4 point checklist for quality tiles

Ceramic body tiles are not as strong as vitrified body tiles. So, it is prone to quality issues. The most common issues are as under:

Table of Contents

Bending issue

After production, the ceramic body tends to absorb moisture and bend. It is difficult to fix a bent tile.

Reasons:
i) Due to improper temperature, a tile during the firing process.
ii) Due to improper pressure is given to raw biscuits (body).

Solutions:
i) Most wall factories keep little plus bend. Which settles to be flat in a few days after cooling down.
ii) Some European equipment companies make DICO Planar. This helps to check flatness (bending). The factory just needs to enter the range of parameters. The planar machine will mark every single tile which goes beyond that limit.

Watermark issue

Reason:
Glaze surface is waterproof but what about the body? The ceramic body is more porous. Once you fix a tile, water can accumulate beneath the glaze layer. It gets locked-in. This leaves random watermarks on the surface & gives an ugly look to your walls.

Solution:
Most quality tiles factories, these days, use waterproof engobe beneath the glaze layer. So the tile body will absorb the water but the watermark will NOT visible. Remember you need to ask for a waterproof tile to get one!

Scratch issue

Scratches are more common on a glossy surface.
Reasons:
i) At the end of the kiln (out-table) tiles are sliding onto each other. Tiles are hot at this stage and prone to get deep scratches.
ii) During packing inside the boxes tiles can get scratches.

Solutions:
i) Apply backwash (a solution of calcium carbonate) during production on the backside of the tile. Small partials of this white powder give a smooth interface to avoid scratches.
ii) Connect the kiln out-table to the sizing area. This way tiles will not get deep scratches. Some factories like Coreal, Lavish, Colortile follow this practice to make good quality tiles.

Above quality issues, we can avoid in vitrified body tiles. But in the case of the vitrified body, we have seen dull edge polishing issue if a factory is not watchful to the polishing area.

Dull edge polishing

Reason: Polished vitrified tiles pass through the polishing area. During this abrasive head moves on a tile surface from end-to-end. Some factories used to do sizing (rectification) BEFORE polishing. This caused some part of the edge left unpolished.

Solutions: i) If they do sizing AFTER polishing this problem can be avoided to some extend. ii) the polishing head movement area should be little more than then tile’s surface. This makes sure polishing heads give equal pressure at the edges. This minimizes the issue.

Common questions about quality of Morbi tiles

Why some Morbi tiles are red-body whereas others are white-body? Is there a difference in quality?

First, let us answer the second question. From a quality perspective, there is no difference between red or white body. Years ago the red-body was widely used and some old factories still use red body clay as their parameters are set which they don’t want to disturb. New factories (mostly bigger size ones) are all using the white-body only.

Is it right that tiles of small (less known) companies are not up to the mark?

When it is about quality see yourself, analyze objectively and decide.

Remember one thing all factories of Morbi use more or less the same machinery (press, kiln, polishing line, etc are from the same Chinese company). So there can’t be a huge difference in the products of two extremes. Even India’s top tile brands do OEM at these smaller factories!

Take this advice with a grain of salt though.

What is the meaning of different grades labeled on tile boxes?

Unlike China, the grades of quality have different names as under
Premium = 1st choice
Standard = 2nd choice
Commercial = 3rd choice

Is there a list of factories for the best quality tiles in town?

No. Such a list simply doesn’t exist as the quality is very much objective. Don’t rely on “Top 10 best tile brand” or similar articles.

Have a checklist of quality parameters that YOU need. Give this list to a factory you trust at the time of price negotiation. Here are some price estimation tips for common Morbi tile sizes. In most of the case, the factory will follow the checklist and you will get what you need. If you fail to get across what exactly you need then it is you who will suffer the consequence.

Apart from this, internal communication within a factory is also important. You can do nothing with this but select a well-managed tile factory.

Quality issues can happen with any type of brand big or small. There is no connection with the perceived quality of a particular brand.

If a factory provide lab test report / certificate then does it mean the quality is acceptable?

Test reports generally quantify the physical & chemical properties. All factories at Morbi use more or less the same machinery (press, kiln, polishing line) and also similar raw materials. So both these (physical & chemical) properties will be within the acceptable norms.

But most quality issues are related to visible defects. Some of them are listed below…
– Shade variation
– Edge polishing is not proper
– glaze bubble
– black spots on white tiles (contamination)
– pinholes

For test reports few samples are submitted (generally 4 pieces) to a ceramic lab. One such test report for 60×60 GVT tiles is uploaded here just for your reference. The physical & chemical properties accessed from such reports are valid for all products of that batch. But surface quality (listed above) can vary within a batch. It needs to be controlled on-the-line at the sorting area.

So apart from reports, you need to check the sorting area of the factory and ask questions on how they mark the tiles for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice.

Why some tiles have different shades in the same design?

This is called a shade variation issue. When you floor the tile sometimes you observe different shades even the tile is from the same design. To understand the problem first we need to understand that tiles polishing are 2 types…

– body tiles (soluble salt, double charge, full-body, twin charge, etc)
– glaze tiles (GVT tiles, ceramic wall or floor tiles)

There are always more chances of shade variation in body polishing tiles as the tile body is directly exposed to the surface. Many times in the same batch two shades are observed. For glazed tiles, shade variation can happen only in two different batches.

As an end-user, you first do a mock-up of the flooring. If the shade variation is observed take pictures and ask the supplier about it. Don’t fix the tiles in the same area (room) which is having shade variation.

Bending issue

Watermark issue

Scratch issue

Dull edge polishing

Common questions about quality of Morbi tiles

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