Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Flooring for house-options

Just like in any other house construction features trends in flooring for the house keep changing with new trends,technology developments etc.Let us see the current options available.

Personally I feel clay tile flooring is ideal especially for bed rooms.As clay tile is made from mud,it is most ecofriendly and ideally suited to our climate.Unlike granite,marble and manufactured flooring materials like vitrified or ceramic tiles,you can simply walk or sleep in clay tile flooring without fear of flooring taking away your body heat and making you more prone to unhealthy conditions.

When I talk of clay tile,you may be thinking of clay tiles in old houses which gets worn off fast and does not even look decent.Look at picture below:

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This is clay tile flooring done at bed rooms at our Vyttila site after polyurethane coating.In the nearby bed room they have done  granite tile flooring.Even though much less costly,clay tile  really looks better.Clay tiles are traditionally used for slope roofs just as in this picture again from our Vyttila site.

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You can get more details on clay tiles at website of one of the best clay tile manufacturers in Kerala at

www.kapindiatiles.com

Cost of these clay tiles is approximately only Rs.15 per sft.While laying expenses will be same as that of ceramic tiles or vitrified tiles.I have done entire flooring of a 4000 sft house cum office of a sitting Judge of High court with clay tiles about six years back and it still retains its elegance and looks.He was more particular about using clay tile flooring than me at that time.

I also use clay tiles above flat roof concreting instead of usual roof top plastering.I have done this in many sites.Only additional cost to my client is the cost of clay tiles as laying expenses will be same as that of roof top plastering.Roof top plastering is likely to get affected by fungus and over a period of time,it will wear off with continuous exposure to rain and sunlight thus causing wetness in the roof concrete,finally leading to roof leakage especially if concreting is done without proper mixing and improper ratio of concrete aggregates mainly due to workers trying to lessen their work,ignoring quality of work which is very common.

When you lay clay tiles over flat roof,it prevents roof leakage and reduces heat inside rooms as clay tiles absorb most of sunlight heat.To prevent fungus growing over clay tile laid roof top,apply antifungal tile protecting paint preferably ICI make called Tile shield with type name Sunrise which gives original clay tile colour.

Vitrified tiles became popular about four years back .It was quite strong in construction and had added advantage of mirror finish quality just like granite.But recently competition has brought down price of vitrified tiles from nearly Rs.90/- per sft to Rs.25/- per sft and quality naturally has suffered.You will not get that quality material even at high cost now.Look at pictures of flooring with good quality vitrified tiles below.

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Vitrified tiles are highly slippery even more slippery than granite.Hence chances of falling down on the floor especially when wet are more.It is not eco friendly.

Granite slabs are quite costly with material cost alone about Rs.200/-Rs.250/-per sft.With laying expenses of about Rs.50/- per sft,it can take your flooring cost to about Rs.300/- per sft.As granite is a natural stone,it is more eco friendly than ceramic or vitrified tiles.Granite is a pre polished material and does not require polishing like marble.It has a clear mirror finish as you can see from pictures below.

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With different colour combinations as per guidance from Architect,you can have better appealing appearance for flooring by using vitrified tiles,granite slabs or tiles and ceramic tiles.

Granite tiles which have similar appearance like granite slabs are less thick,smaller in dimensions and less costly.Price may range between Rs.60/- to Rs.90/- per sft.Laying expenses may not change much as additional dressing of sides may be required in the case of granite tiles.

In Kitchen,it is not advisable to go for clay tiles as clay tiles may get damaged due to acid materials used for cooking spilling on to the floor.Hence you can go for granite tiles which is not as slippery as vitrified tiles.

Ceramic tiles are now available in attractive colours and designs.Even anti slippery versions(anti skid tiles) are available with very good designs from various manufacturers.But cost is around Rs.30/- Rs.50/- per sft.Laying expenses does not change much.

Wooden flooring is very good  especially on ecological aspect.Among all flooring materials it is more comfortable to walk,sleep or move around.Maintaining it will be a problem if you have small kids in the house as water cleaning cannot be done as water will damage polished wood.Cost may range above Rs.300/- per sft.

Marble is not much popular these days.Marble being a natural stone,is like granite on ecological aspect.But it requires polishing after laying which is costly and time consuming.With polishing, laying expenses of marble can go as high as Rs.80/-  per sft which takes away lesser cost of marble compared to granite.Polishing will not last the effect after five years and you will have to re polish after every five years.Except for Italian marble which is costlier than granite slabs,marble available here does not look that good also.

17 comments:

  1. Found it useful. Do you prefer ceramic tiles over vitrified tiles?

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  2. In present day available tiles,vitrified tiles are better compared to ceramic tiles for flooring except for toilets.But NITCO has recently introduced stronger and thicker vitrified tiles with rough surface thereby avoiding mirror finish of vitrified tiles causing slippage.These vitrified tiles can even be used for toilet floors and stair steps which required rounding at step ends.
    It will be better to leave choice of your flooring and wall tile selection to your Architect.Let him selct appropriate material considering your choices,preferances,budget and technical and covineance factors also

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  3. Your website is informative. Really appreciate your effort.

