The soft light bricks that have become popular all over the internet are frequently overturned! How to choose soft light bricks?
March 28, 2023 Source: China Ceramic Network Responsible Editor: Liu Guanmei Read: 47421 3
Nowadays, modern minimalist, creamy, wabi sabi, and wooden decoration styles are popular, and consumers are increasingly accepting low gloss tiles represented by matte tiles and soft gloss tiles. In terms of density, soft gloss bricks are between glossy tiles and matte tiles, and are regarded by many as a "flat substitute" material for microcement, thus highly favored by designers and consumers. By searching for "Soft Light Brick" on Xiaohongshu, you can find over 20000 notes, indicating its high popularity.

However, on the network platforms such as Tiktok and Xiaohongshu, Zhong Taojun saw many netizens roast that their soft bricks overturned, and frankly said that the online renderings were all "cheating". What exactly went wrong with this? Zhongtao Jun summarized four key points for choosing soft light bricks.

Firstly, soft glazed bricks are difficult to clean.

The difficulty of cleaning and maintaining soft light bricks is a headache for many homeowners. A homeowner said that due to the long renovation period, some tiles were not covered with protective film, resulting in deep stains that could not be cleaned with a small brush. Moreover, during daily use, they are prone to getting dirty and difficult to clean, making it impossible for robotic vacuum cleaners to clean thoroughly.

▲ Easy to leave marks during daily use

Soft light bricks are particularly prone to showing footprints, so they need to be cleaned frequently, and have also been jokingly referred to by many netizens as "lazy people don't buy bricks". In addition, special attention should be paid to its stain resistance, as not all soft glazed bricks have good stain resistance. Some low-quality soft light bricks, even if they encounter a little oil pollution, are enough to "disfigure" them. If soy sauce is accidentally spilled and not cleaned in a timely manner, it is easy for it to seep into the bricks, making it difficult to remove stains.

Secondly, the color of the brick surface varies in depth.

The uneven color of the brick surface is also a common problem for many soft light bricks. Many homeowners only realize after laying soft light bricks that the color depth at the brick joints is particularly obvious under natural light. The color of the brick joints in the entire space will become darker, forming a strong contrast with the lighter areas, resulting in uneven shades. Even using various cleaning agents and stain removers to wipe the brick joints back and forth has no effect.

Some netizens have suggested that this situation is most likely due to poor quality of the bricks, which absorb too much water and suck up the cement slurry, causing the color of the tiles to change. Some netizens also expressed that the varying shades of color may be due to the different colors of the bricks themselves. It may not be apparent from just one brick, but when several bricks are laid together, serious color differences and variations can be observed.

The third difference is that it is different when bought at home and when viewed in the store.

It is actually difficult to distinguish the color and texture differences between different soft light bricks. There are many types of light colors, ranging from warm to cold, from 50 ° to 80 °. For people with poor color perception, there is no difference at all. In addition, the lighting in the store is stronger, so it is easy to see that the soft light bricks bought at home are different from the colors seen in the store.

Fourthly, there are many holes.

One of the reasons why many consumers are afraid to follow the trend and buy soft glazed bricks is that they have many holes. A consumer encountered this situation when he noticed a small green hole on the surface of the soft light brick he had just received. After careful inspection, he found that there were more than one small hole, which made her very annoyed.

Some industry insiders say that it is normal to have a small number of holes and "small bumps" because the soft glazed bricks have not been polished; Some people also believe that the presence of particle protrusions, needle holes, and bubbles in soft light bricks is abnormal and belongs to process control defects. Not every factory's soft light products have such defects.

After reading the above 4 pitfalls that are easy to hit when choosing soft light bricks, Zhongtao Jun will teach you how to choose soft light bricks that are not easy to overturn.

Suggestion 1: Distinguish between soft light bricks and soft throw bricks.

Many businesses often confuse soft glazed bricks with soft polished bricks, but in fact, the difference between these two products is very significant, and consumers often cause decoration failures because they mistake soft polished bricks for soft glazed bricks.

▲ Soft Throwing Bricks vs. Soft Light Bricks

The surface of the soft glazed brick is directly coated with a glaze layer without polishing treatment, and the glossiness of the glaze layer is relatively low, usually only about 15-30 °. After polishing, the surface of soft polished tiles achieves a soft light effect, but the glaze surface will damage the glazed crystals after soft polishing treatment, forming small pores on the surface of the tiles. When used, dirt is easy to penetrate, forming stubborn stains, making the tiles look gray and dull. It is also easy to leave water stains when mopping the floor in daily life.

When making a purchase, you can use strong light to illuminate the tiles and observe the aperture size on the surface of the tiles. If the aperture is small, not concentrated, and not glaring, and the surface has a texture similar to egg skin, it indicates that it is a soft light brick; The aperture is very dazzling and the surface is smooth and shiny, indicating that it is a soft polished brick.

Suggestion 2: Conduct anti fouling, color bleeding, and needle hole testing.

Needle hole testing can be done together with stain resistance testing. Use a marker to fill a small piece of ceramic tile, wait for the ink to dry, and then wipe it with a cloth or tissue to observe how many needle holes there are and whether it is easy to clean. In addition, you can pour soy sauce onto the brick surface and wait for a while before wiping it off to observe if there are any stains left on the brick surface.

Suggestion 3: Choose a good grout.

It is best to choose a color similar to the soft gloss brick for the grout. Matte grout or epoxy sand blasting are both good choices. It should be noted that do not choose bright colored grout, otherwise it is easy to cause a single seam to destroy everything.

Suggestion 4: Choose a good cleaning agent.

After laying the soft glazed bricks, cement residue will appear in many places, and cement cleaner is needed to address this situation. Some footprints or black marks that appear in daily life need to be cleaned up in a timely manner with tile cleaner, toilet cleaner, etc.

Suggestion 5: Choose soft light bricks with fewer textures.

The more texture there is on the surface of a soft light brick, the more likely it is to appear messy, while the less texture there is, the more textured it is. Especially for solid color soft light bricks, if laid well, it looks very much like micro cement self leveling. If you want to create a creamy or wabi sabi style, soft light bricks are a good substitute.

Suggestion 6: Choose soft gloss bricks with a glossiness of 15 °.

The glossiness of soft light bricks greatly affects the overall appearance and texture. To avoid tipping over, Zhongtao Jun suggests choosing soft light bricks with a glossiness of 15 °, which not only have good paving effects but also do not reflect light.

Suggestion 7: Choose a suitable paving space.

Soft light bricks should be placed in the living room or bedroom as much as possible, and it is not recommended to place them in the kitchen or bathroom because they are not easy to maintain and their anti slip properties are not as good as expected.

A netizen who claims to have been making bricks for 16 years said that soft light bricks are recommended for wall pasting, not for floor pasting. Previously, when he chatted with the director of the ceramic tile factory, he found that they were unwilling to produce soft glazed tiles because they were prone to contamination and not wear-resistant, resulting in a high complaint rate. Although soft light bricks are comfortable to touch, consumers do not lie on the ground every day to touch them, and do not think that smoothness is easy to maintain.

After reading this article, have you gained a new understanding of soft light bricks? Would you still choose soft light bricks? Leave your opinion in the comment section quickly!