Patio Paving & Garden Tiles - Free Online Quote

How to get a paving estimate for your outdoor tiles

Have you ever thought about how much your garden can reflect your personality and that of your home?

Some garden tiles, as well as making it easier to access your patio, can also greatly improve its appearance.

But getting a quote for outdoor tiles that can meet all our needs can sometimes be really difficult because of the endless proposals of today's market and especially because there are so many technical and non-technical specifics to take into account.

One of the most important of these is the intended use of the tiles to be estimated, i.e. if they are intended to cover a path, a balcony or a larger open space and whether this area is intended for the exclusive use of people or instead is a driveway.

What is the reason? Because by way of example parking tiles which are frequently subject to cars' weight and their wheels' rub (as in the case of your house driveway) should preferably be special outdoor tiles with a small cut (about 400x400 mm) and a thickness of 20 mm. The combination of these features provide the floor with a structure that is more resistant to high weights.

Another essential feature for garden and outdoor tiles is their resistance to bad weather conditions such as harsh climate, frequent thermal shocks, heavy rain. The best choice to make is to get a quote for outdoor tiles that are frost and stains resistant and have a good coefficient of linear thermal-expansion.

Humidity could certainly be another enemy of your outdoor paving, so it is highly recommended to choose tiles with a suitable skid resistance value (or non-slip rate). Generally, for outdoors it is advisable to choose tiles with an anti-slip coefficient at least equal to R11.

The thickness feature can be of crucial importance when evaluating an estimate for outdoor tiles: these generally vary from 10 or 12 mm to 20 mm. As you can easily guess, extra-thick 20mm tiles are particularly resistant to heavy loads (e.g. means of transport), and are very well suited for so-called dry laying (without screed) directly on gravel, sand, grass or for raised floors thanks to special supports. 10mm tiles, on the other hand, require the screed just as thinner tiles do and are more subject to the pressure of heavy loads, but on the other hand the great variety available on the market could be a plus to choose them.

Leaving aside for a moment the thickness feature, what is particularly interesting is the fact that porcelain stoneware has become today one of the most sought-after and used materials for exterior and garden tiles, taking over outdoor architectural spaces.

This is because one of the main advantages of porcelain stoneware tiles is the opportunity to choose from a very rich range of sizes, colours, graphic effects and textures, which makes it possible to satisfy the demands of every style.

For those who own a swimming pool in their garden, porcelain stoneware can reveal itself as the perfect covering.

Finally, it is impossible not to underline one of the greatest qualities that makes porcelain stoneware so widely used for driveway floors or for patio and garden paving: its low water absorption. This is due to a non-porous structure that makes the porcelain tiles resistant to water and highly resistant to various cycles of frost and thaw.