Tuscan terracotta is a handmade material fired at high temperature (950–1100 °C) from local clays rich in iron oxides. Every tile is unique in colour and texture, ranging from sand yellow to deep brick red. The residual porosity — a defect in other materials — is what gives it its warmth underfoot and its ability to absorb protective treatments.

Raw terracotta comes straight from drying after firing, with maximum porosity and the brightest colour: it must be treated on site. Antiqued terracotta has been mechanically or chemically treated to simulate decades of natural wear. Treated terracotta arrives already impregnated with natural oils and waxes that reduce porosity and simplify maintenance.

Yes, in the frost-proof version. Outdoor tiles are fired at higher temperatures (1050–1100 °C) with bodies formulated to bring water absorption below 3%, which guarantees resistance to freeze-thaw cycles. They suit porches, loggias, garden paving and exposed terraces.

Use a C2 TE cementitious adhesive to UNI EN 12004, high performance with extended open time. The tiles must be thoroughly wetted before laying: terracotta is very absorbent and, laid dry, it drinks the water out of the adhesive before it can set, producing a bond that fails over time. This is the most common mistake with this material.

Yes, and it is among the best materials for it: its thermal mass absorbs heat slowly and releases it evenly even once the system is off. Keep to thicknesses no greater than 2.5 cm, choose the version treated with natural oils, and restart the system gradually after installation.

Routine cleaning uses warm water and neutral pH 7 detergents; acidic products must be avoided absolutely, as they attack both the terracotta and cementitious grouts. Every 2–3 years a deeper maintenance is advisable: thorough cleaning, grout repair if needed, and fresh wax or protective oil.

Because terracotta is wet-extruded, and the clay shrinks as it dries and fires — not by exactly the same amount in every piece, because neither the starting moisture nor the position in the kiln is identical. Manufacturers state it plainly in their terms of sale: for wet-extruded material, dimensions, calibres, shades and weights are to be considered indicative. This is not a manufacturing defect; it is the reason a terracotta floor looks the way it does. A perfectly calibrated, single-shade terracotta would be a terracotta-effect porcelain, which exists and is a different thing.

In practice this calls for three precautions: keep a more generous joint than with porcelain, since it is the joint that absorbs the variation in size; mix tiles drawing from several boxes at once rather than emptying one box at a time, so shade variation is spread across the floor instead of forming patches; and dry-lay a few square metres before bonding, to see the overall effect. If your tiler normally works only with porcelain, it is worth mentioning beforehand.

Much traditional terracotta does not arrive as individual tiles, and this is not a packing error: it arrives in blocks that are split on site. It concerns the Cotto tradizionale arrotato range and the Sestini e Tozzetti pieces — 87 items in our catalogue. Material described as “to be separated” is joined and must be divided by hand; “multiple boxed” material already carries a pre-incision, a groove scored on the back that guides the break to the right place.

Only two tools are needed: a block of wood or hard rubber and a carpenter's hammer. There are two movements, chosen according to the piece. On pieces without a pre-incision — arrotato flooring to be separated, Cottofine and Gaiole sestini — you hold the piece at 45° and strike it on the block. On pieces with a pre-incision — steps, skirtings, copings, Strada and Greve sestini — you strike the back, along the groove, with the carpenter's hammer, then clean off what remains. Skirtings are split in two stages: the block of four pieces is first divided into two blocks of two, and only then into singles.

Two points make the difference between a piece split and a piece broken: the blow is always struck on the back, never on the visible face, and the block must be the one specified — wood or hard rubber — because on a metal edge terracotta chips instead of opening along the groove. If your tiler has never worked arrotato, say so at quotation stage: on these items splitting is part of the laying work, it belongs in the time estimate, and it should not be a surprise on delivery day.

Porcelain stoneware is made from highly refined bodies fired at 1200–1300 °C: dense, with water absorption below 0.5% (group BIa of UNI EN 14411), suitable anywhere. Ceramic in single or double firing is more porous and mostly used on walls. Klinker is extruded and extremely hard, with minimal absorption and outstanding weather resistance: the material for outdoors and for steps.

