Structured
R11
The default for a terrace or a walkway. A fine, even texture pressed into the face that holds a wet foot without being unpleasant underfoot or awkward to sweep. This is the finish most exterior work should be specified in.
Tiles / Outdoor
Outdoor Tiles
Full-body porcelain specified for local conditions: year-round ultraviolet, months of heavy rain, salt air near the coast, and surfaces that need to stay safe underfoot when wet.
- Body
- Full-body porcelain
- Slip rating
- R11 and above
- Wet test
- DCOF ≥ 0.42
- Thickness
- 9-10 mm and 20 mm
- UV
- Colour-stable, will not fade
- Laying
- Bonded, pedestal or dry-laid
(01)What this is
The main requirement for an outdoor floor is that it stays safe underfoot when wet. Colour, format and finish all sit beneath that, and slip performance is the specification most often overlooked.
The body is full-body porcelain. Fired dense enough that it absorbs almost no water, coloured through rather than only on the surface, and stable under ultraviolet, so a terrace laid today is the same colour in ten years. A chipped edge shows the same material underneath rather than a white body under a printed face.
Where it differs from an interior tile is the face. Outdoor porcelain is pressed with a texture that is doing a job, not a decoration, and the depth of that texture is what the slip rating measures. Below is what the different textures are for and where each belongs.
(02)On the floor
Laid out atfull size.
The outdoor range is set out at Chase Village where you can stand on it. Ask for a panel to be wetted before you decide, since a textured face behaves quite differently wet than dry.
(03)Textures & grip
Four faces, andwhere each belongs.
Slip resistance is a texture, not a coating, so it cannot wear off and it cannot be added later. Picking the right one is a question of how wet the surface gets and how fast people move across it.
Grip
R12 and above
A coarser, more aggressive profile for the places where water sits and people move quickly: pool surrounds, ramps, steps and shower-adjacent areas. It grips noticeably better and it is harder to clean, which is the trade you are making.
Bush-hammered & brushed
R11
Stone-effect faces worked to imitate a hammered or brushed natural surface. Slip performance comes from the depth of that texture rather than from a printed pattern, and it hides the ordinary dirt of an outdoor space better than a smooth face does.
20 mm paver
R11
Twice the thickness of an interior tile and strong enough to be laid on grass, gravel or pedestals with no bed at all. It can be lifted again to reach a pipe, which is the reason it goes down over a service run. Also the right choice for a driveway edge or anywhere vehicles turn.
(04)Before you decide
Things worth knowing.
R rating and DCOF measure different things
The R rating comes from a ramp test; DCOF is a pull test on the finished surface, measured wet and dry. Both are useful and neither replaces the other. For exterior work, R11 is a sensible minimum with DCOF at or above 0.42.
Sun matters more than frost here
Outdoor tile is often marketed on frost resistance, which has little relevance in Trinidad. Ultraviolet load and thermal movement matter more. Full-body porcelain is colour-stable, but a dark tile in full sun can become too hot to walk on barefoot, which is worth considering around a pool.
Falls, drainage and standing water
An exterior floor needs to shed water, or algae will develop — and algae is more slippery than any tile surface. Allow around 1:80 of fall away from the building, with drainage that leads somewhere. Standing water undermines even a high slip rating.
Movement joints
Outside, a slab expands and contracts daily with the sun. Movement joints should be closer together than indoors: roughly every 3 to 4 metres, and at every perimeter, doorway and change of plane. Omitting them is a common cause of tenting or cracking.
Cleaning maintains slip resistance
Slip resistance is reduced by what builds up on the surface rather than by the surface wearing out. A terrace washed down properly a couple of times a year keeps algae and film off it. A textured tile that is never cleaned can end up more slippery than a smooth one that is.
(05)Technical reference
Typical figures for the range. Product-specific data sheets are at the counter for anything being specified formally, and we will give you the slip rating in writing.
- Water absorption
- < 0.5%, BIa porcelain
- Slip
- R11 to R13 / DCOF ≥ 0.42 wet
- Breaking strength
- ≥ 1,300 N at 10 mm
- 20 mm paver load
- Suitable for pedestal systems
- UV stability
- Full-body, colour-stable
- Fall to drainage
- ≈ 1:80 away from the building
- Adhesive
- C2TE S1 exterior-rated
- Movement joints
- Every 3-4 m and at all perimeters
Try it wet before you buy.
Tile Warehouse will wet a panel for you, which is worth doing before any exterior floor is ordered. Bring the area, tell us whether it is a terrace, a pool surround or a driveway, and say whether it is in full sun — that has a significant effect on the recommendation.
Showroom
LP #61 Limehead Road
Chase Village, Chaguanas
- Monday - Friday
- 8am - 4:30pm
- Saturday
- 8am - 2pm
- Sunday
- Closed