Decorate Your Home With Glittering Glass Tiles

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by: jackjreynolds
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Word Count: 451
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 Time: 9:02 AM
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It comes in varieties of textures, colors, patterns and styles based on the people's requirements. They are exceptionally strong and unaffected by stain and moisture. It is traditionally stylish and has a new modern look. The tiles which are small and light weighing are used for decorating the walls and backsplash and the heavier ones are used for floors and counters.The best thing about the glass tile is it reflects and shines and produces glittering experience.

In windows, mirror frames, floors and art works the glass tiles are used for edging. It is available in the market with a good quality, durability and at reasonable price. These glass tiles needs no special care as it can be easily cleaned with a wet sponge. These can be used as an add on to the sophisticated bathrooms and modern kitchens.It actually adds beauty to the place as the glass is reflective and shining in nature. Its sparkling appearance attracts the people so that they also remodel their houses.

The larger tiles are used in lower part of bathroom walls or in shower areas in the bathroom. Mainly there are four types of glass tiles smalti, fused, sintered and cast.Smalti is a small format tiles which is textured and colorful. It is good building blocks for artistic mosaics. The glass tile is made of glass paste or glaze made up of silica melted with sodium or potassium carbonate. The paste is heated at high temperature and rolled into a pancake-like slab of minimum 6 inches thick. The slab is cooled and cut with hand into rectangular pieces.Fused is nothing but a flat glass cut into tile shapes and then heated. These tiles come in any size and are shining with a layer of opaque color visible through the tile.

Sintered tiles are made by pressing and heating the glass powders until it fuse.These tiles are well known for its versatility and a scratch resistant finish. Cast type are made bymoulding a chunk of glass. These type of tiles are made by heating the mould until all the pieces melt and fuse together into a single layer. This type is mainly used in recycled tiles.Slumping and Etching are the two important glass surface treatments. During firing the slumped glass has been curved into concave or convex shapes. The relief molds are made from melted slumped glasses with low heating. The glass tile forms an unique shape after cooling. A thin luminous layer is formed on the tile surface after etching. The etching is done with hydrofluoric acid or by applying a cloudy surface of glass on the top of an etching layer using abrasion.

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