They are two different scales. PEI (1 to 5, test ISO 10545-7) measures abrasion resistance of the glazed surface: PEI 3 is enough for a home, PEI 4–5 for shops and public spaces. The R rating (DIN 51130, R9 to R13) measures slip resistance with footwear: R9 for dry interiors, R10–R11 for bathrooms and covered outdoor areas, R12–R13 for pool surrounds and professional kitchens. For bare wet feet the A/B/C scale (DIN 51097) applies.

At least 4–5 cm of cured cement screed, rising to 6–8 cm with underfloor heating. The screed must be flat within 2 mm over 2 metres, fully cured (about 28 days) and with residual humidity below 2%. On large slabs flatness matters even more, because an uneven base produces lippage between tiles.

Yes, and it is one of the most common solutions in renovation because it avoids demolition. The existing floor must be well bonded, with no loose tiles, thoroughly degreased and treated with a bonding primer, since a ceramic surface is not absorbent and adhesive alone would not grip. The rise in floor level relative to doors and thresholds must then be checked.

Yes. The 20 mm slabs were designed for it: they can be laid on gravel, on grass or on adjustable pedestals, with no adhesive and no screed. It is the fastest solution for terraces and paths, and it is fully reversible — the paving can be lifted and relaid elsewhere.

The step that makes the difference is the end-of-site clean with a buffered acid descaler, which removes the cement film left by grouting. Without it the floor stays dull and looks dirty for ever. After that a neutral detergent is enough: porcelain does not absorb, does not stain and needs no protective treatment.

Klinker is an extruded ceramic — the body is pushed through a die rather than pressed — and fired almost to vitrification, between 1100 and 1300 °C. The result is an extremely dense body with water absorption below 2% and a hardness greater than marble. The name comes from the metallic ring two pieces make when knocked together.

No, and that is the main reason it is chosen. Very low water absorption means not enough water can enter the pores to freeze and expand — the mechanism that destroys porous materials laid outdoors. This is why it is the material for outdoor steps, paths and mountain locations.

Klinker offers a range of special pieces few other materials match: step tiles with bullnose or beak profiles, matching risers, left- and right-hand corners, skirtings and kerb pieces. On an outdoor staircase these pieces are the difference between a finished job and a patched one, and they must be ordered together with the floor because their lead times are longer.

You need a screed with a 1–2% fall for drainage, a deformable C2 S1 cementitious adhesive and, beneath it, continuous waterproofing. Joints should be kept wide (5–8 mm) and grouted with frost-resistant exterior products, with expansion joints every 3–4 metres: outdoors the floor moves with temperature swings, and without joints it lifts.

Very little, because it does not absorb. Maintenance is the simplest of all: water and neutral detergent, or a pressure washer outdoors. The only attention goes to cementitious grouts, which can hold dirt and moss in shaded areas: there a low-porosity exterior grout and periodic cleaning are worthwhile.

Because with klinker the listed square metre already includes the joint. The figure is not based on the solid surface of the tiles, but on the area including the 7–10 mm laying joint: a declared square metre therefore contains fewer pieces than would be needed to cover a square metre of solid material. That is correct, because the joint on the wall or on the ground genuinely exists and is part of the system — in klinker the joint is not an aesthetic compromise, it is what absorbs the thermal movement of a façade or an exposed stair. It applies to all the klinker we carry, Röben and Ströher included. The practical consequence: do not add a further allowance of your own for the joints, or you would be counting them twice; cutting waste, on the other hand, should be allowed for as with any other material.

Solid parquet is a single piece of noble wood, 14–22 mm thick: it can be sanded four or five times and lasts generations, but it needs controlled ambient humidity. Engineered parquet (also called pre-finished) has a 2.5–4 mm noble layer bonded to cross-laid support layers: it moves three or four times less than solid wood and is the only construction suitable for underfloor heating. The standards are UNI EN 14342 and, for engineered, UNI EN 13489.

It depends on the thickness of the noble layer, and it is the right question to ask when comparing two products. Solid parquet sands 4–5 times. Engineered with 4 mm of noble layer sands 2–3 times; with 2.5 mm, once. Below 2 mm sanding is no longer possible and at the end of its life the floor is replaced.

