Commercial Floor Tiles — Retail, Office, Healthcare and Transport
Commercial flooring is bought on whole-life cost, not on the price per square metre. A floor that has to be replaced in seven years costs far more than the difference between a glazed tile and a full body one — because the real expense is closing the space to do it.
Why glazed tiles fail in commercial use
The printed layer on a glazed tile is a fraction of a millimetre thick. In a house that is irrelevant — domestic traffic will never get through it. In a building where several thousand people walk the same three-metre line every day, carrying grit in on their shoes, it abrades. And because traffic concentrates into lines, the wear is not even: the pattern disappears down the middle of the corridor while the edges still look new. That contrast is what makes it obvious.
Full body and double charged tiles solve this by having something substantial to wear into. A double charged tile has three to four millimetres of pigmented body under the surface; a full body tile has the entire thickness. In both cases abrasion exposes the same material, so the floor ages evenly rather than developing traffic lines.
The other commercial consideration is cleaning. A commercial floor gets machine-scrubbed, often with alkaline detergents, sometimes daily. Porcelain is chemically inert and unaffected. What does suffer is the grout, which is why commercial work uses epoxy grout or, in food and healthcare environments, is specified with coved junctions so the floor can be cleaned as one continuous surface.
Specification by building type
| Building type | Range | PEI | Slip rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office floor | Double charged | IV | R10 |
| Retail shop floor | Double charged | IV | R10 |
| Shopping centre concourse | Full body | V | R10-R11 |
| Hospital corridor | Full body matt | IV-V | R10 |
| School corridor | Double charged | IV | R10 |
| Airport terminal | Full body | V | R10-R11 |
| Hotel lobby | PGVT or full body | IV | R9-R10 |
| Commercial kitchen | Full body anti-skid | V | R11-R12 |
| Warehouse / light industrial | Full body 15 mm | V | R11 |
| Building entrance | Full body textured | V | R11 |
Getting a commercial specification right
- Specify the entrance separately — the first six metres inside a door take grit, water and the heaviest wear in the building. Use a textured full body tile and a matwell.
- Order the whole job in one batch — shade varies between firings. On a large floor a batch change is visible as a line across the space.
- Hold attic stock — five per cent of the order kept on site. A matching replacement tile cannot be bought three years later.
- Plan movement joints — large commercial floors need joints at structural lines and roughly every 8 to 10 metres, or the floor will tent.
- Use epoxy grout — it survives machine scrubbing and aggressive detergents; cementitious grout erodes.
- Check the substrate flatness — large format over an uneven screed gives lippage, which is a trip hazard as well as a visual failure.
Frequently asked questions
What PEI rating do commercial floor tiles need?
PEI IV for offices, shops and schools; PEI V for shopping centres, airports, entrances and industrial floors. PEI measures surface abrasion resistance, but note it applies to glazed surfaces — full body tiles are rated on deep abrasion resistance instead, which is a more demanding test.
Why specify full body over glazed for commercial floors?
Because commercial traffic concentrates into lines, and a glazed tile wears through along those lines while the rest of the floor still looks new. Full body has the same material all the way through, so it ages evenly and never exposes a different layer.
How thick should a commercial floor tile be?
9 to 10 mm covers most commercial pedestrian floors. Specify 12 mm for heavy trolley traffic and 15 mm for warehouses and light industrial floors carrying pallet trucks or point loads.
Can you supply a large project in one shade batch?
Yes. For project quantities we produce the full order in a single firing run so the shade and calibre are consistent across the whole floor, and we can hold attic stock from that batch for later repairs.
Request a commercial project quotation
Send us the floor areas, building type and programme. We quote project quantities with single-batch production and attic stock.
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- Tile Buying Guide
- Full Body vs GVT Tiles
- Step & Riser Tiles Guide
- GVT vs PGVT
- Tile Size Guide
- Laminate Guide
- Porcelain vs Ceramic Tiles
- What Are Vitrified Tiles
- Types of Tiles
- Tile Thickness Guide
- Glossy vs Matte Tiles
- How to Clean Tile Floors
- How to Remove Tile Stains
- How to Fix Cracked Tiles
- How to Clean Marble Floors
- Bathroom Size Guide
- Powder Room Guide