Specifically designed and produced for outdoor application, extra thick 20mm+ porcelain tiles are the on-trend alternative to traditional patio paving slabs. Durable, colour fast, frost proof and slip resistant, many are available with complementary indoor versions to match. Emulate the beauty of your interior design and extend your living spaces with a contemporary and continental lifestyle look.
Read on for more details about our outdoor collections or click below to view.
Making your outdoors great
Events of recent years have made many of us reassess our living environments as we’ve spent more leisure time and often working hours in the confines of where we reside. Despite the UK’s infamously unpredictable weather, this focus on the home has also extended to our outside spaces, no matter the size or shape, back garden or front, patio, terrace or balcony.
To spruce up our external areas as residents we’ve invested in new furniture, parasols, gazebos, patio heaters and fire-pits, but it’s often the hard-standing surface that can make or break the overall effect. Even with care, cleaning and maintenance, over time stone pavers, wooden decking and textured concrete slabs can become stained, slippery and dull, but there is a new alternative to these more traditional materials.
Today’s porcelain tiles are more durable and colourfast, stain and slip resistant than ever. Porcelain is an extremely dense material and, with near zero porosity, the surface is almost impenetrable to water and dirt, and extremely resilient to frost damage. What’s more, new manufacturing processes allow for 20mm+ thicknesses to be produced, resulting in tiles with a much greater load bearing that are ideal for external use.
Working closely with the leading production plants in Italy and across Europe, we source and supply an extensive collection of outdoor tiles comprising a diverse range of different natural finishes and contemporary designs.
Get the look
No matter the end vision and desired style, Minoli Outdoor tile collections include an array of finishes from minimalist concrete, organic stone, sawn wood and even marble effect. Available in such a broad range of sizes, colours and textures, outdoor tiles provide a unique solution to any exterior design project.
Once the preserve of luxury hotels and chic Mediterranean villas, as their popularity has increased, leading manufacturers have expanded their production to include large format / XL slabs, different surfaces and levels of slip resistance, plus specialist pieces such as drainage channels, edging, step treads and risers.
Working with property developers, house builders, exterior landscapers, garden designers and advising residential homeowners, we’re seeing much more demand for outdoor tiles and it’s exciting to see our UK customers embracing the clean, consistent and contemporary paving solution that porcelain presents.
The flexible and viable alternative
The inherent qualities of outdoor porcelain tiles make them a flexible alternative to so many commonly used materials including: patio and garden path paving, wooden or composite decking, concrete, cement and resin slabs, natural stoneware, hardstanding driveways and blockwork, traditional quarry tiles and terrazzo, amongst others.
The technical advantages and practicalities of porcelain stoneware extend ten-fold to some of these counterparts and their intrinsic characteristics are: fade and scratch resistant, impenetrable to water, oil and chemicals, anti-slip and resilient to rotting and mould, frost-proof and able to withstand thermal shock, simplicity of installation, ease of cleaning, durability and heavy load bearing.
Given this long list of product strengths, porcelain tiles also present a very attractive and financially viable solution. Within the Minoli Outdoor collection there are ranges to suit all manner of budgets from entry-level DIY projects through to professionally installed, garden-redesigns and large-scale commercial developments. No matter your level of investment, the end result will repay you with a beautiful and useable outside space for many years to come.
Seamless transitions from inside to outdoors
Many of the ranges in the Minoli Outdoor collection are available with complementary indoor versions to match. Through bi-fold or traditional patio doors and picture windows, a near seamless indoor-outdoor transition can be achieved using a 9mm indoor tile that is internally slip resistant and easy to clean, coordinated with an external counterpart that has higher slip rating surface, such as those ranging R11 to R13.
As demand for some form of outdoor space increases, with recognition of the associated benefits to our health and well-being, so coordinating interior and exterior tiles become increasingly sought after by interior designers, architects, developers and homeowners.
Commercial Applications
It’s not just within residential contexts that outdoor porcelain tiles excel. Due to their durability, strength, resilience to wear, frost resistance and anti-slip qualities, they are a highly practical solution in commercial settings as well.
Developers, architects, builders and designers favour porcelain tiles for myriad business, civic and infrastructure uses too, including retail complexes, transport concourses, urban spaces, hotels and leisure centres and public amenities.
Depending on the installation technique used, outdoor porcelain tiles offer both long-lasting and flexible solutions to commercial flooring requirements. Traditional adhesive installation of a 20mm tile offers high resistance to loads, making it suitable for heavy foot-traffic areas, outdoor driveways, and car standing. Installation onto a pedestal support systems allows ease of access to utilities by simply lifting the tile slabs and provides a simple and effective solution to drainage across large surface areas and walkways.
An ever-evolving range
The popularity of porcelain tiles, and specifically those for outdoor use, is only set to increase. Working closely with the leading production plants in Italy and across Europe, Minoli are often first to market with the latest new styles, colours and sizes, many of which are exclusive to the Minoli product portfolio.
More so than ever from our corporate clients, residential customers and wholesale partners, we are seeing increased demand for ranges suitable for complementary indoor and outdoor application, as well as expansive, large format / XL tiles and slabs that create more seamless finishes and transitions between spaces.
There are many flexible methods for installing outdoor porcelain tiles depending on the substrate, surface and specifics of the site. Whilst we recommend you always refer to the manufacturer’s instructions for each particular product and consult with a qualified technician, we have provided some ‘Installation Rough Guides’ to provide an overview of the suitable applications and relatively straightforward methods of fitting these exciting new alternatives to traditional exterior paving.