We work mostly in oak, which with a Brinell hardness around 3.7 forgives scratches and accepts any finish. We also carry walnut, ash and tropical species. Beyond the species, the grade matters: how much knot and colour variation you accept. A Natur grade has more character and costs less than a uniform Select, and over large areas it often looks better.

Yes, and it is not a step to skip: 48–72 hours with the packs closed in the room, so the wood balances with its temperature and humidity. The screed must be checked with the carbide method: residual humidity below 2%, and below 1.7% with underfloor heating. Most parquet failures start with this check being skipped.

It changes how the floor is maintained. Oil penetrates the wood and is refreshed every one or two years, but it can be repaired in patches: a stain is recovered without touching the rest. Varnish forms a film that resists daily wear better, but once worn it has to be redone entirely. For a household with pets or children, oil is often more practical precisely because it is repairable.

A barely damp microfibre cloth and a specific neutral detergent. Avoid abundant water, steam and aggressive detergents. Two habits are worth more than any product: felt pads under every piece of furniture and chair, and air humidity between 45% and 65%. Wood kept in an over-dry room in winter opens its joints, and that is not a defect of the floor.

SPC stands for Stone Plastic Composite: the core is a mix of PVC and stone powder, therefore extremely rigid and completely waterproof. Laminate instead has an HDF core — compressed wood — which swells irreversibly with water. Two products that look alike on the surface and behave in opposite ways in contact with water.

Yes, it is one of its strengths: the mineral core does not absorb water and does not deform. One precaution applies, as with every floating floor: leave the perimeter joint along the walls and cover it with the skirting, and in a bathroom seal the perimeter with silicone to stop water getting underneath.

Because the mineral filler gives it very low thermal expansion. Behind a south-facing window a flexible vinyl or a foamed WPC can expand and buckle; SPC stays stable. That is why we recommend it in conservatories, glazed entrances and very sunny rooms.

It is laid floating with a click joint, with no adhesive: walkable immediately and reversible. The substrate must be dry and reasonably flat — SPC forgives more than a thin LVT but not humps — and an 8–10 mm perimeter joint must be left on all sides. Beyond the maximum continuous area stated by the manufacturer an expansion joint is needed: ignoring this is the most common cause of floors that lift.

Yes, and it is among the best: its low thickness means low thermal resistance, so almost all the heat comes through. Respect the maximum flow temperature stated by the manufacturer, usually 27–28 °C at floor level, and restart the system gradually after installation.

A damp cloth and neutral detergent, nothing else: no treatment, no oiling, no revarnishing. The only precautions concern marks: felt pads under furniture, because the wear layer is thin, and soft castors on office chairs, because hard ones act like a milling cutter on any vinyl floor.

LVT stands for Luxury Vinyl Tile: multi-layer PVC planks or tiles with a printed decorative layer and a transparent wear layer. Linoleum is something else entirely, a natural material based on linseed oil. Laminate has a compressed-wood core and fears water. LVT is vinyl throughout and does not move in water. The product standard is UNI EN ISO 10582.

The wear layer, not the total thickness. Below 0.3 mm you are looking at a bedroom product; 0.55 mm is the standard that will take a shop; 0.7 mm is for heavy traffic. A 5 mm LVT with a thin wear layer lasts less than a well-made 2.5 mm one.

They are the classification of UNI EN ISO 10874 and state what traffic the floor is designed for. Classes 21–23 are residential (bedroom to heavily used living room); 31–34 are commercial (office to retail). Asking for the class is more useful than asking for millimetres: it sums up expected life in a single number.

Glue-down LVT (dryback) is thin, 2–3 mm, very quiet and extremely stable, but it needs a perfectly skimmed substrate because every defect telegraphs through. Click LVT lays floating without adhesive, is reversible and faster, but rises to 4–5 mm. Where the available thickness is minimal — for instance to avoid altering doors — glue-down is the answer.

A damp cloth and neutral detergent, with no periodic treatment. Two precautions: felt pads under furniture, because the wear layer is thin and a metal leg will score it, and a doormat at the entrance, because what dulls vinyl is grit and dust, not footsteps.

WPC stands for Wood Plastic Composite: the core is foamed PVC loaded with wood flour, therefore thicker (5–8 mm) and slightly compressible. It works like a built-in underlay: the step is cushioned, impact noise towards the floors below is lower and the surface feels warmer barefoot.

