Terrace and parking tiles that survive a Punjab summer and the monsoon

A Ludhiana roof in June is hot enough to crack a bad tile and a July downpour will find every weak joint. The terrace is also where the family sits in October and where the car lives all year. It deserves the same thought as the drawing room, and a different tile.

Matt, always

Wet glossy tile is a fall waiting to happen. Every 600 x 600 tile in the Drambay range is matt for this reason. The stone-look porcelains (7570, 7571, 7515) hide dust and water marks between washes, which on a roof is most of the year.

Full body for the parking

Car tyres, gas cylinders, dragged furniture: parking floors get hit. A full-body tile like Oxide or Coal is the same colour all the way through, so a chip does not leave a white scar. These are 8 mm; tell the tiler so the bed is prepared for it.

Colour in the sun

Dark tiles get hot. Desert (cream) and Smoke (light grey) stay walkable in bare feet longer than Coal in a May afternoon. For a terrace the family actually uses, lighter is kinder. For parking it matters less.

Slope, joints and the drain

Three things your tiler must get right outdoors: a slope towards the drain (ask for it, check it with a bucket of water before grouting), a slightly wider joint than indoors, and a waterproof grout. The tile cannot fix a flat roof that holds water; nothing can.

Questions we get asked

Can I put the 2x4 glossy tiles on a terrace?

No. They are for indoor floors and walls. Outdoors, use the 600 x 600 matt porcelain or full body range.

How many boxes for a 20 x 30 ft terrace?

600 sq ft / 15.5 = 38.7, plus 7% wastage = 41.4, so 42 boxes. The calculator on each product page does this for you.