About Glass Tile

asm · Guest

I'm considering purchasing some "ice matte" 6x6 floor tile. It's sort of a pale sea-foam green with a matte surface (I'm not sure of the manufacturer) and a white backing, and the sample looks quite lovely on our floor.

However, I'm a little concerned about having glass on the floor, and am wondering if there are issues I may not have considered. Is it prone to scratching or breaking? Will it be a pain to clean? Will I regret this decision?

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Thank you.

administrator · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 8:41 pm Post subject:

Glass floor tile is something new, so no wonder you feel uncertainty. I've seen three different floors entirely done in large format glass tile, and found the result impressive. One of them was the floor we captured during installation - see slide 11 in the installation slide show on this site.

It sounds like the tile has been treated to provide an adequate amount of friction, and if the tile has been made specifically for floors, it should also give adequate abrasion ( scratch) resistence. All technical attributes should be specified by the manufacturer. It's useful knowing who made the tile and what the specs are; your dealer should be able to provide this information.
As for cleaning, most glass tiles clean up with soap and water, but I imagine the cleaning on floor tile could be more complex, especially depending upon the traffic. Is the tile going to be used in high traffic areas?
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khauner · Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 30 Location: Vancouver, Canada

Successful installation of the glass tile on a floor depends on several factors:
1- Has the manufacturer recommended that tile for that use? Glass tiles can be made with different textures (for slip resistance), surface treatment (different glazes to increase resistance to abrasion) and surface-area-to-thickness ratio (in general, a small module can be thinner, but a larger module like the one you are contemplating will have to be thicker)
2- The substrate must be rigid. A cured cement substrate will be better than a wood substrate. Any movement of the floor may translate to the glass and result in cracks, so floors should be properly reinforced. Use of a crack isolation membrane is almost mandatory.
3- Intended use. A heavily used floor such as in a mall will require a different tile than a powder room in a residence. Smaller smalti glass tiles (the ones that are colored all the way through) are successfully applied to commercial floors, and larger glass tiles that have a smoother finish are reserved to less travelled areas of the home, such as a bathroom or powder room. When in doubt, check with the manufacturer.