The core changes. WPC has a foamed core: the most comfortable and quietest, the domestic choice. SPC has a mineral core: rigid, heat-stable, carries greater loads — the choice for shops and very sunny rooms. LVT glue-down is the thinnest and most stable, but wants a perfectly skimmed substrate.

In a home, yes, without difficulty. Under very high concentrated loads — a full bookcase, a piano, retail shelving — a foamed core yields slightly more than a mineral one, and there the correct choice is SPC. For normal domestic furniture WPC is adequate, with the usual felt pads under the feet.

Floating with a click joint, with no adhesive: among the fastest installations there is, walkable immediately. The thicker core bridges small substrate irregularities that would defeat a thin LVT. The perimeter joint of 8–10 mm and the expansion joints beyond the maximum continuous area remain mandatory.

Yes: behind unshaded south-facing windows. Direct, prolonged heat expands a foamed core more than a mineral one, and there SPC is preferable. The total thermal resistance of the build-up should also be checked with underfloor heating, because it is higher than that of a thin LVT and the heat arrives more slowly.

It is a covering made of coloured glass tesserae, a craft with two thousand years of history in Ravenna. Unlike ceramic, glass absorbs no water and does not stain, which makes it the natural choice for swimming pools, showers, hammams and bathroom surfaces. Above all it is the only material that refracts light rather than merely reflecting it, so it changes with the hour of the day.

Tesserae range from micro-mosaic of a few millimetres up to 5×5 cm, mesh- or paper-mounted in sheets. Finishes run from matt to glossy, from iridescent to gold and silver leaf. Graded blends also exist: pre-designed compositions that fade from one colour to another across a whole wall.

Mesh-mounted mosaic has the backing behind and is laid like a tile, mesh towards the adhesive. Paper-mounted mosaic has the sheet on the face: it is laid paper outwards, then wetted and removed once the adhesive has set. Both need a white adhesive — a grey adhesive shows through the glass and deadens its colour — and a perfectly flat substrate.

With small tesserae the grout area is enormous relative to the material, so the grout matters a great deal. In pools, showers and steam rooms use epoxy grout (class RG of UNI EN 13888): it absorbs nothing, does not stain and resists water-treatment chemicals. In dry rooms a water-repellent CG2 cementitious grout may be enough.

The glass itself is very easy: neutral detergent and a soft cloth. The delicate part is the grout, especially if cementitious: avoid acidic products, which corrode it, and abrasives, which dull glossy tesserae and metal leaf. With epoxy grout maintenance is reduced to almost nothing.

They are the classification of UNI EN 12004. C means cementitious, 2 means "improved" (adhesion above 1 N/mm²). E is extended open time, useful in summer and over large areas; T is slip resistance, essential on walls. S1 and S2 indicate deformability, and that is the most important code: over underfloor heating and on large formats S1 is the minimum.

Improved cementitious grout (class CG2 of UNI EN 13888) is fine throughout a home, including bathrooms if water-repellent. Epoxy grout (class RG) absorbs nothing and resists acids: it is required in swimming pools, professional kitchens and anywhere washed with aggressive products. It costs more and demands an experienced hand, but in the right places it has no alternative.

On highly absorbent substrates (fresh screeds, anhydrite, plasterboard) the primer regulates absorption and stops the substrate drinking the water out of the adhesive before it sets. On non-absorbent substrates (existing floors, resins, metal) the opposite is needed: a bonding primer that gives the adhesive something to grip. It is the step most often skipped on site.

Yes, always. A porcelain tile is impermeable, but the floor as a whole is not: water passes through the grout lines and the corners. Under a flush shower tray, in a steam room, on a terrace or balcony a membrane is mandatory, with reinforcing tape at the corners and at wall-to-floor junctions. It costs little and, if missing, you find out years later from the neighbour's ceiling.

We carry the Mapei and Kerakoll range: protective waxes and maintenance oils for parquet, dewaxing detergents, buffered acid descalers for the end-of-site clean on porcelain, klinker and terracotta, and specific treatments for natural terracotta. For daily cleaning, neutral pH 7 detergents: acids attack grouts and terracotta, strong alkalis ruin oiled wood finishes.

