In order to qualify as being a porcelain tile the tile must be tested and found to not absorb more than .5% of it’s weight when immersed in water. This very property that makes porcelain so desirable also makes it more difficult to set properly. Normal thinsets do not bond to the body of porcelain tiles very well, the porcelain will not absorb the wet thinset as readily as ceramic does and without taking precautions in how you set it, how you apply your setting materials and what setting materials you use, you run the risk of a failed installation over time. Porcelain requires more expensive ‘modified’ thinsets, it also requires more careful installations, some tile setters will even go so far as to wet the back of each tile before applying it, or even to ‘back butter’ – apply thinset to the back of the tile instead of the floor and then setting the tile. This all adds up to more time being taken and an increase in labor costs to do it correctly.

Porcelain while harder than ceramic is also more delicate and brittle and susceptible to edge chipping with the normal handling you use with ceramic tile. More time is required to examine each individual tile before it is installed to verify it is perfect and without chips. Porcelain is also heavier than ceramic and harder on the workers over a long day and cutting down on productivity because of fatigue.

Porcelain is much harder than ceramic, it destroys tools, dulls blades and requires expensive specialty bits to drill.