Concrete FAQ

Rustic Elegance, in concrete. We set expectations honestly and aim to surpass them.

Is ARTO concrete right for you?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Concrete tile is its own thing. It's not ceramic, it's not stone, and it's not a knockoff of either one. It's cement, sand, fine aggregates, and pure inorganic pigment, placed in molds by hand and cured. ARTO started in 1966 making clay tile. We added concrete in 1973, when the OPEC oil embargo sent firing costs through the roof and we needed a way to make tile that didn't depend on a kiln. Half a century later, we still make it the same way: by hand, in Los Angeles.

The handmade part means subtle variation in color, surface, and dimension from one piece to the next. Rustic accents, small holes, a scratch here and there. Tiles that aren't perfectly square, perfectly flat, or perfectly the same thickness. These are not defects. These are the tile. Far from perfect. That's the whole point.

The concrete part means the material is alive in a way few hard surfaces are. It absorbs the environment around it. It develops a patina. Outdoor installations change visibly within months. Indoor installations evolve slowly over decades. The tile you put down today is not the tile you'll have in twenty years, and that is exactly why people want it.

If you want something that looks the same on day one as it does on day five thousand, concrete may not be your material. We curate porcelain for that, and we make clay tile if you want handmade character with a less active surface. There are good answers across the catalog.

But if you want a wall, floor, patio, or pool surround that ages with you, concrete is the most alive material in our shop. Color you can feel. Texture you can see.

We'll send you as many samples as you need, free, so you can see the range before you commit.

How does the color work? Does it fade?

Short answer: the color can't fade, but the concrete can change. Two different things, often confused.

Here's what's happening in the tile. Our pigment is pure inorganic iron oxide, made by oxidizing metal into a powder. The pigment is already the end-product of oxidation. There is no further fade available to it. (The same active ingredient is used to make tattoos, for the same reason. It doesn't go anywhere.) Most ARTO concrete carries that pigment all the way through the body. Cut a tile in half and the color goes to the core. It is not a coating. It cannot wear off.

One exception worth knowing: our flash colors are a surface effect, not a through-body color. They mimic the look of a flash-fired kiln tile, where a flash during firing coats the outside of the piece in carbon. Strong, beautiful, distinctive. But like the kiln version, the carbon coating doesn't go all the way through. With wear over decades, flash colors can show their core. That's part of how a flashed tile lives. Choose a flash color when you want the look of a flashed tile. Choose a solid color or a signature blend when you want the color to stay constant from face to core.

What can change either way is the concrete itself. All concrete, colored or not, picks up dust, dirt, and weathering from its environment over time. The surface develops a patina. Outdoors, this can happen fast. Indoors, slowly, sometimes barely at all.

What people sometimes call "fading" in the field is almost always one of two things:

• A buildup of efflorescence, hard water, or soap residue. A mild cleaner restores the original color.
• Surface erosion from harsh treatment: pressure washing of any kind, big-box all-purpose cleaners, sandpaper, abrasive brushes. This wears the matrix down to the aggregate. It's not the pigment leaving. It's the concrete leaving.

ARTO concrete is engineered to age, not to erode.

What's the difference between patina and damage?

Patina is the slow, beautiful change that comes from the room living its life around the tile. Sun, foot traffic, cooking oils, rain on a patio. The tile records the years.

Here's the way it works. A great floor isn't great because it's perfect. It's great because it's broken in. Like a good pair of jeans. Like a leather jacket that fits because you've worn it for ten years. Concrete does that. The patina turns the floor into part of the space rather than a sore thumb sitting on top of it. After a few years, you stop noticing the tile and you start noticing the room.

Some of our top designers order tiles months in advance just to let them patina in storage before installation. They want the head start.

Damage is faster, harsher, and avoidable. Acidic cleaners on a sealed floor. Pressure washers, period. The wrong sealer applied the wrong way. Deicing salts on a freeze-thaw patio. (More on those below. They are as harsh as acid on concrete.)

Patina is the point. Damage is preventable. Knowing the difference protects your investment.

What if I want something I don't see in the catalog?

Send us the photo. Send us the sketch. Send us a paint chip from your grandmother's house.

We sometimes describe the factory like a bakery. We can make the cake in any shape and any size. You pick the flavor and the topping. Color, texture, format, finish, custom impressions, color matching, historical restoration. Concrete is the most flexible material in our shop, and ARTO is one of the few places in the country where custom concrete tile happens easily and at scale.

If we can make it, we'll make it. If we can't make it yet, we'll tell you the truth.

How much should I order?

Standard math: square footage of the area, plus 10 to 15 percent for cuts, breakage, and future repairs. More if your pattern uses multiple sizes or your layout involves a lot of cuts. After install, set a few unused boxes aside in a dry spot. They're harder to match later, even with our records.

That said, your contractor sees the job. They know the layout, the cuts, the pattern, the substrate. At the end of the day, they decide.

Will it look right across the whole floor or wall?

Yes, if the installer plans for it.

