Porcelain Floor Tiles: The Secret to Handling Heatwaves?

It’s set to be a sweltering summer, but could porcelain flooring be the key to keeping you cool? In this guide, we’ll look at how porcelain floor tiles offer far more than just their beauty, including a lesser-known practical benefit as summers get hotter. So, before you spend thousands on fitting brand new air conditioning, let’s take a look at why porcelain tiles might be a great alternative, sustainable home cooling solution. 

Worried you’ll regret your porcelain indoor pavers when winter arrives? We’ve got tips on keeping your porcelain-tiled home warm when needed, too.

How Can Porcelain Tiles Keep Your Home Cool?

How can something as simple as your choice of flooring tiles make such a difference to how your home feels during hot weather? It’s all to do with air pockets and how the number of air pockets in a surface can increase or decrease its thermal conductivity. Because porcelain has low porosity, it has fewer pockets to retain heat, meaning heat dissipates from the surface instead. 

Other common floor surfaces like wood, vinyl, and especially carpet, are heat traps, with plenty of pockets to hold heat and keep the home uncomfortably warm. 

Which Porcelain Tiles Are Best for Keeping Cool? 

If you want to maximise the cooling properties of your porcelain tiles, light-coloured matte tiles should be a go-to. Light coloured matte surfaces have a high Solar Reflectance Index, reflecting the rays rather than absorbing them. 

Large format tiles are also a great choice for giving the home a cool feel. This is because they can make a room feel more open, spacious and airy, helping to mitigate the all too common ‘close’ feeling we can experience when temperatures soar.  

Why Porcelain Tiles Offer Value for Money

So, why invest in porcelain tiles instead of other, cheaper cooling solutions? 

Porcelain offers such a wide array of benefits beyond just keeping your home cool. With stunning patterning and colours available, it enhances your home aesthetically too. It also has exceptional durability, meaning you won’t need to replace your flooring for many years. Plus, the very same low-porosity that keeps it cool also makes porcelain very low maintenance. 

Our porcelain guide can elaborate further on the excellent properties that this material offers. 

A Cooler Version of Your Favourite Flooring

Maybe you’re tempted by the temperature regulating properties of porcelain, but you love the look of wood? With wood effect porcelain tiles, you can enjoy the best of both worlds, with a gorgeous graining pattern and rustic woody hues replicated on porcelain. We also have marble effect tiles, and tiles that mimic the look of natural stone. 

Are Porcelain Floor Tiles a Sustainable Home Cooling Solution? 

One appeal of using porcelain as a way to keep your home cool is that it’s amazing for overall sustainability, making you less reliant on solutions like air conditioning which can use lots of energy. 

Porcelain itself is also made from natural materials, and our porcelain in particular is sourced from factories that adopt a number of sustainable practices like water recovery and waste reduction.

Indoor/Outdoor Living with Porcelain Tiles

Many of us want to spend as much time as possible outdoors when the sun is shining, and porcelain tiles can make this style of indoor/outdoor living much easier. By matching your indoor and outdoor tile patterning, you can soak up the sun while still feeling connected to your main home space. Explore our range of indoor/outdoor porcelain tiles today.

Keeping Your Home Warm In Winter with Porcelain Tiles

You might worry that the cooling effect of porcelain tiles might make your home too cold in winter, but don’t fret. It’s easy to remain warm with simple tricks. Fluffy rugs look beautiful when layered over sleek porcelain, and warm the surface up easily. You can simply pack these rugs away in summertime. 

Our porcelain tiles are also easily compatible with underfloor heating, as they have extremely high heat resistance and won’t warp or crack when you turn the temperature up. 

Interested in porcelain tiling for your home, or perhaps matching tiling for the exterior, too? Explore our porcelain selection or contact us to discuss further.