I just want to say that I received my Crossville Buenos Aires Mood in Polo (the lightest color, sort of light pearl gray) in textured 12 by 12 with polished 6 by 6 pieces for accents and I love it much more than I would have expected. It has some color variation but is not at all busy and it looks like a perfect floor. I really had no desire to try to mimic stone (I wanted either real stone or tile that looked like tile) but these tiles are surprising me in how good they look--like a floor that's been around a long time, like old stone, but with the benefit of being porcelain! Eventually I'll post a picture, but just wanted to express my enthusiasm for what I thought would be a compromise but turned out to be a great decision!

catbird, sorry for the delayed response. I forgot to select the response notification option on my original post. Like you , I've noticed that the Crossville web site and customer service email responses are not as informative as they could be. However, the "Palais" brochure is quite detailed. If you're still looking at Crossville tiles, I think you can order up to 3 free brochures from their web site. I went to a local tile distributor to obtains samples and pricing. The distributor confirmed that Palais is in fact a rectified tile. Unlike non-rectified tiles (which are generally more expensive per sqft as the tile size increases), it appears that the prices of rectified tiles reflect the additional labor and additional waste incurred to cut the fired tiles to make them "dimensionally stable". Did you decide on a countertop tile? We decided to use the 12"x18" tiles in a running bond pattern as our KD recommended. We're=m now looking into whether or not we should go for the tighter grout line or not. ~docdom

From an old GW thread with GWA (our favorite girl with aspirin and great taste) o rectified tile and grout joints... am I asking too much? Brought to you by Advertisement clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings PrintPage Posted by girlwithaspirin (My Page) on Wed, Aug 9, 06 at 14:53 I'm going with semi-polished, rectified 18"x18" porcelain. The tile sales rep warned me that few contractors will be willing to do a 1/16" grout joint, but she told me to stand my ground. Sure enough, I'm gathering bids, and the first two contractors won't do a 1/16" joint. I told them the tile is rectified. One guy actually asked, "What do you mean by that?" Disturbing, no? I explained it. Five minutes later, he tried to explain to me that porcelain tiles are rarely exactly the same size or completely square. Once again, I explained what "rectified" means, wishing I could just snap my fingers and make him disappear. Both of them have given me all the reasons why a 1/16" grout joint is impossible. My house is old, the floor can't possibly be completely level, a new subfloor won't fix anything, etc. The thing is, the current ceramic is at least 15 years old, and there's not a single crack, not even in the grout lines. Am I asking the impossible? (Bill V., if you're reading this, your reco is on vacation -- I'm hoping he's my salvation!) Aesthetically, I love the look of a tiny grout line, especially with this sort of tile. Follow-Up Postings: o RE: rectified tile and grout joints... am I asking too much? Brought to you by Advertisement clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings PrintPage * Posted by floorman67 (My Page) on Wed, Aug 9, 06 at 16:51 I have never heard the term rectified tile and I have been a licensed and certified installation mechanic for 27 years, so no, it isn't disturbing at all ... I have heard the term, Dimensionally Stable Tile though. two occurrances can prevent successful 1/16" grout joints. one being nominal tile sizing (tiles not exactly the same dimension as every other tile), and two being the existing floors height variances that would cause a run-off. When attempting to install a 1/16" grout joint with either present can cause tile stepping and run off becasue there is basically no joint to make it up in the installation grid system layed out prior to install. TO answer your question, no, it is impossible. However, the above considerations play an important role in it's success. Since you house is older and admittedly not perfect, you want to research and find an installation professional comfortable with this, and expect to pay a handsome fee because basically they will be either installing a mud bed, or mudding the tiles in over a backer unit (a hybrid technique), which it time consuming and not a well known technique to every ceramic installer, especially those who only do thinset/backer board installations. Many refuse to do it becasue of tile nominal sizing, extra time involved, the difficulty factors, and the lack of knowledge to pull it off successfully. This doesnt mean they are bad installers. On the contrary it means they care enough to admit they can't do it, so they refuse to do it. and them some jsut do not know the difference and think it cant be done successfully, but still install great projects all the time. I would keep searching until you find a installation mechanic who can do it. The key is the tiles dimensions from tile to tile. If they are the exact same with no variance, then it can be done. o RE: rectified tile and grout joints... am I asking too much? Brought to you by Advertisement clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings PrintPage * Posted by bill_vincent (billvincent@hotmail.com) on Wed, Aug 9, 06 at 22:19 I would not install rectified porcelain, even large format rectified porcelain, any other way than with a tight 1/16" joint. That said, there's atleast one installer in my area who, in every other way, is one of the best in the area, and he won't do it, either-- not even with 12x12 rectified porcelain or natural stone-- says it can't be done, in spite of the pics I've shown him of my work. I agree with the salesperson-- don't give up. Stick to your guns. Floorman-- the biggest way that rectified differs from other porcelain (or other tiles, for that matter) is that while all other tile, porcelain or otherwise, are stamped out to size before going into the kiln, rectified porcelain goes into the kiln in sheets, and then is cut to size afterward. If you ever see it, it'll have the same exact edge as polished stone tile, with the cutting ridges and the chamfered edge. This is why no matter what the size of the tile, it can be set tight, because the tolerances are alot stricter than they are for other tiles. You'll see less variation in size with rectified porcelain than you will even with polished stone. o RE: rectified tile and grout joints... am I asking too much? Brought to you by Advertisement clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings PrintPage * Posted by girlwithaspirin (My Page) on Wed, Aug 9, 06 at 23:07 Whew. Thanks to both of you. Part of me thought I was being silly. You know, what's a couple sixteenths of an inch? But the joints on my kitchen ceramic are 3/16", and on my honed limestone, they're 2/16" -- and there's a huge aesthetic difference between those two. The 1/16" grout lines I've seen with rectified tile absolutely make the look, in my opinion. I'll stick to my guns. I think I need to shift my focus and make sure I'm calling in natural stone installers.

I did copy and paste the following to save time typing. Rectified tile is tile that has been mechanically finished on all sides to achieve uniformity and precision. During the manufacturing process, an extra step is taken to grind the tile to precise and consistent dimensions.The most sought after feature of rectified tile is that the uniform size allows for tile to be installed with narrow grout joints. The narrow grout joints create a seamless, continuous look that is desired by designers. It is recommended by the industry that grout joints for rectified tile must be at least 1/8” wide. Rectified Tile vs. Non-Rectified Tile Non-rectified tiles are quite different than rectified tiles. Non-rectified tiles vary slightly in size from each production run. There is no extra step to ensure precision amongst size as there is for rectified tile. Due to the size variations, wider grout joints are needed to align the tile during installation.