Hydraulic style tiles

The first hydraulic floors were born in France in the 19th century. These tiles had a craft manufacturing process more similar to manual clay than ceramic. The ancient hydraulic floors were made piece by piece by mixing cement, sand and water. Unlike porcelain stoneware, hydraulic floors were not fired and were cold-pressed using a pressing mechanism.

The first houses to be built with hydraulic flooring they were very prominent and were normally in the hands of people of high social status.

Between the early and mid-20th century, the original hydraulic floors in many homes in Spain. The style of these houses is very particular, having in common the use of hydraulic tiles on the floor and high ceilings. Today these homes can be found in central areas of the main cities of Spain and are highly valued precisely for their hydraulic floors. Encaustic tiles are in great demand thanks to the vintagefashion trend that has reappeared in recent years.

Although there are still some factories of original hydraulic floors, it is not very common to find this type of material in stores and most of the hydraulic tiles are made with porcelain stoneware.

Currently hydraulic paving is one of the most important within the range of porcelain floors

Advantages of hydraulic floors

A hydraulic tile is a very versatile model. The wide variety of designs, colors and shapes they have makes it easy to find your model and combine it with other tiles to give a specific style to your home.

Hydraulic-style porcelain stoneware is manufactured in various sizes, although small tiles are still the ones that best imitate the original hydraulic tiles, which were normally manufactured in 15x15, 20x20 and 25x25 sizes.

However, ceramic factories have gone a step further, reaching measurements such as 60x60cm and up to 100x100 cm, as is the case of the Bohemian Blen Aparici model

This variety of sizes offered by porcelain stoneware greatly facilitates the adaptability of the tiles to any room that we need.

On the other hand, hydraulic-style flooring is usually tiles pretty clean. The variety of colors and geometric figures that the pieces contain makes their maintenance very practical and simple.

Hydraulic floors for bathrooms

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This style of flooring is very suitable for placing in the bathroom. Before buying hydraulic floors, you should know that this style of flooring has a lot of personality and will stand out wherever you place it. It is normally recommended to use them in small spaces so that they do not burden the environment too much and we may regret our choice.

Bathrooms, due to their size, are the room Ideal for using hydraulic tiles. There are even those who prefer to use hydraulic tiles to decorate some of the bathroom walls or, for example, to use as a lining behind the bathroom furniture.

Without a doubt, hydraulic tiles are an excellent option to use as decoration.

Hydraulic tiles for kitchens

Most of the hydraulic models that we will find in stores are made of porcelain stoneware. Porcelain is a very resistant material that allows its placement on indoor and outdoor floors. But of course a ceramic that is suitable for use on the floor will also be suitable for use as a wall covering.

Hydraulic-effect porcelain stoneware is placed both on floors and kitchen walls. Most kitchens use white kitchen tiles as cladding, thus giving spaciousness to your kitchen and prominence to kitchen furniture. 

However, depending on the kitchen style, It may be a very good option to use hydraulic tiles on the fronts of the kitchen. The size of the pieces (15x15, 20x20, 60x60) will fit perfectly in this area, which usually has a 60cm gap.

Types of hydraulic floors

One of the differences is the size of the tiles, as we said at the beginning.

On the other hand, and although they all have a retro style, there are also differences between the models of hydraulic floors.

Design: There are models flowery, original drawings and geometric shapes. But there are also minimalist hydraulic floors, such as the Carpet Aparici collection, which has created an innovative design while maintaining the essence of the original style.

Shapes: Although most tiles are square, there are hexagonal porcelain stoneware models that keep the vintage style of hydraulic floors

Texture: Most hydraulic floors have a soft and natural texture, its use being indicated as interior flooring. Despite the technology of porcelain stoneware factories, there are already non-slip hydraulic tiles for use outdoors and around swimming pools. You can find these models in brands specialized in outdoor porcelain, such as Gres de Aragon or Natucer.

Prices and where to buy hydraulic tile

As we said, it is one of the trends in decoration and covering, and as such you can buy porcelain floors in any tile exhibition or online store.

Due to its complexity in the elaboration, hydraulic floors are not the cheapest range of porcelain of all those that exist. As always, there is a price range between models depending on the brand that manufactures it and the characteristics of the product. An average price can be €20 or €25 per m2.

Although it is probably not easy to find a very cheap porcelain floor, the use that is usually given to it: bathroom floor, kitchen floor, decorative carpet, etc. it will make you not need to buy many meters and therefore it will not make the budget much more expensive.

In this catalog you can see the models of various brands, different formats and sizes, the characteristics of the products and a Wide range of hydraulic soil prices per m2.