Conveniently located next door to us, Signorino Tile Gallery have a great selection, quality products and friendly service.

Signorino is an upmarket "Tile Gallery" in Richmond. They only stock expensive tiles and have a fancy looking showroom. We purchased 175sqm of a very expensive porcelain tile to lay outdoors and around a pool. We clearly explained to the people at Signorino that they were being laid around a pool and were told these tiles were perfect for the job and they didn't even need to be sealed.

The tiles look great and being porcelain will continue to look great for many years to come, the problem is that porcelain is completely non-porous (which is why they don't need sealing). What does this mean? Water is not absorbed whatsoever and walking on the tiles even when they are only slightly wet is like walking on ice. You literally aquaplane, which as you can imagine is extremely dangerous around a pool area. Even when the kids are walking slowly it's dangerous.

Therefore we now have to get the tiles "etched" using a chemical wash that will open the pores of the porcelain up. Not only is this going to cost $2,000 but we then need to get them sealed because the etching process will allow dirt to get trapped in the tile!! Not happy Signorino!

Approximate cost: $17,000