Porcelain Checks Every Box
Porcelain slabs are made of 100% natural materials, are printed with high-definition technology to emulate real stone, and are then fired at temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. This allows porcelain to look identical to marble but have far superior characteristics!
Marble is a natural stone and therefore porous material so it needs to be sealed on a regular basis or it will stain. Marble is also a relatively soft stone so slabs need to be thick and therefore heavy which makes their installation very difficult. Porcelain, on the other hand, looks every bit like marble but it is not porous, thus needs not to be sealed ever. It is also much harder than natural stone so that allows porcelain to be thinner and therefore easier to install (with the right tools, processes and training, which Porcebella provides).
Porcelain is not a new material. In fact, it has existed for thousands of years! What is relatively new is that now it is produced in slab format, as large as 10.5′ by 5′. This allows for GROUTLESS shower walls. That means no unsightly grouts in need of cleaning! No wonder, porcelain slabs are the new surfacing material particularly in very high-end luxurious homes.
Porcebella sources only the finest large-format porcelain slabs made by the best Italian company in the world and readily available in over 20 colors, each indistinguishable from real stone. Given that Porcebella sells only to bathroom remodelers, and not to the public, it prices its slabs at a significant discount compared to retail prices, thus allowing remodelers to make a good profit.
Advantages
Porcelain’s Superpowers
Clay, sand, and other natural elements are mixed, ground, dried, pressed, then fired to create large format porcelain — solid and hard-wearing.
No Cracking
Porcelain is fragile, yes – until it’s installed. Once bonded to Porcebella’s substrate using our proprietary process, it’s the most durable shower surface available. Virtually no chance of cracking or breaking!
Porcelain FAQs
Your Questions, Answered
Used for decades in high-end bathroom remodels, large format porcelain can now be enjoyed by homeowners everywhere thanks to Porcebella breakthrough efficiencies. Here are responses to questions we hear most:
Large format porcelain can be fragile to transport, fabricate, and install, yes — but Porcebella’s proprietary processes and procedures dramatically offset these challenges. Remember, large format porcelain is all that we do. It is not for the novice installer — but we’re not novice installers! Once we bond large format porcelain to our waterproof substrate it becomes the most durable shower wall material available.
You have complete piece of mind thanks to our lifetime warranty on our products and our 5-year workmanship warranty.
Thanks to our expertise and patent pending installation procedures, yes! By marrying large format panels as large as 8’ x 5’ to our proprietary approach, we fabricate and install lifetime-lasting porcelain showers start-to-finish in 2 days or less (including demolition, plumbing, and cleanup!). By comparison, traditional tile jobs by a seasoned tile setter can take 5 to 10 days. Large-format porcelain jobs by other installers usually take 2 weeks minimum.
No! Porcelain panels are manufactured by combining a blend of 100% natural minerals that are compressed (like diamonds) under immense pressure and fired in a kiln at extremely high temperatures. This makes them non-porous and extremely durable. The restaurant industry uses porcelain panels for countertops because you can cut directly on them without scratching. Non-porous also means they’re very hygienic.
At our free in-home design consultation we’ll take measurements to ensure the large format porcelain can fit into your home and bathroom. If the panel is too big, we have alternate solutions that in most cases still allow us to install a new Porcebella tub or shower. The final product retains all of the benefits of porcelain including minimal seams.