For the best overall appearance, we suggest working from several boxes at once. Open them all, pull tiles from across the cartons, and lay out a dry run before any thinset hits the substrate. Strong random shading is what makes our tile look hand-laid instead of factory-stamped.

If the job needs a second order to finish, don't burn through the original first. Mix old with new across the field.

Should I seal it? Naked or sealed?

Concrete is porous. Sealing matters more for concrete than it does for ceramic. Two questions worth answering: when to seal, and what kind of sealer.

When. Two paths.

Sealed from day one. Pre-sealed at the factory or sealed right after install. The tile is protected against staining from the start. Best for kitchens, baths, driveways, and anywhere with spill or stain risk where you need protection out of the gate. We can pre-seal at the factory for an added charge.

Naked, then sealed when you've earned the patina you want. Some customers want the tile to live unsealed for a year, two, ten, until the look they're after has developed. Then they seal to lock it in. This works best for indoor installations with low spill risk. Outdoor naked concrete will move faster than you might expect.

What kind. Two main families.

Topical sealer sits on top of the tile and captures it as it is. The tile will still patina, but slowly. Reseal topically on a regular cadence and you can hold the look close to where it started for a long time. It's still not porcelain. (Nothing is.) But it slows the clock.

Invisible impregnating sealer (also called penetrating sealer) soaks into the tile and mainly keeps water out. Some impregnating sealers do more, but the basic job is water management. The tile breathes more freely, and the patina arrives faster.

A few rules across both. Buy from a tile supply house, not a big-box hardware store. The wrong sealer can damage the tile or make later resealing difficult. Pre-seal before installation regardless of long-term plans, just to protect the tile during the install itself (grout water, thinset splatter, and other trades can stain unprotected concrete). Your installer or your dealer can recommend the right product for your specific install.

Can I use it outside? In freezing climates?

Yes, with the right setup. ARTO concrete is freeze-thaw tested, and we have the data to back it up.

Honest truth: in a freezing climate, the tile is one part of a larger system. Concrete is porous. It must be sealed. And the bigger story is the assembly. From the tile all the way down to the substrate, water needs a path out of the system, never into it. A great freeze-thaw installation is designed by an architect or an experienced installer who understands water management. The tile does its job. The system does the rest. The installer is a big part of whether it works.

Watch for deicing salts. Calcium chloride and rock salt are as harsh as acid on a concrete surface. If you live somewhere they're necessary, seal well (water should bead on the surface) with a high-quality penetrating sealer, and consider sand or non-chloride alternatives where you can.

If freeze-thaw or deicing concerns are weighing on you, talk to us about alternatives. We make clay tile that handles these conditions with a different chemistry. We curate porcelain for cases where impervious is the right call. We work in stone too. There's a right answer in our catalog for almost any climate.

For architects and specifiers: ARTO has published its own Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Health Product Declarations (HPDs), and CSI 3-part specs for concrete. One thing worth knowing: the TCNA framework many ceramic tile manufacturers reference is for ceramic only. Concrete tile sits outside that program. We do our own documentation, on our own. Everything lives on the Downloads page.

Is it slippery?

Some tiles more than others. Wet is slipperier than dry. (True of every floor in the world.)

The number you want is the Dynamic Coefficient of Friction (DCOF), the current industry measure for slip resistance. (It used to be Static Coefficient of Friction. The standard moved.) Our standard Artillo and Roman finishes meet ADA requirements and are spec'd into hospitality projects across the country.

For pool decks, shower floors, and exterior steps where extra grip matters, ask about our add-on textures. Limestone and Luna add tactile surface variation that increases traction without sacrificing the look. Smaller formats also help (more grout joints, more grip).

Your dealer, your architect, or our team can walk you through what's right for your specific space.

Does it scratch? Crack?

Scratch. Naked concrete is the softer of our materials, and yes, it can scratch under heavy or sharp loads. Felt pads on furniture, lift instead of drag, trim the dog's nails. Sealing helps, though a topical sealer can itself scratch (the scratch happens on the sealer surface, not the tile underneath).

Worth saying: a few small scratches are part of the language of this material. Some of our tile ships with surface marks designed in. As the floor ages, scratches and scuffs blend into the patina rather than fighting it. This is concrete's gift. It hides its own life.

Crack. A single cracked tile is usually an installation issue: voids under the tile, poor back-buttering. The fix is replacing that tile. A crack that runs across multiple tiles and through the grout is a substrate issue (movement or a slab crack), and the fix involves a crack isolation membrane and reinstallation. A hairline only in the grout is grout shrinkage from too much water in the mix. Each one has a fix. Call us and we'll help you figure out which one you're looking at.

Where do I find installation, sealing, and maintenance details?

Right here. Every line has installation sheets, sealing recommendations, efflorescence guidance, and maintenance protocols on our Downloads page. Concrete-specific EPDs, HPDs, and CSI 3-part docs live there too. We don't ship paperwork in the box. It lives online so it's always current.

Still have questions? Talk to us. Real humans answer the phone.