Sarana Tile in Mississauga and Barrie

Porcelain is the bulk of the Sarana range and the material most tile projects are built on. It is fired denser and absorbs far less water than ceramic, which is why it holds up on floors, in showers, in entryways and in commercial spaces where a softer tile would wear or take on moisture. The Sarana porcelain collections cover the looks people actually plan rooms around, and marble-look in particular runs deep here.

• Marble looks. A large part of the Sarana porcelain range imitates natural marble, Calacatta, Statuario, Marquina, Dolomite and onyx visuals, carrying the veining and depth of the real stone without the sealing, staining and softness that come with it. This is how you get a marble bathroom or kitchen floor that survives a family.
• Stone and slate looks. Travertine, limestone and slate visuals for a natural, grounded floor, in matte surfaces that suit a modern or transitional room.
• Concrete and industrial looks. Understated cement and concrete visuals for a contemporary kitchen, bathroom or open living space, where the point is quiet texture rather than pattern.
• Wood looks. Plank-format porcelain that reads as hardwood but goes where wood cannot, showers, entryways and over in-floor heat, giving the warmth of a wood floor in a fully waterproof tile.
• Large format and slabs. Big panels that cover a floor or wall with very few grout lines, for a calm, near-continuous modern surface. Large format needs a flat substrate and a skilled setter, which is exactly where the install matters as much as the tile.

Surface finish matters as much as the look. A polished porcelain is bright and reflective, ideal on a wall or a dry floor, but slick underfoot when wet; a matte or textured finish grips better and is the safer choice for a bathroom or shower floor. We steer you to the right finish for where the tile is going.

Decision: a floor, a shower, a kitchen or any wet or high-traffic area, porcelain is the correct material, and a matte or textured finish is the safer choice for a floor you walk on wet. See the wider porcelain floor and wall category to compare.

Ceramic is lighter and easier to cut than porcelain, and it absorbs more water, which changes where it belongs. That makes it a smart, cost-effective choice for walls and lighter-traffic settings, a bathroom wall above the wet zone, a kitchen backsplash, a feature wall, a powder room. The Sarana ceramic collections lean into pattern, colour, handmade looks and zellige-style glazed tile that would be hard to justify across a whole floor but make a striking wall.

Decision: a dry wall, a backsplash or a decorative feature, ceramic is often the smarter spend than porcelain. A busy floor or a wet area, choose porcelain instead. See ceramic wall tile.

Mosaic is where a kitchen backsplash, a shower niche or a feature wall stops being a surface and becomes a detail, and the Sarana mosaic range is deep, including many collections offered in a mosaic to match a full-size porcelain, so a shower floor or a niche can match the walls around it. It spans marble and stone mosaics, glass mosaics, penny rounds, hexagons, basketweave and pebble formats. Small-format tile on a mesh-backed sheet runs detail that a large tile physically cannot, around a curve, into a niche, as a border or a full feature.

The trade-off with mosaic is that it is more work to install, not less. More grout lines, more edges, more places a rushed install shows. A backsplash sits at eye level, directly behind the stove, lit from under the cabinets, so every flaw is on display at close range for the life of the kitchen. This is the strongest argument on the page for who sets the tile.

Decision: a kitchen backsplash, a shower niche, a feature band or wall, mosaic earns its place, and matching a mosaic to a full-size Sarana porcelain lets a shower floor tie into its walls. A full floor or a large wall field, use porcelain and save the mosaic for the accent. Browse the full mosaic range.

This is the decision that determines where a tile can go, and the one most people never get a straight answer on. Porcelain is fired densest and absorbs the least water, so it is the material for floors, showers and anywhere wet or busy. Ceramic is lighter and suits dry walls and backsplashes. Mosaic is a format rather than a separate material, porcelain, ceramic, glass or stone in small pieces, chosen for detail and feature work. Matching the material to the room is most of the job, and it is worth spending time on before anyone talks colour.

In simple terms: floors and wet areas want porcelain. Dry walls and backsplashes can take ceramic. Mosaic is the detail format for backsplashes, niches and features. We match the material to the room first, then the look.

Any store can hand you a box of tile. The question worth asking is who sets it, because tile is where a bad install shows forever. A lippage edge you feel with a bare foot, a grout line that wanders, a large-format panel a hair out of plane, a backsplash a quarter inch out of level against the upper cabinets. None of that is the tile's fault, and all of it is permanent.

Squarefoot Flooring runs its own installation crews, residential and commercial. Before the first tile goes down, the crew checks the substrate is flat enough for the format, confirms the right setting material and membrane for a wet area, and plans the layout so the cut tiles land where you will not stare at them. For showers and wet rooms that means the correct tile setting materials and waterproofing, not whatever is nearest on the shelf. Large-format porcelain and marble-look tile in particular reward a crew that has set a lot of it.

We supply and install Sarana from our Mississauga showroom across Toronto, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Brampton, Port Credit, Erin Mills, Streetsville, Meadowvale and Cooksville, and from our Barrie showroom across Barrie, Innisfil, Angus, Orillia, Collingwood, Midland and Simcoe County.

See tile installation, and if the floor has heat underneath it, look at in-floor heating membrane systems before you finalize the order.

Sarana runs a very large range across porcelain, ceramic and mosaic, and any collection can vary in the sizes, finishes and rectified-edge options it offers. We work from current stock and the actual tile in front of us, not an archived listing, and we confirm the size, finish and rating printed on the box. If you are matching an existing Sarana tile, bring a spare piece or a photo of the box label, since two runs of the same tile can differ slightly in shade.

Take a full tile home, not a corner chip. Set it on the actual wall or floor, under the light that room gets, at the hour you are actually in it. A marble-look porcelain that reads bright white under showroom lighting can read grey against a north-facing bathroom window, and a full tile shows how the veining and pattern repeat across a wall in a way a sample chip never will.

Sarana porcelain, ceramic and mosaic tile are on display at both Squarefoot Flooring showrooms, which are where you see it, choose it and book the install. Bring your room measurements, a note of whether the area is wet or dry, and a photo of the space in daylight.

Mississauga. 700 Dundas St E, Unit 3-4, L4Y 3Y5. Call 905-277-2227. Monday to Friday 9 to 6, Saturday 10 to 5, closed Sunday.

Barrie. 112 Saunders Rd, Units 1-4, L4N 9A8. Call 705-726-2272. Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9 to 6, Tuesday and Thursday 9 to 5, Saturday 10 to 5, closed Sunday.

Walk in with a room plan and walk out with tile you have seen under real light and a crew that answers to us. Book a showroom visit, or call and we will tell you which Sarana tile suits your project, including when it is not the right material at all.