Hi, A] Vitrified vs ceramic Ceramic tiles are porous and have a tendency to absorb water while vitrified tiles are impervious and water resistant. Ceramic tiles are usually used indoors and vitrified can be used indoors, outdoors as well as in heavy traffic commercial areas because of their resistance to wear and tear. Ceramic tiles are cheaper as compared to vitrified. Ceramic tiles are prone to cracking and breaking as they are essentially made of baked clay. Vitrified tiles have a very strong material strength and do not break that easily. B] Tiles with wooden patterns These are available both as vitrified and ceramic tiles. They come in actual plank sizes (165mm x 900mm) and also in tile sizes (2'x4') etc. Go for the actual plank size as they don't look fake (the pictures below illustrate). Here ceramic wins, since they provide better texture and feel as compared to vitrified. They require pigmented cement to fill the joints in order to give the seamless wooden look. Vitrified Tiles - regular tile size Ceramic Tiles - actual plank size Hope this answers your questions. All the best! Regards, RnD Atelier Nagpur

Hi Rahul, 1] Give spacers if : a] you are going for matte finished rustic tiles. b] you are using ceramic tiles. c] you have a large area to showcase the tiles so that even after using spacers the space visually retains its size. Tip: Spacers should always be given in proportion to the tile size. Since you have large sized tiles spacers of about 6-9mm would look good. 2] Avoid spacers if : a] you are going for Italian marble patterned tiles. b] you are going for glossy tiles. c] you have a small area for application of tiles as spacers segment it further and give an impression of a smaller space. Hope this helps. All the best! Regards, RnD Atelier Nagpur

@Rock Doc: Are you addressing this to me? I haven't actually bought these tiles yet - when I do, I will definitely be going for the handmade ones. They're a work of art and irreplaceable in my opinion. However, there are also screen-printed tiles available in the market in more or less the same patterns; the workmanship is of course different, but you get them cheaper, and they're also more easily available. You could give that a shot. I'd recommend Aakaar Flooring Solutions - they're here on Houzz and are able to provide both the above-mentioned types.

The hassle with square wood-look tiles is that they look too artificial. The only way to avoid that would have been to lay them with the grains alternately- vertical, horizontal- in a chessboard pattern. However, you do get tiles in 6" x 24" which you can lay in a break jointed pattern as shown here. They mimic the look of decking planks