Natural Stone or Porcelain? What’s right for you?
It can be overwhelming trying to narrow down a tile choice, but once you decide on a stone look – how do you decide between natural stone and porcelain that looks like natural stone? Below are a few things to consider when trying to make that decision.
- Cost – natural stone is typically more expensive than porcelain tile.
- Maintenance – Natural stone needs to be sealed where porcelain tile does not require sealing. Natural stone tiles with high polished finishes can require more maintenance than honed natural stones or porcelain tiles.
- Look and feel – with today’s technology it can be very hard to tell the difference between porcelain that looks like natural stone and a natural product, but for natural stones that have a lot of color variation and movement – there is no substitute for the real thing!
- Chipping – if a natural stone tile is chipped, the color is the same throughout the tile and is less likely to be noticed. If the porcelain tile is a through-bodied tile, it will also have the same color throughout, but not all porcelain tiles are made this way.
- Installation – the cost to install natural stone can be more expensive than porcelain tile.
If you are unsure what’s right for you, please come by and we will be happy to show you different examples of natural stone and the porcelain tiles that are designed to look like natural stone. We have porcelain tiles in 16″ and 20″ in three colors that mimic the look of travertine that are just over one dollar per square foot.
