Cement Tile - Pros and Cons

Cement tile has been trending for a couple years. Kim visits with Clay Imports, a local Austin tile importer to explore the pros and cons of this material. If you're considering specifying cement tile, do not miss this episode!

Special thanks to Clay Imports for allowing us to film in your showroom, and to Gabriela for holding Sunny while Mama and Daddy worked. : )

Photo credits below:

Green Tile in Bathroom
Veneer Designs

Cle Tile

[TKaiser]

Great video and beautiful tiles and in home examples. After just completing a bathroom remodel I would like to share the biggest thing missing from your video. The biggest flaw in the cement tile world is the required use of an epoxy based grout. After much mystery, misery, and confusion from our supplier we were told we could use a traditional colored grout. After 3 coats of expensive sealant we starting grouting in one corner of the bathroom...and the white portions of the pattered tile were immediately stained, once the grout touched the surface it was over. There was no way to return the tile to it original color, it was permeant. We followed all directions from the tile supplier and ended up with tons of staining. The only solution was to switch in and incredibly expense epoxy grout, over $450 for the bathroom. It then had to treated and cleaned with a grout remover and more sealant. This was never shared with us. In the end the rest of the bathroom had minimal staining. Please know what you are getting into with this type of tile. Our bathroom looks beautiful and I love the look and feel of this tile...and luckily the original staining is under the standing tub. Ask a to of questions, and good luck!

[hagosgmdwel]

i'm from Ethiopia, Axum
wow this is an amazing video i got a lot of information.
thank you so much
it up

[finntran]

Professional and informative! Yass ladies work!

[africaham]

Kim Lewis thanks for the show..am really impressed to have such a project...pliz take us through how clay tiles are made...

[TimothysWords]

Very informative! I enjoyed watching this segment! You two were funny at the end! Great video Kim and Devon! Camera man did great too!

[jessepender]

I would be interested to know what the overall environmental impact is of concrete tile verses Ceramic or porcelain is. With cement tile the tile it's self is not fired but to get cement you have to fire the material at a very high temperature. Cement tile is definitely not no emission. My uneducated guess would be that cement tile would be higher emission than ceramic or porcelain particularly because to start off you're using about 1.5 - 2 x the amount of material compared to ceramic or porcelain standard thicknesses. Like I said this is my uneducated guess and I would love to hear from someone who has real scientific data on this. Overall I appreciate that y'all are thinking and talking about the environmental impact and it's not a simple thing to figure out when it comes to building products. One major thing that the cement tile has going for is what was mentioned about the the color layer being thicker. Ceramic and Porcelain really look like crap when they get chipped. Along with the initial embedded energy of the material it's important to consider the lifecycle cost of the material and that's where design really has impact. I've spent the last 20 years in the design/build business and I've seen so many passing fads where people are tearing everything out 5-10 years later and I've also seen things that have been preserved for a 100+ years. When it comes to installing something that is going to have a10 versus 100+ year life span the thing that lasts 100+ years if the thing that wins out environmentally in almost every situation. As designers creating things that will be cherished and preserved rather than discarded is one of the best things we can do!

[mgclarissa]

You're amazing! Love every video you upload <3

[ranimhamzawi]

Hi hope ur well, I have a question i made white cement octagon tiles (coasters) and drew on them with aclyric paint, how ever while in mold i kept them in at least a whole hour, and after painting it and sealing it i kept it 2 days and so, in my conclusion the sealer isnt the best option what happend is after i wrapped them in paper n bubble wrap, we unvield them and they were wet like small layer of water what could be the reason? I do live in a more humid weather.. and maybe when i covered them this happened ..

[bunnywhite]

Agree with the other commenter about not touting something as environmentally friendly without giving full consideration to all parts of the process. Besides that I really enjoyed the video and am in the Austin area so I’m excited to visit the shop for decorating our skoolie!

[carmichaelcourt]

Those look great. I'm going to have to see if anyone sells them where I live.

[spacecreative]

tile size ? color ? water prof .. long proses system ?

[villavilla]

I’m so confused. Why can’t patterns be put on ceramic ?Everything I read seems so scary to use. Seems like a trendy thing that’s for villas or million dollar homes. Kind of like my quartz countertop that’s more expensive yet stains. You would think if you pay more it would stain less !

[dontmindthatthere]

There is a lot of fire and or heat involved in making the cement that is needed for concrete tiles. Not as environmentally friendly as they make it out to be.

[michaellondonxxx]

Concrete is not authentic or “from the earth”. It is a synthetic material made using cement that is made by firing limestone in a kiln to over 1000C. It does not occur in nature. I do think that the tiles are beautiful though.

[eleanorthompson]

As you tell us you are 'educating' people it may be worth checking your facts. Cement tiles, as you say, are fairly environmentally sound to produce but producing the raw materials for these tiles i.e.the cement itself, is an extremely unsound process - DEFINITELY NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND.

[Z-add]

All of these colorful cement tiles are 2D. The 3D ones don't have this level of colors in one tile. They are just single color ones.

[seamusoconnell]

Echoing JessePender, concrete is definitely not a green product. Making concrete involves as much, if not more, burning of fuels compared with ceramic, etc.

[datboydro]

Floor and decor website says to use glass n mosaic mortar??? Think they are wrong

[villavilla]

Sounds like a trendy hassle for people that listen to records instead of Spotify

[piastro]

The loud 'S' sounds in the way these ladies speak is preventing me from watching. Should that bother me so much?