How We Mastered the Art of Imperfect Extruded Tiles
Every tile job has its personality, but few jobs challenge your expectations quite like a project involving extruded porcelain. I heard a story about a recent project the ambitious floor of "The Hearth & Hammer," a new rustic-chic restaurant, and let me tell you, this project was a masterclass in embracing the unexpected.
The client, a passionate chef named Elara, had fallen in love with a stunning geometric pattern: white polished stars nestled between white matte crosses, a pattern reminiscent of the complex shapes this specialized porcelain allows. The material? A gorgeous extruded porcelain series.
The Moment of Panic
They started the dry lay on Monday morning, blending boxes as usual. Within an hour, the lead installer, called me over, visibly frustrated.
"Look at this," pointing to a run of tiles. "We laid out six stars and four crosses. By the end of the run, the lines are not straight. The contractor is already saying the tile is defective".
Indeed, the tiles weren't lining up flush. Some pieces seemed slightly bowed, and there was a noticeable size difference between the stars and the crosses.
I knew this wasn't a standard manufacturing fault; this was the quirk of the material itself.
The Play-Doh Principle: Understanding Extruded Porcelain
I reached out to our supplier's Technical Director, channeling the conversations of industry experts and. Their response was quick and clear: "This is expected with this material. It is an extruded porcelain, and the pieces will vary".
The key to solving the problem wasn't fighting the material, but understanding how it was born.
Extruded porcelain is created in a way that’s much less controlled than typical dry-pressed tiles. Imagine the Play-Doh Fun Factory. Instead of dry clay powder being pressed into a perfect mold, a wet clay mixture is forced through a high-pressure die to create a continuous shape—a process that gives the tile a rustic, handcrafted appearance. This wet-forming process, coupled with the complex shapes and the intense firing (1200–1400°C), means that precision is simply not the goal.
We learned that a difference of 1–2 mm is something normal for extruded products, and that "perfection in this type of product is not possible". This wasn't a flaw; it was a characteristic.
The Finesse Factor: Secrets to Success
Once we accepted the material’s beautiful imperfection, we focused on the installation secrets outlined by the experts. This project was going to require serious finesse.
Our solution plan had three main pillars:
1. Embrace the Grout Joint (Our Best Friend):
The first, and most crucial, adjustment was the grout line. We were informed that the only way to "remove any difference that the tiles could be" was by using a wider joint. We ditched the narrow spacing our contractor initially wanted and committed to the minimum recommended joint size: 3–4 mm. For ease of use, we aimed for 3/16", which is recommended as the standard for most users.
This wider joint was essential for absorbing those natural 1–2 mm variations, preventing the pattern getting out of square.
2. Upgrade the Trowel, Control the Mortar:
To ensure that the slightly bowed tiles would lie flat, we had to allow more room for adjustment in the mortar bed. The advice? Use a larger than normal trowel.
A larger trowel meant more mortar coverage and more "wiggle room" for the installer to manipulate the tile faces, compensating for any unevenness or bowing, and ensuring high mechanical resistance.
3. The Expert Technique (Ditching the Spacers):
While beginners often rely on spacers, experts know they can be misleading on variable material like this. Spacers slow down skilled installers since "adjustments to joints are inevitable".
They adopted the expert perspective: setting the tiles and adjusting the joints manually as they worked. The use of small wedges to fine-tune the fit, ensuring the complex star and cross shapes looked intentional, not misaligned.
The Transformation
The moment we started applying the wide, dynamic grout joints, the entire look transformed. What had looked "not acceptable" laid out dry and naked, was suddenly a masterpiece.
As technical experts often point out, the product "after install in the correct way and grout change the look completely". The slightly rustic edges and natural texture, enhanced by the wider grout, delivered the handcrafted look the owner wanted. The floor was durable, resistant to stains (perfect for a kitchen!), and full of character.
The moral of the story? Extruded porcelain tiles are not defective; they are uniquely perfect. The secret to success lies not in battling their inherent variation, but in understanding their "Play-Doh" birth process and embracing the technical solutions: recognize the 1–2mm size variation, use a 3–4 mm minimum grout joint, and apply that larger trowel for essential finesse.
We delivered a stunning, high-traffic floor that will last for decades, proving that the beauty of extruded tile often lies in its imperfect perfection.
