If you’re planning to go for a complete kitchen renovation, a wise selection of countertops can help you accomplish your dream of having a kitchen with excellent aesthetics and design. Many homeowners in the UK have been setting porcelain countertops on their kitchens for quite some time now. There are many good things about porcelain as kitchen countertops. But, the main question is, do porcelain countertops chips? Before answering this question, let us explain what porcelain is.
What are Porcelain and its Components?
Porcelain was derived from clay, but not the ordinary kind of clay. Instead, manufacturers used Chinese clay in the making of porcelain. This specific type of clay is rich in kaolinite, one kind of mineral together with feldspar, silica, and other mineral oxides that together are accountable for the durability and strength of porcelain.
How is Porcelain Made?
The combinations of materials are placed into a kiln and then fired at high heat. The outcome is a highly dense material that is almost totally impervious to heat, stains, UV rays, chipping, scratching, and cracks.
During the manufacturing process, pigmented glazes are supplemented to make diverse patterns and colours on the slab. Porcelain can be unglazed or glazed. A high gloss glaze or matter without or with pattern is used and then fired for the second time around for the glaze to adhere totally.
The glaze lessens porosity or the risk of blemishing, improved durability, and makes the glossy finish. On the other hand, the colour or pattern of glazed type porcelain is just on the surface. This doesn’t go in the whole body of the tile or slab. So the interior hue might be different. This will reveal once the surface of the porcelain is chipped or cracked. Unglazed porcelain colours extend the entire thickness of the body.
So, does porcelain do chips?
Porcelain countertops are very durable, hard, and survive most impacts and daily abuse. As a matter of fact, its durability is unparalleled and generally is not affected by deterioration. Still, cracks and chips are likely. Porcelain is made of 100 per cent raw, natural, and clay-based components.
The mainstream of this tile is glazed porcelain, and if cracked, the porcelain revealed. Compared to ceramic, porcelain is a little bit denser, meaning it has a lower rate when it comes to moisture absorption. Porcelain with 1 PEI will chip and scratch easily and must just be utilized on walls, not countertops. Tile with 2 PEI is ideal for light home areas, including bathrooms.
Keeping this information in mind, is porcelain ideal to use for kitchen countertops?
Porcelain countertops are very tough, and they are scratch, heat, and UV resistant that enables the surface to be set up as countertops, flooring, and cladding in both indoor and outdoor uses. The costs of installing porcelain as kitchen countertops will reach up to £100 for every square foot; however, it depends on the particular material, size of the countertops, and the complexity of the work.
Reasons Why Porcelain is Chipping?
Porcelain has a fantastic reputation for strength and durability as the many tiles laid yearly in the UK, just a few cracks, chips, or manufacturing issues. When it chips, generally it is not due to the manufacturing, but it is because of the following accidents:
Dropping a hard or heavy object onto the porcelain tile. This might cause its surface to chip or crack.
Dragging or walking metal heels and hammering nails
It’s causing furnishing to be pulled along the porcelain, which with metal-tipped feet. This takes account of chairs and other things inside your house that have metal or steel feet and without rubber protection.
What to Do When Porcelain is cracked?
The best way to repair cracked porcelain is to eliminate it and replace it with a new one. Once your porcelain stores have calculated the tile order right, then you must have a carton of porcelain spare in the event of mishaps like this. This ensures you have similar colour and shape to substitute the tile.
If the box leftover is not available, then bring the cracked tile to the nearest store to know if they can source similar colour or style.
How to Eliminate Chipped or Cracked Porcelain Tile?
It is easy to eliminate cracked or chipped porcelain tile; all you need to do is to follow the tips below:
Scrape out the ground that surrounds the cracked tile
Utilize a chisel and then chop a hole in the middle of the harmed porcelain tile
Working way outwards, but cracking towards the middle of the porcelain tile, slowly eliminating the tile.
Replace the porcelain and ground; as stated above, your tile provider must have some spare tiles or must have them kept in the event of problems like this.
How to Avoid Chipping with Cutting the Porcelain
Porcelain is prone to chipping when cutting, so make sure to use the best and proper technique in doing so. Here some steps that you need to follow.
Porcelain tiles are considered the safest to cut, and you can use the same methods when cutting ceramics. However, natural stones don’t have a similar glass-like cleaving outline and might be more dependably cut using an angle grinder or wet wheel saw instead of scoring equipment or the typical hand-held cutting tool or diamond cutter.
Fill with water the tank below the platform of a diamond-blade wet saw
Adjust the tool to cut to a 1/8 inch depth into the porcelain, not totally in it.
In a saw with a blade that lowers, usually, the depth is regulated at the back end of the saw blade close to the hinge.
Conclusion
Porcelain is an excellent material to use in your home. For example, you can use it as a flooring or kitchen worktops. This is tough and durable compared to other materials, and it is not prone to scratching, cracking, and chipping.
LSD Stone are happy to be one of the leading suppliers and installers of kitchen worktops in the UK. Therefore, you are more than welcome to check us out and request a free quote.