Porcelain tiles patio

[Spring2021]

We are considering extending/replacing an old Indian Sandstone patio as next door have built an extension which wipes out most of our patio.

We can’t get the same size slabs as we had down so we are thinking of redoing the lot. The places we have looked seem to say that porcelain slabs are better than Indian sandstone less porous, easy to keep clean and not slippy when wet. I did have my eye on a light stone with contrasting dark slate edging but DH thinks it will be hard to keep clean (we have a dog who goes on muddy walks and our garden is surrounded by quite a few trees). Now I am more edging towards the black? Any MN words of wisdom especially from anyone with porcelain tiles?

I have porcelain patio tiles and love them, they are very easy to keep clean, warm up nicely in the sun and look fabulous. They were laid last year and we gave them a quick jet wash earlier this year and they look like new again.

Watching with interest.

I was looking at porcelain tiles but my builder said it would be more costly to lay them as they'd need to go on a screed in the same way that you'd lay them internally.

We have grey porcelain tiles. In the height of summer they are very hot to walk on. So if you are south facing and like to walk bare feet you may want to factor this in?

Thanks no my bare foot days are over.

Light or dark coloured porcelain tiles. I am just thinking about bringing the dog back from a muddy dog walk.

If you go for dark, you may wear shoes but your dog doesn’t. So won’t be able to go on them in the summer when it’s hot.

We had lightish porcelain patio laid just pre first lockdown and we love it.
Yes, if I have been digging in damp soil, my shoes do leave footprints, but I doubt your dog wears heavy tread gardening shoes.

Our patio is north west facing, but it does get a reasonable amount of sun from 11am onwards as there is no house to the south and west of us, only gardens.
The room which opens o to patio only gets very late sun, but the pale patio does make the room feel brighter than the old dark grey concrete slabs by reflecting light.

We live in the north do you think the light would be better for the dogs feet.

Re trees. We have a tree which spreads over our light patio, and yes it gets a lot of bird poo, but it washes off fairly easily. (I bought a patio cleaner attachment for pressure washer)

I really loved the dark slate effect porcelain but I'm glad we didn't go for it.

I've just been speaking with a landscaper who was supposed to pop around tonight to quote. I asked if he did porcelain slabs and he said he did and there were two ways of laying them - on a concrete bed was better was the implication (as I've seen elsewhere from a small amount of Googling). Most tiles will come with a 'slip rating', they should be at least R11 (from what I've seen). It's similar for wetroom tiles which is what I'd previously been investigating. :)

I spoke with an experienced landscaper a couple of weeks ago and said I wanted easy to clean tiles and he recommended porcelain. It had not occurred to me before you could use porcelain outside but it sounds like a good idea. Whenever I've had porcelain tiles indoors they've always been very easy to clean.

Thanks for your replies. I am more confused than ever now. Last week we were going for sandstone but we can’t get the sizes to extend our existing patio which is looking shabby. This morning I was sold on light patio slabs with dark edging stones. Now I am not sure.
Our rear patio is our only entrance into the house after muddy dog walks (closest to the dogs crate in autumn winter), the hose pipe is also located there for washing his paws. Everyone we saw today said porcelain was non porous, easy to stay clean, not slippy, hard wearing etc and preferable to sandstone. I mentioned that we had a dog, a metal table and chairs on the patio and asked how slippy it was in the winter etc. Mind you they also said everyone is doing up their houses and gardens and they were having difficulties getting hold of much of the Indian sandstone so maybe thats why they were all pushing porcelain.

We have slate-like porcelain tiles inside and out - the outside ones are 20mm, the inside are 10mm. During last summer's staycation we extended the patio our selves so it's not too hard to lay them but like most things you can't underestimate the importance of a proper base (tonnes of limestone and a Wacker plate).

Would they be semi glazed? Could you share a link as I’m searching for some for my hallway

We have fossil coke

www.londontile.co.uk/category/valverdi

We have Indian sandstone outside and porcelain tiles inside, plus eight fluffy, mud paws. I think the dirt hides itself better on the sandstone in some ways (thought we've been advised not to pressure wash it). I think you'd need quite a lot of colour on the porcelain tiles and in our experience it's the grouting that gets grotty.

Sorry I don’t have a link to the tiles we were thinking about they are just available at a local builders merchant. The name is Avio 600 by 600, from Turkey. We were thinking of either the white porcelain coloured tiles on the bottom or the top dark slate coloured tile.
I fancied the white porcelain colour (but don’t to be forever mopping and cleaning it as prefer low maintenance) and DH preferred the black slate colour tiles. But unsure of both now with some comments on here about them being too hot for the dogs paws and not keen on extra cleaning jobs (with the Indian sandstone we currently have whilst they look past their best they are low maintenance).

Sorry here is the photo

?

Any more comments and preferences for black white/beige colour tiles or neither? Thanks

PS we live in the north and in summer as it is the dog goes out very early or late.

We live in the north , have 2 dogs and have just ordered Pavestone simply porcelain mystique Verde for 2 patios. I also couldn't make up my mind between light and dark so compromised.

Aren't they very slippy?

I don’t know for sure the salesmen at both builders yards said they are low maintenance compared to sandstone and not slippy etc etc etc.

Still undecided @lancashirelady DH suggested the grey for the same reason but personally I much prefer the whitey creamy beige colour on the photos then the black to the grey. But then I am not really a grey person.

We've got light coloured porcelain outside (they look white to me but DH says they're light grey ) with dark grey edging.

It's not a year old yet but so far it's cleaning up really well with a jet wash. We don't have a dog but do have muddy football living kids!

I'm really pleased with the look of it, previously we've always had dark grey slate patios but I'm loving the light colour.

I've just been choosing ours today. We will be having the same porcelain ones inside and out as we have an room that opens straight out onto the patio - in dark grey slate effect.
I'm a massive fan of porcelain professionally (I'm an architect) and as long as you get one with a good slip rating or a riven surface then slipping isn't a problem.
I've used them on big infrastructure projects with loads of pedestrians thoroughfare because they are hard wearing, can be non slip and are easy to clean and maintain and stay looking great.
I prefer them to stone for the lack of hassle.
Laying them outside isn't difficult but you need a full mortar bed (40/50mm) to help avoid cracking and because they are non porous.

This is a better photo white (which is more of cream - with black edging stones) or black (with multi colour edging) as photo?

We have wood in the room leading the patio and we will have a black metal table on the patio which leads up to the grass.