Alfresco & Portico Tiling

Something I didn't think we would be able to get done for a while was the Alfresco tiling. It was last on my list of things I wanted to get done as it wasn't urgent. One day I decided to get quotes to see what it would be worth, thinking we couldn't afford it. The quotes came through reasonable so we were able to go ahead quite quickly.

Given that i rarely have any spare time on my hands, and dragging the kids through countless tile shops is not something i wanted to do, i set off on my own to check out the local tile places and picked out my favourite options. Once i had narrowed it down to about 4 possibilities we had the kids looked after for a couple of hours on Saturday morning - this was our chance, we had to select something that day - and hardest part of all hubby and i had to agree - that's the biggest challenge right there :)

First tile shop was CTM in Toongabbie - he hated everything i liked,off to a great start! Next place he selected something i hadn't considered and i didn't mind the texture of it, so we had a possibility. again he didn't like my choices at the second place (Lexatonia Tiles). The 3rd place was Beaumont tiles and the ones we liked were way out of our price range.

In the end we selected the one that he had picked out, I was able to borrow a sample for the night to see if it suited the tones of our house, and it did.

The tiles were purchased from Lexatonia Tiles in Seven Hills on Abott Road. Great service and a great price too. The tiles ended up being $26sqm. Pretty good considering Beaumont tiles were up around the $60sqm price range.

The tiler even said the tiles we picked were so hard to cut, he believes they will be near impossible to crack. We have spares just in case.

The area we had to tile was just under 40sqm to cover the Alfresco and portico. The tile is a 600x300mm porcelain tile called PROVENZA ASH and it is rated for outdoor use.

The tiles so far are easy to maintain ( I mop with a ENJO outdoor mop) the grip on them isn't that extreme rough sand paper feel so grit doesn't stick to them to badly. They are beautiful to walk on too. The colour is a prefect choice for an outdoor space. It doesn't show the dirt and doesn't show the doggy paw prints too badly either, which is a bonus for someone that is a little bit OCD when it comes to cleanliness. 

Would highly recommend this tile.

Our tiler suggested to lay them length ways in a brick pattern, which was the total opposite to what i was thinking, as i thought of lying them horizontal in a straight pattern so the space would appear wider.


Here is the finished alfresco area. Still some grout dust on them when i took these pics, its gone now though after a few washes.

I know i haven't posted about the laundry fit out yet, and that will come shortly, we also did the tiling for the splashback in the laundry. 600x300mm tiles

Here is a sneak peak....more to come in laundry post.