Adding a patio to your garden is a great way to add more usable space. Nowadays, there are so many different paving options on the market it can be difficult to know what to choose. Is ceramic better than brick? Will concrete last longer than limestone? There are so many questions you need to answer before you get to work on your new patio. 

If you're asking yourself the question - "should I use porcelain pavers for my patio" then this blog is perfect for you. We're going to take a look at the ways that porcelain paving is superior to other types of stone so that you can make an educated decision on whether porcelain paving is right for you!

Durable

One of the main reasons that porcelain paving is a great choice for your patio is because it's much more durable than other forms of natural stone. The porcelain paving we offer from PrimaPorcelain is vitrified at a very high temperature. This causes the elements inside the tiles to turn into a strong, glass-like substrate which offers numerous benefits. Firstly, the tiles waterproof without needing a glaze, secondly the tiles resistant to scuffs and chips regardless of heavy footfall and thirdly, the vitrification process extends the tiles' life expectancy. 

The durability of porcelain pavers means they're perfect for patios in busy family homes. Even if there are children and pets running around, spilling drinks and spreading dirt, your porcelain tiles will stand up to the challenges boldly and will come out the other side unscathed.

Low-Maintenance

Nowadays, homeowners don't have very much free time on their hands. Between the 9-5 job, the school run and the precious moments of 'me time' there isn't much time left over for garden maintenance. With limited free time, you might be looking for garden features that require as little upkeep as possible.

If you want to create a stress-free, low-maintenance garden then porcelain pavers are ideal. All they need is a quick wipe over to remove surface dirt. Their impermeable surface means they won't become stained even if you spill red wine during your next garden party!

Beautifully Designed

Whether you're creating a simple and contemporary garden or something more traditional and rustic, there's a range of porcelain paving that'll suit your needs. If you're looking for something that looks like natural stone, we can cater for that! We offer porcelain paving in the style of sandstone, slate and limestone, meaning you can achieve a natural appearance while still benefitting from porcelain paving's many advantages. 

For something a little more unique, we also offer porcelain paving with a real-wood effect. This means you can create a patio that's durable, easy to maintain and incredibly stylish too. Just take a look at the beautiful rooftop veranda (above) created using PrimaPorcelain's Forest Oak paving! The wood grain works perfectly in this setting but won't require the same level of maintenance as a typical wooden deck.

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Hopefully you can see why porcelain paving is a great choice for any patio. With excellent durability, minimal maintenance and some gorgeous designs you can create a porcelain paver patio that suits your home perfectly.

Porcelain tiles are a fantastic flooring option for homeowners due to their incredible resilience and hard-wearing properties. Manufactured with different materials to regular ceramic tiles such as sand and feldspar, porcelain products are a far denser, stronger material that absorbs less moisture. This offers a stylish flooring product that not only resists stains, fades and scratches but is also far easier to maintain, meaning more time can be spent enjoying and showing off your floor rather than cleaning it.

However, despite less effort required to maintain porcelain paving, there are still a few important things you need to remember to ensure your porcelain paving is cleaned in the correct way. Here we take a look at five things you should know to clean your porcelain paving. 

 Pictured: Cotswold Ivory Paving

Sweep/Vacuum Dust & Dirt Away 

When first attempting to clean your porcelain paving, you should aim to remove any dust or dirt that may have gathered. You can do this easily by using a vacuum cleaner or by simply sweeping it up. A dry mop is a perfect thing to use to sweep up rather than a broom as this will provide a far better day-to-day protection for the surface of the tile.

Stay Clear of Chemical Cleaners Containing Ammonia, Bleach or Acids 

For regular cleaning of your porcelain paving, it is important to avoid using chemical cleaners that contain the above ingredients. During the manufacturing process, porcelain paving is heated up to fuse its unique materials together, resulting in water-resistant properties that are similar to glass. As a result of the regular use of corrosive chemicals, the surface of porcelain paving can become eroded, leading to increases in water absorption. Corrosive chemicals can also result in the grout laid between each tile eroding, which will loosen the tiles and allow water to get beneath your tiles which creates dampness. For daily cleaning of your porcelain tiles, you can simply use warm water and a mop! If your floor requires a slightly deeper clean, however, you can use a mild detergent mixed with warm water. This will help to remove any stubborn stains that your floor may have.

