Product Summary

Discovery Hangar Grey porcelain paving is a large format (1200 x 600 x 20 mm) slab in a dark grey / charcoal colour with a mottled/granular stone-effect pattern reminiscent of black limestone. They have rectified straight edges and a light textured surface. These impressive slabs provide elegant, clean lines and visual wow-factor that will bring grandeur and gravitas to your patio or terrace.

Available in two pack formats:

  • Full Pack - 28 pieces (20.16 m2)
  • Mini Pack - 8 pieces (5.76 m2)
See Full Description

Key features

  • Premium Porcelain - large-format 1200 x 600 x 20 mm straight edge precision tiles of the highest quality
  • Durable - robust, durable, vitrified technology. Frost resistant, fade resistant, stain resistant, scratch & abrasion resistant
  • Low Maintenance - Once a year 1) sweep 2) apply soapy water 3) scrub the tiles 4) leave to dryit's that easy
  • Non-porous - the vitrified tiles are easy to clean, resistant to frost damage and resistant to staining
  • Slip-resistant - porcelain patio tiles have slip resistant characteristics as they don't absorb water
  • Weatherproof - resistant to extreme heat, frost and raincommon causes of damage to standard paving
  • Keeps Its Colour - Unlike concrete and natural stone, porcelain is not affected (bleached) by sunlightso will not fade/weather
Product details

Discovery Paving Slabs

The Discovery range of Porcelain Paving is designed to meet the needs of larger gardens where the space demands paving that is larger, bolder and visually impressive to compliment that scale. 

These premium Italian porcelain paving slabs come in a 1200 x 600 x 20 mm format, and are available as both full packs and mini packs:

  • Full Pack (Qty 28 Paving Slabs / Coverage 20.16m²)
  • Mini Pack (Qty 8 Paving Slabs / Coverage 5.76m²)

The Pavestone Discovery range has four colours to choose, all available on Paving Direct:

R11 Anti-Slip Finish

Our exterior porcelain paving is R11 Anti-Slip finish rated, which means it typically has better slip-resistance than concrete or natural stone paving. There is a misconception that porcelain paving will be "slippy", but this is probably based on people perception of R9 tiles, which are suitable for interior use only. R11 rated porcelain paving is designed and specified for exterior use in wet and dry conditions.

Vitrified Slabs (Non-porous)

Porcelain paving is vitrified, meaning it is an impermeable homogeneous material (non-porous). It is manufactured by firing kaolin clays and minerals in kilns at temperatures over 1200 °C, where they fuse together into a very strong and durable product that is ideal for exterior paving. Because vitrified (literally "glass like") porcelain paving is non-porous, this means it does not suffer many of the issues associated with porous concrete and natural stone paving. Consequently, porcelain paving offers superior performance in a number of areas.

Superior Performance

The benefits of porcelain paving mean that it provides superior performance in a number of key characteristics:

  • Waterproof - impermeable / non-porous.
  • Robust & durable - very, very strong homogeneous material.
  • Slip resistant - built-in ant-slip surface finish technology to provide R11 rated performance
  • Frost resistant - as it is impermeable, water and moisture do not enter the material and frost-action (freeze-thaw) erosion and damage is avoided.
  • Stain resistant - impermeable materials are less prone to staining as pigments and staining materials cannot enter capillaries and micro-fissures in the material or leave drying rings as internal liquid/moisture dries. Porcelain paving is also resistance to fats and oils, another cause of staining.
  • Scratch resistant - the hardness and strength of porcelain paving means it is less susceptible to scratches and abrasions.
  • Colour maintaining - the pigments used to print the patterns on the paving slabs are fixed with a UV protecting finish to prevent sun-bleaching (common with concrete and natural stone).
  • Acids & alkali resistant - porcelain paving is typically impervious to chemicals such as fertiliser and lawn treatments.
  • Moss & algae resistant - the impermeable nature of porcelain paving slabs means it makes it almost impossible for organisms and flora to take root or establish themselves on the paving's surface.
  • Low maintenance - the vitrified impermeable nature of porcelain paving mean it is much easier to clean and maintain than natural stone or concrete, and does not suffer many of their vulnerabilities. Washing down with your patio with soapy water once every six months is about as complicated as maintenance typically gets.

Benefits of Porcelain Paving

Porcelain Paving has many advantages over standard natural quarried stones or concrete paving. These include the following:

  • Super strong & durable
  • Easy to clean
  • No need to seal
  • Easier maintenance
  • Frost resistant
  • Algae resistant
  • Non-Porous (Waterproof)
  • Better slip resistance
  • Scratch and abrasion-resistant
  • Consistent colouration
  • Fade-resistant

Porcelain Paving vs Natural Stone Paving

Porcelain paving ticks all the boxes. The material quality, improved performance characteristics, extended longevity, and lower maintenance/upkeep of porcelain paving significantly lowers lifetime-costs for any garden patio paving when compared to natural stone or concrete paving.

Porcelain will outlive all other types of stone, which will save you money in the long run; especially as typically, the slabs only account for 20-30% of the initial cost of laying a new patio installation. If kept well maintained, your porcelain patio will still look brand new in 10 years time.  You simply can’t put a price on slabs of this quality when looking at the long-term (10 years plus) solution for your garden. Because porcelain exterior tiles are vitrified (glass-like) and the material is a solid homogeneous slab, it is waterproof and impervious. This means that dirt and grime, algae and lichen cannot penetrate and get in the material of these paving slabs. This makes keeping them clean and maintaining them much easier. Simply brush off leaves and detritus and wash with warm soapy water.

