In depthChoosing stone-effect porcelain
The four stone-effect tiles are the same four as the lappato subcategory, because every stone effect in the range is finished lappato: Wabi Bianco at 10 mm, and Wabi Sabbia, Agate White and Agate Blue at 9 mm, all 600 mm by 1200 mm, porcelain, made in Spain, frost resistant, listed as compatible with underfloor heating, with a water absorption ratio listed under 0.50, specified for floor and wall, two to a box covering 1.44 square metres.
Stone effect means limestone and sandstone rather than marble: soft, even surfaces with little veining, in the sand and white tones that make a room feel calm. Wabi Bianco and Wabi Sabbia are the quiet pair, white and beige; Agate White and Agate Blue follow a banded stone with more movement, and the Blue is the one deliberately decorative tile. The lappato finish gives all four a soft sheen without the mirror of a polish, which suits a floor better than a full polish does.
Porcelain follows stone and improves on it in the ways that matter on a floor: it takes on almost no water, it does not scratch under grit as limestone does, and it is consistent from tile to tile. Frost resistance and the low absorption ratio are the specification that lets a tile run from a kitchen across a threshold to a covered terrace, one floor inside and out. On the outside, slip resistance when wet is what decides it, and that is a measured value on the manufacturer's data sheet, read against the HSE scale quoted below.
A large-format tile asks for a flat subfloor, a tiler, adhesive and grout; the screed regularity classes and the heating standard's surface temperature limits are quoted below. For the same look without the tiler, the concrete and cement rigid vinyl tiles in the grey subcategory click together and float over an existing floor.
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