Wash Away Detergents 

When deciding to use a detergent, it's important to make sure that it is of a low concentration. Textured porcelain tiles may need a slightly greater concentration than other tiles to ensure an adequate clean. To clean your porcelain paving with detergent, cover an area of your floor with the cleaning solution and let it stand for approximately five minutes. Then, with a mop, gently clean the area that you have covered. It's important to remember not to let the solution dry on top of your paving. The next thing to do is to mop the area again with clean, warm water. This will help to remove any detergent residue that remains and prevent water spots or powdery marks from appearing.

Removing Stains 

When it comes to stain removal, we tend to use the same method regardless of how they occur, which is not the correct way to do things. Each stain should be treated individually in the most effective way possible in order to minimise any potential long-term damage to the paving or surrounding grout. When attempting to remove stains, only deal with the affected area rather than cleaning the entire floor. 

Use Gentle Chemical Use to Remove Stubborn Stains 

The above guidelines offer you the best way to protect your porcelain floor by keeping it looking its best while minimising the risk of damage to individual tiles and grout. Unfortunately, from time to time accidents do tend to happen where major stains may need to be treated with a more rigorous approach that requires the use of chemicals, which may lead to a change in the colour of surrounding grout. Firstly, be sure to follow the above steps to find the best method to clean the particular stain. Next, ensure you are wearing suitable PPE including a mask, gloves and eye protection whenever possible as well as ventilating the area by opening windows and doors that lead outside. Again, it's important to remember to only clean the affected area and not the entire floor.

By following these guidelines on how to clean porcelain paving, you will ensure that your porcelain floor remains sparkling clean and is always looking good. To prevent having to clean more often, be sure to place a doormat near the entrance of your room to catch the majority of the dirt being carried in.

For more information on how to clean your porcelain paving, be sure to get in touch with a member of the AlfrescoPlus team today. Our porcelain experts will be more than happy to help with any enquiry you may have! If you are interested in purchasing porcelain paving for your home or property, click below to browse our full range. We have styles and designs to suit all needs and budgets.

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Would you like to create a unique or stylish design using our porcelain paving? We'll talk you through a few stunning designs that will look great in any indoor or outdoor space. 

Checkerboard 

Using square porcelain tiles you can create a traditional checkerboard design that will look really intriguing in any indoor or outdoor space. Start by choosing two shades of square paving that take your fancy. Colours and textures that complement each other offer a subtle checkerboard finish, while highly contrasting shades offer a bolder look. 

To create the look, lay one paver of colour A next to one paver of colour B in the pattern A, B, A, B. For the second row, start with colour B in the pattern B, A, B, A - and repeat! The checkerboard pattern will appear after only a few alternating rows are laid. Keep doing the same process of alternating colours and rows until you have covered your entire patio area.

Herringbone

To create a herringbone pattern you need to use tiles that fit a 2:1 ratio eg, the tiles are twice as long as they are wide. Here at AlfrescoPlus, we offer three different sizes of tile that satisfy this ratio:

• 45cm x 90cm tiles
• 60cm x 120cm tiles
• 40cm x 80cm tiles

The herringbone design is eyecatching and can really elevate a space without making it look too busy! You've probably seen herringbone paths and patios a million times over - they are a really popular paving pattern option. Herringbone paving can be laid at a 45° or a 90° angle, with 90° offering a more striking finished patio. Unlike checkerboard paving, herringbone patterns can be quite tricky to create, but the end results are so so worth it!

Random Stretcher Bond

If you want your paving to ooze quirkiness this is a great paving pattern design option. Using paving in an assortment of different sizes, you can really make this pattern your own. Choose varying colours and textures for the ultimate eclectic look, or choose tiles of the same shade to really tone this paving pattern down.

You could choose any size of porcelain paving from our range to create this wonderfully random pattern, just make sure that all the tiles in a single row are a similar width, otherwise, you might find awkward gaps or holes in the finished design. 

These are just a few paving pattern ideas, but the options are almost endless. You can create designs within the patio like a striking patio border or a more sophisticated design like a diamond, star or cross! Whatever pattern you choose, it will look great and last for years when you choose porcelain paving. Shop Now!

Do you lie awake at night longing for a flawless floor that’s free of gaps and spaces? Does the thought of a seamless surface leave you salivating like a hungry dog in a butcher’s window?

Well, wipe up that drool and dream no more! Those aspirations can become a reality with the perfect porcelain finish of rectified tiles.

What are Rectified Tiles?

In a nutshell, rectified tiles are essentially machine-finished tiles that have been refined to achieve faultless edges for a perfectly precise right-angle (also known as a “sharp edge” finish).

While regular tiles may have edges that are somewhat irregular and ununiformed, rectified tiles are specifically designed to feature a near identical finish in terms of dimensions.

