Porcelain Tile - The Toughest Floor for a Florida Home

Porcelain is fired denser and harder than standard ceramic, which makes it close to waterproof - under 0.5% porosity. For a home that deals with summer downpours, tracked-in pool water, and nine months of humidity a year, that matters more here than in most parts of the country. We install porcelain across the Greater Tampa Bay Area, from Brandon kitchens to lanai transitions in Apollo Beach.

It also comes in wood-look planks now, so you can get the look of hardwood in a living room or entryway without worrying about a slab foundation or a washing machine leak ruining it. If you're weighing tile against the real thing, our hardwood flooring page is worth a look too.

Every porcelain job starts with a check of your slab - cracks, moisture, and level, all of which matter more here than in a house up north with a wood subfloor. Large-format and plank-style porcelain is unforgiving of an uneven surface, so we laser-level before we open a single box of tile. If old flooring needs to come out first, our demolition and prep crew handles the tear-out and gets the slab ready before install day.

For rooms that flow from indoors to a covered lanai, we lay the pattern out so the transition reads as one continuous floor, and we leave the correct expansion joints so the tile isn't fighting Florida's summer heat swings.