    I have few questions regarding floring.

    1.What would be your choice for a bedroom
    flooring or even whole house floring meant for
    old age parents.My goal is to avoid slippage
    and arthritis friendly.
    2.Which is the best manufacurer for Virtrified
    tiles ?

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  4. Use clay tiles manufactured by kapindia tiles,Trichur.Go to their website
    www.kapindiatiles.com
    I am regularly using this for bed rooms flooring in most of the houses and in some houses entire house is l;aid with clay tiles now available in attractive patterns and once finished with polishing,it will look better than granite
    It is 100% eco friendly no slippage and no negetive energy
    Vitrified tiles,granite,ceramic tiles are all cause negetive energy
    Price of these tiles are about Rs.20 per sft and hence cheap
    If you need costlier material for flooring but healthy,go for teak wood wooden flooring costing about Rs.260 per sft
    For vitrified tiles,Johnson and Nitco are better makes

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  5. Please advise me on your website about which will be the best flooring for a medium budjet house for the following rooms FRONT VERANDAH,LIVING,BED,DINING,KITCHEN,STAIR & BATH ROOMS
    Thanks and Regards
    Raj

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  6. Flooring options depend upon mostly on your budget and personal preferances.Granite,Vitrified tiles and ceramic tiles are not good for flooring in a house from the point of view of heathy living as these are all negetive energy materials which will extract your body heat every time you walk with your bare feet inside house.
    So I reccommend clay tiles for flooring to budget conscious people for bed rooms and for people with no budget limitations,teak wood flooring in bed rooms will be ideal.
    For Kitchen,work area it is better to go for granite tiles or vitrified tiles as these areas floor is subjected to constant movement and use.
    For Sit out,living room,dining room you can go for granite slabs with border design if you like it and if your budget allows it.Otherwise you can go for vitrified or ceramic flooring.Even in these areas you can go for clay tile flooring as I have used clay tiles for entire floor area in high budget houses also as client preferred it
    Write to me for further communications to
    vhthomas@viruvelil.com
    as I check these blog comments not so regularly

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  7. which material is safe & suitable for apartment living for our middle class

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  8. In apartments you do not get choice of selection of flooring material.Builders will naturally select low priced low quality vitrified tiles for flooring as these are available even at low rates as Rs.25 per sft.If you have choice of flooring material go for clay tiles excluding kitchen area.It is cheap (about Rs.20 or less per sft) and environment friendly

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  9. i am jerry from dubai , i buid my home in cochin.now i need to do my house flooring please advise me the best option , almost my house is 3200sq feet area. to whom i contact to do the best flooring work , i can see some sample of that

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  10. See I am seeing this comment only today.Even though I have given my email id at several places in this blog,if some one write like this what can I do?
    Jerry it will be good if I can visit your house under construction.I will be able to assess work so far done,check Vasthu compliance and also advise you on future courses of work.Write to me to
    vhthomas@viruvelil.com

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  11. HI THOM,

    in my home, i hade used kap india clay tiles.. but after a year the color goes to White... (only for ground floor, there's no problem for first floor)

    what is the cause for this ? can i fix this issue ?

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  12. Clay tile laid will have to be first washed and cleaned using acetic acid water mix.After this when the tile is dried up fully you can apply mansion polish over tile.It will give moisture resistance to the tile.Later you can apply poly urathene coating to further prevent moisture absorbtion
    I do not know whether you have done all these processes.In house where I used clay tiles even after ten years also there is no colour change or any other problem

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  13. you are very informative...found it helpful...
    can you suggest the availability of tiles/granites etc at kottarakara? i mean the shops.

    CHRIS

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  14. Hi Thomas,

    At the outset I really want to appreciate for the help you are doing by sharing your knowledge through this website!!
    WE are planning to renovate our old apt floor. We don't have high budget. But need a durable, less slippery, cost effective nice tiles for our floor. Can you specifically suggest me whether I should go for vitrified or clay tiles. Also let me know the pros and cons. Do I need to have different tiles for kitchen and bathroom? Also let me know which brand should I go for to purchase the same.
    Thanks in advance.

    Dev

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  15. Chris
    I am not much familiar about shops in Kottarakara.It will be cheaper and better( as you get more options) when you buy from Cochin
    Dev
    For rennovating old apartment floor,you cannot use clay tiles
    Naturoc tiles like Maron of NITCO can be used .It is ant skid,not very costly and good by strength.You can use tile adhesive to fix tiles over existing floor without removing existing floor
    For further correspondence write to
    vhthomas@viruvelil.com

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  16. Dear Thomas,

    I am planning to do floor tiling to My Tharavaadu House Kitchen which is done with concrete plastering without much finish. Do I need to to chip the floor or directly add concrete and lay tiles on it. The door level is almost 2 inches above from the floor level.

    Krishnakumar

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  17. You do not have to put concrete or mortar(cement sand mixed with water) below tile to be laid.
    You can use tile adhesive to fix tiles.for more details on queries write to
    vhthomas@viruvelil.com
    as I rarely check these blog comments

    ReplyDelete