Be Mindful Of Natural Stone Tiles Immitations

Natural stone tiles have become incredibly popular in the past few years due, in no small part, to the surge in popularity of diy programs on the telly. Our interest with property and DIY has led to a predominantly higher number of people engaged in adorning their properties using the best quality fixtures and fittings possible. Stone tiles have grown to be one of numerous elitist or exceptional quality furnishings that have endured the cruel climate of the past two years and have preserved their popularity. Renowned heroes are frequently heard saying, 'with great power, comes great responsibility' and regrettably this is especially true of stone tiles and their suppliers - albeit the actual phrase is more like this 'with great popularity, comes great quantities of immitations' and it is this key point that we'll be looking at in this article. How might you tell a great quality natural stone tile from an immitation one?

High-quality natural stone tiles are usually measured by several implicit properties:
1) Solidity
To take a definition right from the web itself, a "solid is one of the key states of matter. It is characterised by structural hardness and opposition to variations of shape or volume." For stone tiles in particular, or at least those tiles sold as 'stone', this basically means the tile will be very very hard to break. If you weren't averse to some exciting experimentation then you could always drop a hammer from a good height onto the tile to see if it breaks. This is of course somewhat absurd, but you can often hear it referred to as the hammer drop. In our showroom, we have plenty of space to actually drop a hammer onto our natural stone tiles. If the stone is truly high quality natural stone tile then the test will cause the hammer to leave no marks on the tile. Do you think the tile supplier you're looking at buying from will have tiles that can withstand this kind of impact? If not, think about walking away and finding a superior quality supplier.

2) Water Absorption
A real, quality natural stone tile won't absorb water in the slightest degree. This is why our jerusalem stones prove to be forever popular for wet rooms, bath rooms, swimming pools, jacuzzis and even exterior stone walls. All of our top quality natural stone tiles will propell water absolutely, continuously and if you're thinking about getting another sort of 'stone' tiles, such as travertine or immitation stone, make sure you ask about the water absorption rates, particularly if you are looking to tile your bathroom.

3) Resistance to Weather Factors
This is another characteristic of a real stone tile that follows on nicely from the point above about water absorption.. It's not surprising to hear that a superior natural stone will be completely resistant to harsh weather conditions, particularly those suffered in the UK winter time or heavy rain seasons (all year?). Unlike many of our 'competitors' stones, our natural jerusalem stone tiles will resist these hard weather conditions, and you should make sure that the stone you're thinking of buying will do the same. . One of the easiest ways to find out if the stone you're thinking of is capable of handling weather conditions like these is to ask the sales assistant where the stones have been used. A good indication of a reliable supplier will be if they have their own exterior stone tile displays or, even better, if their own premises has been tiled in their stone.

Clever marketing and sales tactics can heavily influence your buying decision and you should be wary of smart looking displays containg really nice looking tiles at unbelievable knock down prices. In order to ensure that you get the best longterm value for your money, you need to ask as many questions as possible about the stone you're buying to make sure that it really, truly is natural stone and the advice above are good places to start.

By: Jerry Salem

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Jerry has been working in the natural stone industry for over 20 years and has experience spanning several generations.. He was born in Israel and his family have, over generations, developed a natural stone quarry company that exports stone tiles to countries all over the world. In his free time, Jerry blogs for various online magazines and directories so as to better educate people on how to tell real natural stone from phony 'natural stone'.