We've had a number of questions from customers pertaining to different types of products. So we've decided to try and address them for you here. Here at Showcase Floors we are at our core, shower builders, we're tile setters, we like the big, heavy, dirty, dusty stuff.

When it comes to tile, there are a few different types of tile that you'd want to use, and there's a few different reasons you'd want to use these types of tile in different places. You've got stone, you've got porcelain, you've got ceramic. Those are the three basic categories of tile in the entire world. And the reason you'd use stone, stone is very beautiful, it has natural characteristics that all the rest of the tile just tries to emulate, but stone also has some limitations in that stone, you have to maintain stone. You have to clean it regularly, it has to be sealed, but if you're willing to do that it'll give you a gorgeous look for years and years, and that's really the advantage of tile overall is durability. It's the one product that I say that you really can't scratch. Now could you scratch it? Could you drag a trailer across your tile floor? Yeah, you could scratch it, but you really can't scratch tile, it's the toughest and most durable product we have.

Beyond stone, then you go to porcelain. Porcelain is probably the most common type of tile there is in the world today. It's used by most people because of its durability and its beauty, and now all the new prints they can do on the tile. They can give you just about an exact Carrara marble stone look, and then you get away from some of the maintenance. You don't have all those natural characteristics of stone, but you get away from some of the maintenance that you don't want to deal with.

And then you've got ceramic tile, and ceramic is kind of your lowest base level. It is usually your most inexpensive and that's why a lot of people will use it in projects where maybe money is much more of an issue than say durability or that overall beauty of natural stone. Tile is generally used in walk-in showers. You have to use a tile product in a walk-in shower because of its water resistant qualities. It doesn't allow anything to penetrate it, unless it's stone, which is why we have to clean and seal stone.

Another good reason to use tile is that you can put heating elements underneath it. They sort of go hand-in-hand, you want the heat because the tile can be a colder product, but you can also put heat on any tile because it's so stable that little bit of heat doesn't affect the tile or the grout.

A little tip, if you're going to be cleaning your tile you're going to want to use a good cleaner that isn't going to destroy your grout. So check with the company you're buying your tile from to make sure you get the right cleaner to get your tile clean without destroying your grout.

Are you using tile in an area where it might be slippery and could get dangerous? If that's the case, there are tiles that have certain slip coitions on them, so they actually have a little bit of texture to them just to make sure they're not slippery.

And sometimes you want a really nice glossy floor. It depends what you're trying to accomplish, and then you've got polished tiles that are really gorgeous. A lot of times we use them on walls because of the slippery nature of the glossy floor. And then there's mosaic tiles, which we have an entire wall of mosaic tiles here at Showcase Floors. The mosaic tiles are used for back splashes, shower floors, deco, any kind of decorative feature, the beautiful mosaic tiles they've come a long ways and we have a huge selection at Showcase Floors.

Something to keep in mind if you're looking at tile is you want to get out in front of it. Some of the tile might come from Italy, a lot of the tile is now stateside, but some of it does have to come from overseas, so if you're thinking about doing a tile project the best thing to do is get out in front of it. It takes some time to plan it usually, there's a lot of prep involved in tile. You have to make sure everything is right, flatness, level, and then the products need to come from sometimes far away places.

We looked to seeing you, come on in to Showcase Floors, our address is 3499 39th Street South in Fargo, and our hours are 8:00 to 6:00 during the week. We will do nights and we will do weekends by appointment. We look forward to those too.

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