coloring to the presence of other minerals such as iron and other oxides, organic material, etc.

White - White clays differ from red clays in their careful extraction and in their lack of other minerals, which also guarantees uniform properties in supplies from different sources. Also, the temperatures used in the firing of white clay products are usually higher than those of red clay, products which together with the better quality and uniformity of the raw materials and the greater security of the manufacturing process, give tiles of white clay technical and aesthetic advantages over those of red clay.

Porcelain - Porcelain is the hardest type of tile available today.
It features a very dense body that is impervious to staining, scratching and freezing. Porcelain tile can be used for indoor and outdoor applications making it an excellent choice for commercial floor applications.

A. What is tile?
1. Tile is basically pressed clay which is then fired at temperatures of up to 1200 degrees Celsius. Tiles come in a number of shapes sizes and colours. Colours come from glaze materials or from type of clay used.

B. Types of tile
1. Porcelain body vitreous;
2. Red body monocottura semi vitreous
3. White body monocottura semi vitreous
4. Non vitreous wall tile

C. Common types of acceptable substrates for ceramic tile.
1. Concrete
2. Exterior grade Fir plywood
3. Cement Backer Units (Durock, Wonderboard)
4. Gypsum Wallboard
5. Hardi Backer Board

D. What conditions affect selection of installation materials?
1. Tile moisture absorption
• Extremely Low - Porcelain body vitreous tile
• Low - semi vitreous red and white body monocottura
• Moderate - semi vitreous bi-cottura tile.
• High - non vitreous wall tile.

2. Traffic conditions
• heavy (malls, airports)
• medium - heavy (office lobbies, large retail stores, fitness centers)
• medium (restaurants, commercial washrooms)
• low (residential)

3. Environmental conditions.
• Exterior (freeze thaw, de-icing salts)
• Interior (constant Immersion, dry, sauna, heated floor systems, refrigerator . rooms, chemical attack).

4. Substrate?

I. Concrete
II. Plywood
III. Gypsum wallboard
IV. Cement Backer Unit
V. Denseshield Backer Board
VI. Grout Materials

I. Concrete
Generally speaking , installation of tile over a concrete substrate is accomplished using either a non modified thin set mortar or a latex modified thin set mortar depending on traffic and environmental conditions.

II. Plywood
Installation of tile over exterior grade fir plywood must only be done for interior, residential, dry installations.

III. Gypsum Wallboard
Generally used on interior, dry or intermittently wet residential wall installations; i.e. residential showers, commercial washrooms.

IV. Cement Backer Units
Generally used in wet residential and commercial areas. When used in commercial spaces a latex modified thin set mortar is preferred. When used in a dry spaces (commercial or residential) or intermittent water exposed areas, a type 1 mastic is recommended.

V. Denseshield Backer Board
Generally used in residential dry, and intermittent water exposed areas.

VI. Grout Materials

A. Unsanded wall grout
1. Used for grouting of interior wet or dry wall tile installations with joints not exceeding 3 mm.
2. Used on wall tile and may be used to grout marble and granite floor installations, provided
joints do not exceed 3 mm.
B. Sanded floor grout
1. Used for grouting of interor and exterior wet or dry floor tile installations. Joint must be a minimumof 3 mm and a maximum of 6 mm.
2. May be used on walls provided joints between tile are at least 3 mm.