The Safest Outdoor Tile Options for your Home
To help you get started on your outdoor tile selection journey, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite choices to suit a variety of applications in your home’s outdoor spaces. If you are on the hunt for the most luxurious and the safest outdoor tiles in Melbourne, read on to find out more about our versatile options.
Create a Rustic Look with Multi-Purpose Terracotta Tiles
The luxurious, rusty red tones of iron-rich terracotta tiles offer the perfect finishing touch for those seeking a warm, rustic charm in their home’s outdoor design scheme. Terracotta tiles are often made by hand in a range of classic styles and shapes. These types of tiles can often be used as outdoor floor tiles or outdoor wall tiles, being a popular solution for paving, patios or verandas and feature walls in alfresco spaces.
The Safest Outdoor Tiles for Stairs
Stairs in outdoor areas will greatly benefit from a tiled finish. A high quality outdoor floor tile will ensure a safer environment in outdoor spaces, assisting in minimising slips and falls. Aside from providing a hard surface finish that is simple to keep clean and tidy, tiles on outdoor steps will also create a flat and smooth surface finish on each step that unlike other outdoor flooring materials, will not experience as much movement and disruption, thus further reducing trip hazards.
A high quality outdoor specific porcelain tile is usually the most ideal solution for outdoor steps, providing an incredibly strong surface finish that is resistant to staining, scratching, heat and moisture. These tiles are almost completely non-porous which means that unlike concrete pavers or natural stone tiles, porcelain tiles will not require regular sealing in order to be properly protected against staining.
Terracotta tiles are another popular solution for outdoor steps. These types of tiles will often feature a roughly textured surface finish that assists in minimising the likelihood our slips and falls in outdoor spaces. This textured surface finish will offer a strong grip underfoot, making terracotta tiles an ideal solution for these types of applications. Many collections of terracotta tiles that are designed for outdoor applications such as stair cases, will also include matching stair nosing that will allow for a luxurious, safe and consistent finish.
Choosing the Safest Outdoor Tiles for Alfresco Spaces
When choosing the safest outdoor tiles for cooking areas or alfresco spaces, there are a few options to choose from, each presenting its own unique set of benefits. The most popular and effective options include: outdoor porcelain tiles, concrete pavers and certain varieties of natural stone tiles. Each of these options will provide an immensely durable and hard wearing surface finish that can easily withstand the traffic and spills this part of the home’s outdoor spaces will experience. It is important to note here that both concrete pavers and natural stone tiles are porous and as such, these types of tiles will require sealing at regular intervals in order to be best protected against staining. Both of these options can however, be professionally rejuvenated if necessary, effectively elongating their lifespan.
If you are looking for an option that will not require the same level of care however, outdoor porcelain tiles are the next best choice! Although these tiles cannot be rejuvenated, they do offer a host of other benefits that make them an attractive option for an outdoor cooking and alfresco area; as noted above, porcelain tiles are almost entirely non-porous, providing strong resistance to staining, scratching, moisture and heat.
Tile Slip Ratings & Safety
Tiles for outdoor areas should ideally include a textured surface finish that will offer a strong element of grip underfoot. Whether you choose to include porcelain tiles, concrete pavers, natural stone tiles or terracotta tiles in your home’s outdoor design scheme, it is important to note your selection’s slip resistance when making your final decision. This is especially important in commercial projects where stricter guidelines are in force when it comes to specifying floor tiles in comparison to residential applications.
Floor tiles are run through a battery of different tests during the tile design and manufacturing process. Each of these tests is designed to see how a tiled surface will react when exposed to different scenarios. When choosing outdoor tiles, checking a tile’s R Rating is an excellent way to understand how strong the tile’s grip is. Tile R Ratings are determined by a process referred to as a Ramp Test where the tiles in question are laid across a ramp on an incline and oil is spilled across their surface. Testers then walk across the tiles until they reach a point where it is unsafe to continue; the ramp incline angle the tester stops at will then determine the product’s R Rating. R Ratings for tiles begin at R9 (the lowest level of slip resistance) to R13 (tiles with a high level of slip resistance. For more information on tile ratings, see our guide here.
Outdoor tiles will help you create defined zones in your home’s outdoor design scheme while also offering a surface finish that is hard wearing and simple to maintain. If you are searching for outdoor wall tiles in Melbourne or outdoor floor tiles in Melbourne, our Richmond tiles store houses an endless collection of the latest pieces from all around the world! During your visit with us, we will walk you through the safest tiling solutions for your home’s outdoor spaces, ensuring a beautiful design that will perfectly cater to your needs.