Porcelain Paving Support
Our porcelain support section provides essential guidance to help you select, handle, install and maintain your Brett porcelain products with confidence. Manufactured to high standards and designed for outdoor performance, porcelain paving offers a range of practical and aesthetic benefits, but also requires the correct installation techniques and understanding of its characteristics.
The information below covers key differences, performance features, and important considerations such as handling, tolerances and installation best practice to ensure a durable and high-quality finish.
The Brett Porcelain range is manufactured by the global leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of high-end, Italian ceramic tiles for over 80 years, Marazzi. Our product range is currently manufactured in Europe using superior raw materials and manufacturing processes, creating a high end, premium product range.
Why does this matter?
- Expertly sourced raw materials ensure the best performance results.
- Fired at high temperature = lower chance of breaking during installation. No False economy replacing broken/chipped slabs.
Porcelain and Ceramic are not the same!
Porcelain tiles generally come in thickness’ ranging from 18mm to 20mm. They are available in a range of sizes and shapes and are well suited to outdoor use being able to deal with the freezing winter temperatures experienced within the UK. All Brett porcelain is 20mm thick.
As a general rule ceramic tiles are 6-10mm thick and come in a variety of sizes, shapes and finishes. However, these are best suited to internal use as they do not have the same high levels of resistance to moisture as that of porcelain.
Water Resistance (0.5%) – High quality Porcelain has a low water absorbency (<0.5%), meaning the water will sit on / run off the surface instead of soaking in. This is why it is important to ensure porcelain paving is laid to the current falls (1 in 60) to ensure the water runs off and does not just sit on top of the paving.
Stain & Scratch Resistance – Stain resistance and clean-ability are one of the major benefits of Porcelain paving, which is linked back to water absorption. There’s no need to worry about unavoidable spills for the BBQ, or scratches from your patio furniture. Maintained correctly, your Brett Porcelain patio will look great for years to come.
Frost Resistance – Our porcelain exhibits minimal thermal expansion, ensuring excellent dimensional stability. It possess remarkable frost resistance due to its low water absorption capabilities. Consequently, our porcelain paving ranges are entirely impervious to frost damage.
Slip-Resistance – There is a belief that porcelain is slippery, and most Porcelain manufacturers will supply a Slip Resistance figure such a ‘R11’. This is a German measure of slip/skid and is not recognised in the UK. Brett also provide a ‘UK Pendulum Test’ to prove the product’s suitability for the UK Market. Every product in the Brett porcelain range achieves a > 36 Slip Potential-LOW rating and an R11 rating.
Precision Cut Slabs – Brett Porcelain is rectified. A secondary process that ensures the product is precision cut. Product is fired in a kiln at 1200+ degrees Celsius and all batches are completely in size with no variations within that batch.
Strength & durability – The Breaking Strength of Porcelain against other paving materials are very high and provides a key benefit for a quality product. However, the ‘Flexural Tensile Strength or Modulus of Rupture’ is a characteristic that can be overlooked. In simple terms this is the likelihood of ‘Chipping’ upon impact and can be a real problem on an inferior product, especially for the contractor on site. For a quality Porcelain product, you really want as high a figure as possible for rupture. The material average minimum required is 35N/mm2. Brett Porcelain value is 45 N/mm².
Premium Aesthetics – Aesthetics account for a huge amount when making a Porcelain decision. At Brett, we can tell you exactly how many different surface aesthetics there are in our porcelain ranges. Depending on the style, the greater the number of variations the better the look. More variation in repeatable graphics ensures a more authentic replication of Natural Stones.
Did you know? Not only will Brett’s high quality Porcelain be more reliable to install, you can also rest assured that it can withstand the weight of Hot Tubs, Garden Structures and Outdoor Kitchens
Porcelain stands out as a very strong and durable choice. As with any paving or tiling products, Porcelain paving tiles can chip or even crack if handled incorrectly. During the process of loading, transporting, offloading, and on-site handling, product may develop minor chips along their edges.
Any defects must be reported without delay. If your product has arrived broken please contact our Customer Service team on 0345 60 80 577 who will be in touch to quickly resolve this.
All of Brett Porcelain is available in a 20mm thickness, which is suitable for outdoor use.
Some of our products within GeoCeramica® Porcelain are available in;
- 10mm – internal use / external wall cladding
- 40mm – footpaths and patios
- 60mm – suitable for driveways and vehicular traffic.
On occasion larger format, rectangular shaped slabs can develop a slight bow (convex). In order to minimise lipping between two neighbouring slabs we would advise laying these either straight bonded or offset by either a quarter or a third.