Yes, with no obligation. You can use our online quoting tool, which calculates prices, discounts and transport in a few minutes, or simply write to us: the square metres and a photo of the label are enough if you already have a sample.

The practical rule is 10% extra for waste on a straight lay, rising to 15% for diagonal, herringbone or heavily broken-up rooms. Always order everything at once: tiles carry a shade and calibre number, and a later reorder may come from a different batch with a slight colour difference.

Check before laying, always. Manufacturers' terms of sale are firm on two points: no claim beyond eight days from receipt of the goods, and no claim on material already laid or sold as seconds. This is not a hostile clause: once a tile is under the adhesive, nobody can establish whether the flaw was there beforehand or arose on site. In practice: open the boxes as soon as they arrive — not just the top one — compare shade and calibre between one pallet and another, and if something is wrong, stop and call us before the tiler starts. A wrong pallet is replaced within days; a floor already laid is not.

Because that is how the factories sell. Almost every price list provides for delivery in whole packs only. Il Ferrone states it in its general conditions, Kerakoll distinguishes between items sold by whole carton and items sold by whole pallet, Technolam always charges for the full slab even when half of it is needed. If you need 23.4 m² and the box holds 1.44 m², the calculation stops at 17 boxes, that is 24.48 m². The exception is Meda parquet: its price list publishes no packing data, so it is sold by the exact square metre. The online quotation tool does this rounding by itself, so the total you read is already the one that can be ordered.

Broken pallet means taking less than a whole pallet, and it costs more. Il Ferrone prints two prices for every item, one for a full pallet and one for a broken one. Casalgrande Padana charges 20 € per pallet when a full pallet is not collected; Röben and Ströher charge 20 € per shipment, plus 12 € for the Europallet. The practical consequence: when the quantity is close to a pallet it is almost always worth reaching it, because the extra material costs less than the surcharge avoided — and it stays in reserve for a future replacement.

Not from us, but some factories do have one, and the surcharge ends up in the quote. Il Ferrone charges 25 € below 100 € of goods; Casalgrande Padana 20 € below 120 €; Antico Filò adds 10% below 25 m², and 30% on re-orders, because for the factory topping up an order costs more than a new one; Meda Parquet adds 50% below 10 m². For a small quantity it is therefore worth grouping everything into a single order, or choosing a brand with no minimum: the quotation tool shows the total with these surcharges already included, not afterwards.

It matters a good deal, because transport is charged by weight. Across the roughly ten thousand items in our catalogue that declare a weight, typical figures per square metre are: porcelain and ceramic around 21 kg, thin slabs about 14, terracotta about 24 and considerably more for thick outdoor pieces, mosaic about 14, wood parquet about 8. In other words: 100 m² of porcelain is a little over two tonnes, the same 100 m² of parquet less than one. That is why, over the same distance, delivery weighs far less on a wooden floor than on a terracotta one.

Because for those the price list does not publish one. In the 265 pages of its Glass Artistic collection, Sicis prints seven prices in total: everything else is bespoke work, and a figure can only be given against the design. In the Arcea range, codes ending in dots are colour families, and the shade is agreed when the order is placed. These items can still be found by searching in the quotation tool, which shows them stating openly that the price must be asked for, rather than inventing one: leave us a contact and we will reply with a quotation.

Our base is San Lazzaro di Savena and we serve the whole province of Bologna. We also deliver outside the region: transport is calculated on destination and weight, and the online quoting tool already includes it in the total if you enter town and postcode.

Every construction material falls under CE marking as required by European Regulation 305/2011, and for each one the manufacturer issues a Declaration of Performance (DoP): that is the document to ask for, and we provide it on request. Product standards differ by material: UNI EN 14411 for ceramic tiles with the ISO 10545 test series, UNI EN 14342 for parquet, UNI EN ISO 10582 for vinyl floors with the use classes of ISO 10874. For installation, UNI EN 12004 (adhesives), UNI EN 13888 (grouts), UNI EN 13501-1 (reaction to fire) and, for slip resistance, UNI EN 16165 with the DIN 51130 and 51097 methods.