Encaustic Vs. Cement Tiles: What best suits your needs?
Elegant tiles bring an eternal uplift to the look of your home. Good quality tiles last decades with no significant wear and tear.
With a great variety on the market, it can become difficult to choose the one for your needs.
Hint: It’s not all about looks!
Both Cement tile and Encaustic Tiles will be compared in two domains:
- Durability
- Design
Function over beauty? Why not both?
Encaustic Tiles are glazed and don’t usually come with a matte finish. They are made with two interwoven parts of clay. While they are beautiful to look at, they also offer quite a function.
Encaustic tiles have a high tolerance for frost, which makes them a perfect candidate for outdoor use.
They are particularly used in places with harsher cold climates. Encaustic tiles don’t crack open even if they face extreme cold.
These days, encaustic tiles have become well-known for their design and durability. They come in porcelain and ceramic, and both options give a shiny look and also do well with water.
Let’s see how Cement tiles hold up…
For starters, Cement tiles are made from a mixture of silicon, marble powder, and a few other ingredients. They offer decent durability and can be placed anywhere indoors.
They are extremely beautiful to look at but do not offer great durability.
They are best used indoors with strong sealants. Sometimes sealants may need re-application.
Cement tiles have profound durability to constant foot traffic.
While both offer significant durability indoors, Encaustic tiles give the option for outdoor use.
For this reason, the winner for Durability is the Encaustic Tile.
Beauty and the Slates
Encaustic tile designs have upgraded immensely. There are multiple designs, colors, backdrops, and themes in which encaustic tiles just shine.
These versatile tiles can make interesting patterns due to the manufacturing method. The design looks crisper and is easier to maintain.
The design is not affected by water, so these can be used in bathrooms, swimming pools, Jacuzzis and so much more.
What do cement tiles have to offer?
The cement tile mixture is poured into molds to create a design. The designs are pretty but don’t offer robust variety.
The classic theme is well catered by cement tiles. However, these tiles cannot bear water. Over time, cleaning products can make these tiles porous.
Cement tiles also require better care even though they offer a beautiful matte finish.
For this reason, the winner for Design is the encaustic tile.
