In response to customer requests for one-stop bathroom product selection, E&B Distributors Elegant Baths Showroom now displays and sells wall and floor tile. The showroom’s 3000 square foot display includes both contemporary and traditional for both wall and floor tile selections. 

Natural stone tiles of marble, travertine, limestone, & slate now can be installed in baths, because of the development of quality sealants, which allow these porous stones to be sealed and become water and oil resistant.

While the term “marble” has been used generally for any stone that can be highly polished, marble as a mineral is metamorphic limestone and can be finished into honed, tumbled and polished tiles.  Travertine is also in the limestone family and is available in honed, chiseled, and tumbled.  Slate is a metamorphic version of clay or volcanic ash. 

It is important to remember that all stones are graded: second quality stones may cost less, but are rougher, have more fillers, and have edges that are chipped or cracked.  Since all stone is natural and has variations, someone with strong opinions may decide to purchase two or three times as much tile as the project’s square footage in order to discard those tiles that don’t meet the desired look. For all installations of stone and porcelain tiles with variation, we recommended you layout the tiles in advance to make adjustments in pattern and color.

While mosaics made of natural stone have been available for over a thousand years, contemporary mixtures of natural stone and glass mosaics are a new trend in the world of decorative wall tile. Available in mesh mounted squares, circles, pebbles, sticks, bricks, stack bond, and linear combos these mosaics can be used to accent either stone or porcelain tiles. Manufacturer sources of mosaics at Elegant Baths include Milstone, Gotham City, Envision, Saint Gaudens and Solistone.

Other kinds of tile include Porcelain, Ceramic, and Glass. Porcelain and Ceramic are made from clay from the earth and differ from each other by the composition of the clay and the firing temperature. Porcelain tile is fired at 2500 degrees and results in a denser, stronger tile and when made of through body color pigments results in one of the most durable tiles available for high traffic floors.  Porcelain tiles are also glazed (meaning a glass surface fused at high heat), offering beauty of color and the optional technique to make the tiles resemble woodplanks, marble, travertine, and slate.

Ceramic tile typically is glazed.  Ceramic tiles are rated for durability by how much wear the glaze can withstand. Many companies mix the offering of ceramic and porcelain, using ceramic tiles for walls and porcelain tiles for floors.  Glass tile is also made of material from the earth.  While glass tile was traditionally a one inch square mosaic, in the past ten years glass tiles have become larger and can be used for covering walls and floors.  Since glass tiles are non-absorptive, special adhesives must be used to install them.

Elegant Baths displays porcelain tiles from Arpa, Cerdomus, Dolce Italia, Emiliana, Fondovalle, Happy House, Iris USA, Lafabbrica, Level, Magica, Ragno, 3B and Vallelunga.

Ceramic tiles at Elegant Baths include Anatolia, Equippe, Gaya, Guocera, Solistone, and Tranquility.

Glass tiles are from Gotham City and Envision.

Tile has traditionally been an Italian or Spanish specialty. We now offer tiles made in USA from Level, Ragno, and Iris. Stone tiles source from the world over.

What is used to install tiles is just as important as the tiles.  E&B Distributors provides Fiberock backerboard, sills, saddles, sealers, Mapei mortars & adhesives, Mapei sanded and unsanded grout, and Mapei Opticolor Stain Free grout.  The Stain Free grout is an excellent choice for the homeowner who desires an easy to clean grout. This epoxy grout can be used with ceramic, porcelain, glass and stone tiles.

Please stop by our Showroom today to browse our huge selection of ceramic, stone and glass tiles!