Paul Ritchie Floor Covering

Terracotta tiles are natural clay tiles. They come in the color of the clay from which they were produced, which ranges from grays to browns to reddish orange. They are left unglazed and thus require a top finish after installation.

A sand-based thin-set mortar is a good option for installing glass tiles. Unlike other options such as mastic adhesive, it’s an inorganic substance and doesn’t provide a food source for mold or mildew.

Have you ever wondered why clear glass sometimes has a green tint? That slight discoloration is the result of trace amounts of iron in the molten mixture. Iron may be a part of the recipe, or occur as an impurity during the production process.

Just because it's a tile, doesn't make it ceramic. In order to be a truly ceramic tile, the material must be made of clay or some other nonmetallic mineral, then heated to red hot, which means somewhere above 1800° F.

Although not technically a hardwood, bamboo is a natural material used in flooring. Care to guess what type of plant bamboo comes from? If you guessed it’s a renewable grass, you're right.

Glazed tiles throughout history have been used to decorate buildings. One popular historical location that used glazed tiles in its construction were buildings at Persepolis.

If your ceramic tile grout gets old and dingy, there are special products available to help you clean it. Be sure to follow the instructions on the product to renew your grout's appearance.

Have allergies? Ceramic tile floor is the best option for you. Other flooring, like carpet, will allow dander and pollen to collect, aggravating the allergies of occupants.

Old style wood floors from the 1930s and 1940s required what weekly maintenance chore to keep them looking like new? If you guessed older wood floors had to be waxed regularly, you're right. Today's hardwoods require less maintenance.

If you happen to have homes that you rent out, it might be better to have ceramic tile floors installed in them rather than wood or carpets. This is because tiles are far more resilient and can easily be repaired if they sustain any damage.

One early innovation in the production of ceramic tile was the "continuous pattern", a pattern that spanned multiple tiles. Although early patterns often used groups of four tiles to create a design, some elaborate 12th-century tile patterns used as many as 16 pieces to complete a motif.

Did you know that while most early Roman mosaics were floor mosaics, most Byzantine mosaics were used in wall coverings and ceiling art? This is because the "smalti" (small colored glass "tesserae") used in early mosaic art were ungrouted and cut at angles, allowing light to reflect as well as refract within the glass.