# glazed porcelin vs. full bodied porcelin



## Mr. D (Jun 7, 2006)

pros and cons? (chipping, durability, other)


----------



## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

The only benefit to full body and non full body porcelain is being able to bullnose full body since the color goes all the way through. Porcelain vs ceramic is - ceramic is cheaper, but porcelain offers more 'natural' looking choices, porcelain is virtually waterproof, it has to be in order to be classified as porcelain.


----------



## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Like Mike says but wait until you have to drill a hole in some quality stuff. Lay in some TapCon bits for pilot holes and expect only a few holes from each.


----------



## MattCoops (Apr 7, 2006)

Porcelain is a form of ceramic

The difference comes in the way it is manufactured

Porcelain tiles are made with denser clays and are fired at higher temperatures.

Porcelain tiles aren't necessarily "waterproof"
some may have a lesser water absorption rate

One kind of wierd, but affective way to determine the better of two tiles as far as water absorption goes is:

stick your tongue on back of tile, if it sticks more or faster and pulls a bit than it absorbs water greater, the other tile is better

kind of nutzo, but its truth


----------



## R&D Tile (Apr 5, 2005)

If it's glazed on the top, it's waterproof there, put your tongue away, not needed.


----------



## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

R&D Tile said:


> If it's glazed on the top, it's waterproof there, put your tongue away, not needed.


Technically, the discussion revolving around water proof or more specifically water absorbtion is about the body of the tile. A glazed tile is water proof on the surface, since all grout will absorb water the issue is the body of the tile.

If you go by what defines a porcelain tile, it actually isn't the make up of the body it is the absorbtion rate of the body. The definition of a porcelain tile is one whos *body *has an absorbtion rate of less than 5%. The glaze is actually scraped off the glaze when they do the tests.


----------



## Tom McNall (Feb 21, 2005)

You may find this link interesting: http://www.tileusa.com/porcelaintile_faq.htm#difference


----------