Benefits of Rectified Tiles

The primary advantage of rectified tiles over standard tiles is that they offer a virtually seamless aesthetic appearance once laid.

The consistent design and exact proportions of each tile allow them to be laid tightly together with as little as 1.5mm grout width.

The result is an unwavering design that appears virtually uninterrupted from tile to tile, providing an overall pattern consistency that’s second to none.

Laying Rectified Tiles

While the uninterrupted design of the wafer-thin joins boasts a truly stunning finish, there are a few things that are worth bearing in mind to achieve the best results.

Perhaps most importantly of all, rectified tiles will still need to be laid upon a smooth and level substrate in order to offer that elusive “perfect finish”.

Placement of rectified tiles on an undulating surface that’s anything but level can result in an uneven lay and cause varying gaps as a result.

What’s more, laying rectified tiles on an uneven surface can cause lips and drops between tiles, effectively negating the “shoulder-to-shoulder” aspect of rectified tiling.

When laying rectified tiles externally, our Easy-Frame system and Pedestal Supports are ideal for providing a level surface outside with minimal effort and an option that’s well worth exploring.

Why Choose Rectified Tiles?

All of the tiles and pavers available at AlfrescoPlus are not only rectified but also vitrified for unparalleled durability, unrivalled water resistance and unfathomable design consistency.

With a showroom finish that’s impossibly uniform, backed by a material that’s strong enough to last, the range of hard-wearing rectified tiles at AlfrescoPlus is sure to tick all the boxes.

For more information on the rectified tiles available at AlfrescoPlus, why not get in touch today? Call our customer service team today on 0800 028 8756 or drop us a line via email using the button below.

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When it comes to time-saving solutions to your outdoor flooring needs, few can compare to the awesome efficiency-boosting properties of the Easy-Frame.

Providing your flooring with a supportive sub-frame, the Easy-Frame is the supreme structural shortcut you’ve been waiting for, designed to ensure your best-laid plans achieve the best-laid results.

What is Easy-Frame?

Made from galvanised steel, Easy-Frame is a strong and reliable underfloor support that won’t let you down.

Designed to support a variety of surfaces, the versatile structure allows you to lay your decking or porcelain paving with ease, achieving a level finish without a spirit level in sight.

Featuring a unique modular system for layout customisation, the supportive frames simply lock together for a solid base that makes outdoor flooring jobs a doddle.

Benefits of Easy-Frame

A truly innovative addition to outdoor flooring application, Easy-Frame boasts a laundry list of benefits that go far beyond what you would expect from a simple framework.

Durability

The steel composition of the frame provides the highest weight-to-strength ratio of any building product on the market. Unlike traditional timber decking frames, Easy-Frame can support the load effortlessly without risk of cracks, bows or bends.

Better yet, every inch of steel is zinc-coated, providing fully-enhanced elemental protection. Not only does this make it immune to temperature changes, but also leaves it unaffected by moisture and capable of withstanding the effects of the frost thaw cycle.

Versatility

Whether you opt for composite decking or porcelain paving, Easy-Frame is uniquely equipped to adapt to either flooring option.

In terms of positioning and design, the frame can be installed flush against your property, should you wish to create a seamless transition between your indoor and outdoor spaces.

Meanwhile, it can just as easily be installed as a free-standing structure elsewhere in your garden if you’re looking to create a featured presentation, like a hot tub area or outdoor lounge.

Exclusive

Bespoke and made-to-order, each Easy-Frame is meticulously assembled off-site to fit the exact requirements of your space, ensuring your Easy-Frame is the perfect fit.

Despite being extremely sturdy and hard-wearing, each frame is surprisingly manoeuvrable allowing them to be easily transported in their assembled form right to your property.

Appearance

From an aesthetic perspective, the “made-to-measure” aspect of the frame provides dimensional accuracy that allows it to fit perfectly in your outdoor space, achieving a clean, level finish with minimal impact to the ground below.

Best of all, the framework can also be used to hide unsightly housing necessities like electrical wiring and plumbing pipes.

Accessibility

On the subject of pipes and wiring, another perk of the Easy-Frame is that it can be installed without disturbing utilities. All electric and plumbing requirements can be safely housed within the framework.

Meanwhile, the suspended nature of the platform allows such requirements to still be easily accessible, while also providing access to any on-site maintenance features, such as manholes and drains.

All Easy-Frame systems are bespoke and made-to-order based on the dimensions of your chosen space. If you’re interested in installing your flooring using the Easy-Frame option, get in touch today on 0800 028 8756 or click the button below to send us an enquiry online.

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