New porcelain tile chipping already, and darker underneath?

Question

Hey there,
We just had porcelain tile from http://www.dongpeng.com/ProductsType/Unglazed-Porcelain.htm with a PEI rating of 4 installed professionally. Last weekend, we had a steam cleaner from Lowe's in our house so we could steam clean our carpets. We were moving the steam cleaner, and it caught the corner of two of our tiles and chipped them both.
Honestly, it wasn't much force. I know tile can chip, but I thought a 4 PEI was supposed to be stronger than this. Also, it's porcelain, and I thought the advantage is that porcelain is the same color all the way through, so chips are not as noticeable. This tile is light beige and it looks like dark grey underneath it.
This is very disappointing. We had cheap builder grade ceramic in our house in the same area for 10 years and had one little chip because we dropped something on it.Is this typical? I wonder if we got a bad batch of tile.
Max

Answer 1

Only colorbody porcelain is the same color all the way through. All other porcelain has a colored glaze on top. PEI rating has to do with abrasion resistance of the surface, not any more inherent "strength" in the tile. ANY tile will snap if you yank on an exposed edge at an angle. Tile is supposed to be installed flat, with no edges higher than the others. One edge higher than the other is called lippage, and it's due to an incorrect install. You should address the issue with your installer, but if he was unable to install this correctly, it's unlikely that he will be willing to rip it out and redo it correctly. In fact, he may not be able to do it correctly if he didn't do it right the first time.

Answer 2

Porcelain chips easily. The PEI 4 rating is just a sales tool. It's makes the buyer feel more comfortable when purchasing expensive porcelain. Porcelain is a very hard tile. Even when your cutting it with a diamond blade and water it frequently chips when your finishing a cut. You damaged it with a piece of equipment. That doesn't make it a substandard product. The only thing that may have happened is if the tile chipped where it had been cut by the installer. You never leave a cut porcelain edge exposed as a leading edge......always put the factory edge out.....the cut edges should always be on a grout joint. Call your installer. If they are decent guys they will come out and replace those tile for you. I know I would.

Answer 3

porcelain tile being the same color throughout is a big misconception that I hear all the time, I don't know how that rumor got started but its always been false. the way the clay is fired in the kiln classifies it as porcelain but the top coat is still glazed like any other tile. sounds like a poor installation were the corners were sticking up and made them vulnerable to chipping



get some almond colored stove touch up paint and apply it to the tile chips, it'll cost about $5

Answer 4

Obviously the tile is cheap.......call the company you bought it from.

Answer 5

complex aspect look from yahoo or google this could help