 

 

Porcelain Paving

Natural Stone Paving

Concrete Paving

Vitrified

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Non-Porous

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Anti Slip R11 Rating

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Frost resistant

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Algae resistant

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Low Maintenance

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Calibrated Available

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Consistent Colour

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Strong and Durable

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Indoor & Outdoor

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Stain Resistant

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Laying Porcelain Slabs

Porcelain paving uses printed designs on the surface of the slab to create the patterns. Each pack will typically contain a variety of tile designs to ensure sufficient visual variation when you lay them. To ensure you do not lay matching patterns adjacent to one another and to ensure the blend/mix looks more varied, we advise inspecting the slabs prior to installation and determining your laying pattern. This ensures that the overall desired hue/pattern is achieved and evens out any slight colour discrepancies when laying more than one pack. Laying your patio one pallet at a time can lead to slight but visible colour banding.

Porcelain paving is non-porous and, therefore, requires a Slurry Primer to ensure it bonds properly with the bedding mortar. The priming slurry should be applied to the underside of each paving tile just prior to laying. Please refer to the laying instructions if in any doubt.

A flexible Jointing Grout should be used, and care must be taken not to let it dry on the surface of the tile. We recommend applying a protective sealant to your porcelain tiles to help prevent marking from grout residue (Porcelain Tile Protector).

To install and lay porcelain patio paving slabs, you'll need to do the following steps:

  1. Measure up and mark out your patio - ensure you calculate both 1) area in square metres (m2)  and 2) the fall (slope) required for drainage.
  2. Dig out the patio area to create the substrate (220 -230 mm depth).
  3. Lay the sub-base of MOT Type-1 hardcore (compacted & 150 mm depth).
  4. Coat the slabs' underside with priming slurry to ensure their bond. As porcelain is non-porous, priming slurry is essential to ensure you are able to successfully bond the slabs to the bedding mortar.
  5. Trowel-in and lay a bedding course of mortar mix (50 mm depth) immediately prior to laying each slab.
  6. Lay the paving slabs on to the mortar bed and tamp down. Ensure you leave the desired joint spacing between the slabs and the slabs are “level” to the fall.
  7. Leave to set for 24 hours, so the mortar mix can cure enough for you to walk on the slabs.
  8. Grout the joints between the paving (pointing) with exterior tile grout. We would advise using Pavestone Porcelain Tile Protector to make removing grout residue easier.

To calculate the areas of paving in square-metres (m2), the amount of sub-base hardcore or the amount of sand and cement you'll need for the mortar mix bedding course, please refer to our paving calculators.

Step-by-Step Patio Installation Guide

Please see our step-by-step installation guide, which includes videos for all the key steps - How to lay a patio.

If you require any additional information on laying our porcelain, please give us a call on 01993 608 824 and speak to our dedicated expert paving team.

 

Care & Maintenance

Because porcelain paving is non-porous, many of the issues that arise with concrete and natural stone paving, do not occur with porcelain outdoor tiles. Walked-on dirt and grime and washed-on soluble grime and dirt are almost guaranteed on every patio. With porcelain paving slabs, this dirt and grime is largely superficial and sitting on the surface, as it cannot penetrate the vitrified homogeneous porcelain tile. Therefore, most of this build up of grime can be dealt with by brushing down your porcelain patio with yard brush and warm soapy water, and rinsing off with a garden hose.

There will inevitably be windblown or falling detritus and organic material such as leaves, twigs, nuts, seeds and grass cuttings that come to settle on your patio. These can transfer a contact stain when they are wet/damp of natural tannin pigments (akin to a tea stain) that will leave brown marks on your slab. Obviously, the first solution is to regularly sweep off any organic material that settles on your porcelain patio. However, should the paving become stained with tannins, then Pavestone Porcelain Patio Cleaner is recommended to help remove these blemishes.

 

Specifications
  1200 x 600 (8 Pieces) Mini Pack 1 x Sample (200 x 100 mm Slip) 1200 x 600 (28 Pieces) Single Size Pack
No. of Pieces 8 1 28
Pack Coverage (m²) 5.76 0.02 20.16
Range Discovery Range Paving Discovery Range
Prod Type Porcelain Paving Slabs Sample Porcelain Paving Slabs
Material Porcelain Sandstone Porcelain
Finish Light Textured N/A Light Textured
Finish (Edge) Sawn / Straight N/A Sawn / Straight
Colour Charcoal N/A Charcoal
Colour Group Black Black
Dimension (W) 1200 200 1200
Dimension (H) 600 100 600
Dimension (D) 20 20
Interior / Exterior Exterior / Interior Exterior Exterior / Interior
Pack Contents M/PACK Single Size Sample 1200 x 600 x 20
Pack Sold As Mini Pack Sample Single Size Pack
Pack Description

1200x600 Qty 8

1 x sample

1200x600 Qty 28

Pieces Description Porcelain Slabs sample Porcelain Slabs

Usually replenished within days