Sounds like BS to me. There are only two types of porcelain...."Face Porcelain" or "Full Body"

The first only has the design on the face...the second has the colour completely thru the material, so that if you need to cut or bullnose it, the colour is consistent.

Thanks, StoneTech - I suspected it was some kind of "Marketing-Speak". It's on a bunch of the Porcelanosa materials.

I appreciate the distinction!

Maybe it's their term for "rectified' porcelain; the kind that has been milled perfectly square to allow narrower grout lines.
Casey

Can you post a link for the Mfg. of that product? I'm doing some looking into it for you......

Thanks Casey & Stoneking - it could just be some fancy term indicating their "best" porcelain, or rectified products.

The term is used a lot on the Porcelanosa site - describing their "Urbatek" line - http://www.porcelanosa.com/gb/floor-tiles/urbatek-through-body-porcelain.php

They do have another page of "Porcelain Floor Tiles", but it includes the above tiles as well as others... so I guess that confirms that the "Technical Porcelain Floor" products are porcelain. Again, could just be marketing-speak.

Found the term at another site as well: http://www.canaroma.ca/brand-fiandre-tiles.php. They are a Canadian tile retailer - the term is used to describe their "Fiandre" lines of floor tiles. Interesting, they also carry Porcelanosa tiles...

I can't seem to find the term more broadly used.

It's probably not worth a lot of time, but I did just think it was odd...

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Porcelanosa Urbatek Products

I started a discussion on this at JB Forums in the "Pro's Hangout" and got some interesting responses. Apparently, some companies do make a product that is a little more "green friendly" (whatever that means) uses some different compounds, etc.

I don't see a lot of advantages here for the average homeowner though. More $ for the Company, I guess.

There was a lot of "Tech Speak" I won't bore you with, but distilled down, you get-

Technical Porcelain
Porcelain tile that has been fired even more to have an absorption of 0.1% or less is often referred to as a âÂÂtechnicalâ porcelain.These products tend to be expensive due to the increased energy requirements to produce them. Technical porcelains are used in environments where stain resistance is critical.

Thank you, StoneTech! I don't know that I need the extra heavy-duty porcelain, but I appreciate knowing that it IS indeed porcelain, and if anything, a better quality product. Now, I just have to figure out what I want the bathroom to look like.. :)

Don't pay more for this...unless you are making porcelean tooth coverings or space shuttle tiles.......

I work in Tiles as a Architectural Representative.

We sell Porcelanosa's materials and for anyone here interested - Technical Porcelain is called just that for a number of reasons.

A very complex manufacturing process of technical porcelain includes higher quality, better refined raw materials and a much different composition of these materials from what is considered a normal Porcelain tile.

This guarantees the product excellent mechanical and functional properties like sustainable slip-resistance, extreme hardness and wear resistance.

In addition to the typical properties of porcelain, such as frost resistance, high surface hardness and high bending and compressive strength, technical porcelain has exceptional resistance to wear and traffic and, unlike glazed porcelain, is able to maintain its original aesthetic and functional characteristics for the lifespan of the material itself.

Thanks to these properties, technical porcelain is widely used in specific applications like heavy commercial, civil or industrial, where high wear-resistance is required.

Do not mistake a Techcnial Porcelain tile for a normal porcelain tile.

I am still confused by this term. Is a technical porcelain glazed or unglazed? Would it be harder to clean?

Hi. I am from GUOCERA, the tile manufacturer in Malaysia. An interesting topic has been discussed here on the subject : Technical Porcelain. Allow us to share our view and knowledge about this tile.

Tech porc is available both in glazed and unglazed. The cleanability of a tile is not affected by whether the tile is glazed or unglazed. However, a tile with a rough, matt or antislip texture may need slightly more maintenance due to the ease of the accumulation of dirt on the surface