What you need to know about craquelure
What is Craquele?
Craquelé or craqueling refers to the appearance of small hairline cracks in a material such as earthenware or tiles. In our Spanish tile series, some tiles have been deliberately craquelé applied for a playful effect. It can also occur, with certain glaze colours and finishes, that the craquelé only occurs when the tile is placed.The cracks only occur in the top layer of the glaze and do not affect the hardness of the tile.
What should you take into account with tiles that contain crackle?
Are you choosing a contrasting grout colour for your tile? Think of a white tile with a black grout, or a green tile with a white grout. Then grout can get into the hairline cracks in the glaze that you can no longer remove. You can prevent this by impregnating the tiles with Vlekstop before grouting . This will seal the hairline cracks from dirt, water and therefore grout. Then you can apply the colour grout you want.Read the installation and treatment plan here on how to install Spanish tiles with crackle.
Crackle in a wet room, what should I do?
Are you going to place the tiles in a shower room or another wet room? Then we also recommend impregnating the tiles before grouting. This prevents water and lime from penetrating the crackle, causing the tile to turn white.
Cleaning tip:
Always clean Spanish tiles (both with and without Craquelé) with acid-free and a non-corrosive cleaning agent. The colour pigment is made of natural materials and the colour can fade to disappear if you expose it to corrosive agents several times.For limescale you can use Azule cement veil remover , this is acid-free. For dirt you can use Azule Dweilzeep or another green soap.