DALLAS, TX -- This Friday is National Tile Day 2024 and Daltile, the largest designer and manufacturer of tile in North America, wants to kick-off the celebration by highlighting the myriad of attributes that make tile an outstanding component of residential and commercial design, construction, and remodeling.  Tile excels in many categories:  beauty, performance in wet areas, cleanliness, sustainability, durability, and value. 

Beauty

“Tile enables the creation of unique, personalized, beautiful spaces and we are committed to maintaining the highest levels of style and design in our Daltile products,” said Laura Grill, director of product design, Dal-Tile LLC.  “The level of cutting-edge technology we employ means that if our designers can envision it, we can almost always create it in tile!  This ability keeps our tile at the forefront of interior fashion with no lag time, providing the sizes, shapes, designs, colors and textures that bring the ultimate in style to any residential or commercial space.  Today’s technology also allows for high levels of realism in those tile designs emulating wood, marble, stone and other materials.  Bottomline, tile is no longer simply a utilitarian building material; it is now a true design element in a space.”

Daltile offers the largest depth and breadth of tile products in the industry.  Virtually any tile product that a consumer, designer, architect, contractor, installer or builder is looking for, they can find within the Daltile line.  The locations and availability of our tile offerings is also unrivaled.  Daltile products are distributed nationwide through over 250 company-owned design studios, sales service centers, and stone slab yards that service a robust network of trade customers.  In addition, Daltile products are sold through a network of the finest independent flooring retailers across the country. 

“THE” Solution For Wet Areas

Tile has been, is, and always will be the preeminent flooring product for wet areas.   Tile is in fact the original waterproof flooring!  Because of its waterproof performance, bacteria resistance, low maintenance, versatile design options and cost effectiveness, tile is by far the best flooring product for wet areas such as bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, mudrooms, entry ways, commercial public spaces, patios, pools and other outdoor areas as well as for surfaces such as walls, showers, countertops, backsplashes, and tub surrounds.  While liquid spills can ruin other materials, the surface of tile is unchanged by most liquids, water, or moisture.

Our Daltile brand takes this capability in wet areas to an even higher level by featuring our proprietary StepWise technology in many of our best selling products.  StepWise technology provides 50% more slip resistance than regular tile – making these Daltile products the ideal flooring choice for safety in bathrooms, kitchens, public spaces, and even outdoor areas.  

In addition to enhanced safety in wet areas, this slip resistance is also a significant attribute from a home design standpoint. It opens up a whole new world of indoor to outdoor seamless design.  In the past, our industry did not have the technology to offer the same level of design for both indoor and outdoor use.  With StepWise, Daltile is now able to offer the higher level of design historically found indoors for outdoor use.  This enables seamless design from the kitchen to the patio, making the outdoor space an extension of the home.  Daltile has taken many of our most popular looks and are now featuring those with StepWise technology.

Cleanliness

Unlike other surfaces, tile is hard and impervious, so it’s innately resistant to the growth of bacteria, mold, and mildew.  Thus, our tile is a hypoallergenic surface and harbors no odor.  In addition, our tile is made from natural materials:   water, clay, sand, feldspar and other natural minerals.  Being made of natural ingredients, our tile surfaces are free from toxic chemicals and harmful contaminants found in other types of flooring (no VOCs, no PVCs, no formaldehyde, no allergens).  Our tile is also easy to clean.  Regular, basic cleaning with warm water and mild soap is sufficient to keep Daltile porcelain tile looking like new.  Additionally, our tile will not damage from professional cleaning services, for those customers wanting a deeper clean. 

Post Covid, we are now living in a “germ-aware” world.  People expect a higher level of cleanliness.  They want to know that surfaces are being routinely cleaned and they subconsciously feel more comfortable when surfaces look cleaner.  Both of these requirements are nicely met with tile.

The even better news is that Daltile has taken the already hypo-allergenic and easily cleaned properties of tile a step further by introducing Daltile’s DEFEND powered by Microban® technology in the floor, wall and mosaic tile products under this umbrella.  Daltile’s DEFEND powered by Microban® products continuously eliminate up to 99% of the bacteria on the tile surface, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Because this technology is baked into the tile, it will not wash off or wear away, for the life of the tile.  Daltile’s DEFEND program features some of today’s hottest styles and most on-trend tile designs in this superior performance format.  With our DEFEND tile products, Daltile customers gain an even greater peace of mind that they are providing the cleanest environments possible in which to live, work and play.  

Sustainability

“At Daltile, we are passionate about creating beautiful tile responsibly, 365 days a year,” said Paij Thorn-Brooks, vice president of marketing, Dal-Tile LLC.  “We are proud that tile has the lowest carbon footprint of any installed hard surface flooring, in addition to many other sustainability attributes: 

• 99% — Over 99% of our tile collections contain recycled or reclaimed materials.
• 300 million — On average, our North American facilities recover and reuse over 300 million pounds of recycled and/or reclaimed material per year.
• 17% — 2018 to present we have reduced our carbon footprint by 17%.
• 84% — Overall, we recover and reuse 84% of all process wastewater generated in our manufacturing plants to make tile products.
• 125 million — Our measures have prevented over 125 million gallons of wastewater from entering local municipal water treatment facilities.
• 11% — We have reduced energy consumption by 11% at all of our company-owned Sales Service Centers and distribution facilities.

• 0% — Our tiles are made from only natural materials:  water, clay, sand, feldspar, and other minerals.  Our tiles contain zero VOCs, zero PVCs, zero allergens, and zero formaldehyde.

Durability & Value

Tile is tough!  Tile offers outstanding durability and performance.  It has an innate strength to resist decades of heavy traffic, and tile is also stainproof, scratchproof and fire resistant.  Tile is also an aspirational product that will add value to a home.