Tiles / Indoor / Ceramic

Ceramic Tiles

The wall tile. Softer in the body, easier to cut, and available in glaze finishes that porcelain cannot easily reproduce.

The mosaic aisle, with borders, listellos and hand-glazed brick tile

Body: Glazed ceramic
Water absorption: 3-10% by weight
Thickness: 6-9 mm
Formats: 2" × 6" up to 24" × 48"
Use: Walls, light-traffic floors
Origin: Spain, Italy, Turkey, Brazil

(01)What this is

Ceramic and porcelain are often compared as alternatives, but they are two bodies fired at different temperatures for different jobs. We carry both because most houses need both.

Ceramic is fired cooler, so the body stays more porous and softer. That makes it easier to work with: it scores and snaps cleanly, cuts neatly at inside corners, and lets a tiler finish a complicated wall faster. It also carries the widest range of glazes — hand-dipped colour, crackle, relief and high gloss are all ceramic finishes.

The trade-off is that it belongs on walls. A ceramic floor in a hallway will chip at the edges and wear through the glaze at turning points. We will supply ceramic for a floor if that is what you want, but it is worth knowing first.

(02)Who makes it

The housesbehind the range.

We buy this category deep from a small number of manufacturers rather than shallow from many. Knowing whose tile you are standing on tells you what to expect of the calibre, the lead time and the reorder.

An Eco Ceramica artisan hand-painting a decorated tile, surrounded by glazes and brushes

Decoration, still done by hand

(01) Casalgrande, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Eco Ceramica

The decorated end of the range, where the glaze is the product.

Eco Ceramica works in Casalgrande, in the Reggio Emilia ceramic district, and focuses on craft rather than volume: handmade artistic and decorated tile, cotto, and glazes built on high-grade clay and mineral-rich formulations. Worth looking at when a wall is meant to be the feature of a room.

The catalogue extends beyond tile into mosaics and specialty formats, plus ceramic, Murano glass and copper basins.

District

Reggio Emilia, Italy

Known for

Handmade and decorated tile

Also makes

Cotto, mosaic, basins

Buy it for

Walls that carry a room

Collections

Le Collezioni d'Autore
Ecologica
Open Horizon
Melange
Aquacolor
Laser Line

Eco Ceramica online

Full-height Pamesa slabs standing on the showroom floor at Chase Village

Pamesa slabs, standing at Chase Village

(02) Vila-real, Castellón, Spain

Pamesa Cerámica

Spanish production, and the slabs standing on our floor.

Pamesa operates from Vila-real in Castellón, the centre of the Spanish ceramic industry, and is part of the wider Pamesa Grupo Empresarial. Spanish production sits in the middle of the market: consistent calibre, reasonable pricing, and enough range to supply a whole house from one manufacturer.

It is also the brand you can see in person at Chase Village. The full-height slabs standing on the showroom floor are theirs, so you can handle the material before ordering.

Region

Castellón, Spain

Group

Pamesa Grupo Empresarial

Strength

Consistent calibre and range

On the floor

Yes, at full height

Pamesa Cerámica online

Product photography © Eco Ceramica, reproduced with permission. Showroom photography © Tile Warehouse Ltd. Brand names, collection names and product names are the trademarks of their respective owners, and appear here to identify the ranges we stock. Tile Warehouse is an independent distributor and is not affiliated with these manufacturers beyond that.

(03)Before you decide

Things worth knowing.

Check the wear rating before using it on a floor

Glazed ceramic is rated PEI 0 to 2, which suits walls and low-traffic rooms. Porcelain is the better body for a hallway, kitchen or entry. If a tile you like is only made in ceramic, one option is to use it on the wall and pair it with a porcelain floor.

Crazing is part of the finish

Fine cracks in the glaze of a crackle or hand-glazed tile are intentional, and they continue to develop for months after fixing. In a shower they can hold water and stain, so seal before grouting. If you want a wall that stays visually unchanged, this is not the right tile.

Handmade tile is intentionally uneven

Zellige and hand-pressed tiles are not flat or perfectly square. They need a wider joint, a tiler comfortable working to the piece rather than to a line, and around 15% extra ordered to allow for rejects. Worth agreeing before the wall starts.

Shade and calibre vary by batch

Ceramic is fired in batches and colour shifts between them. Order the whole job at once, check the shade code on every box before opening, and keep a spare box. Matching a batch later is difficult, and it is a common reason a repair remains visible.

(04)Technical reference

Typical figures for the range. Product-specific data sheets are available at the counter for anything you are specifying formally.

Standard: ISO 13006 BIII glazed
Wear rating: PEI 0-2
Thickness: 6-9 mm
Joint width: 2-3 mm, 5 mm+ handmade
Adhesive: C2TE, white under pale glaze
Grout: CG2 cementitious, epoxy in showers
Cutting: Score and snap, wet saw for mitres
Waste allowance: 10%, 15% on handmade

Come and stand on it.

Ceramic is worth seeing in person, since a photograph does not capture how a glaze reflects light. Bring your paint colour and worktop sample and hold them against the hand-glazed wall.

Plan a visit(868) 242-2337 / 2481

Showroom

LP #61 Limehead Road
Chase Village, Chaguanas

Monday - Friday: 8am - 4:30pm
Saturday: 8am - 2pm
Sunday: Closed