Stone + Tile 101 – Nasco Stone + Tile
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    Stone + Tile 101

    A comprehensive guide to help you navigate the world of Stone & Tile. Find valuable insight from care instructions, step-by-step installation, and most importantly maintenance to help your products last longer. Lastly, learn more about what gives our product that extra special “sparkle”

    Maintenance Instructions

    (How to take care of your material)

    Installation Instructions

    (How to properly set your material)

    Product Features

    We know you can purchase stone and tile anywhere... here's what separates our materials from the bunch.

    Not all marbles are created equally.

    Honesty is our policy. Go behind the scenes and be a part of our process. Let us take you on a journey to Europe where we have been sourcing our natural stone from family-owned quarries for close to 60 years.

    1. Four Generations & Counting

    Our four-generational quarry and factory relationships privy us to exclusive Grade A natural stone blocks. That’s right, that means we see it first.

    2. Hand Selection

    Each block at the quarry is carefully hand-selected in person directly by ownership based on its color, character, and composition. All of this ensures that our materials will perform and last, but also inspire beauty and creativity.

    3. Its All in the Details

    All of our products go through endless rounds of approvals and processes to not only meet, but exceed industry standards. Whether it is technical performance, material color, finish or character, we only offer the best of the best.

    4. Perfecting the Imperfect

    Upon reaching our warehouse, material is systemically examined and sorted by lot color by our highly trained quality control team before accepted into warehouse for storage. Tile is exhaustively inspected once more before being shipped out to job-site.

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    Let's talk porcelain.

    Settling is not our thing. Going above and beyond the industry standard is the NASCO promise. Here is a look inside our process:

    1. Rectified and Micro-Beveled Edges

    Without getting too technical—it means our tile edges are mechanically finished to achieve a perfectly straight/smooth edge, allowing for a super-tight grout joint and deterring chipping.

    2. HD Ink-Jet Printing with Numerous Patterns

    If there’s 2 things we hate its ​pixels​ and ​repeats​. We utilize the latest digital printing technology to produce the highest-resolution graphics. This allows 
us to replicate every fine detail and create more patterns than you can count.

    3. Through-Body/Color-Body

    All of our collections can be categorized as either through-body or color-body. Both are industry-leading when it comes to a tile’s overall quality and durability.

    4. Double-Loaded

    In layman’s terms, a second loading of very fine colored powders is applied to the surface, then pressed together and fired, providing you with even more durability.

    5. Meets All Requirements

    Our tiles are geared for high-traffic commercial applications and pass all technical data requirements from stain, frost, abrasion, and chemical resistance to an absurdly high breaking strength and low water absorption rate.

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    Mom, where do marbles come from...

    From a stone block to your marble bathroom floor. Be a part of the process.

    We don’t just meet expectations, we exceed them. We source our materials from over 40 countries worldwide to ensure variety and that our materials come from only the most reputable quarries and factories. Our strict quality control systems and procedures have been set in place for close to 60 years to validate the authenticity of each and every tile so it not only meets our standards but those of our customers as well.
    1. Block Sourcing

    On average 6.5’x10’x6’ Stone blocks weighing up to 25 tons are carefully hand-selected from quarries directly by ownership to ensure the finest quality.

    2. Block Fabrication

    Blocks are sliced up into long equal strips by a gang-saw machine using diamond blades.

    3. Tile Cutting

    The slab strips are then brought to a diamond disc cutting machine where they are cut down to their desired size (12x12, 12x24, 24x24, Slab…etc.)

    4. Finishing

    Tile or slab thickness and size is calibrated to ensure pin-point size accuracy and then brought to a the appropriate finishing machine with 12 moving heads, where the face of the material will either be honed, polished, flamed, tumbled…etc.

    5. Edge Detail & Drying

    Using rotating discs, all edges are properly eased and micro-bevelled. Once material is finished, it is passed through an oven to dry all excess penetrated water and reveal the material’s true color.

    6. Quality Control

    Material is meticulously examined by an experienced quality control team dedicated to discarding tiles that do not meet our strict quality standards. Their inspection criteria includes reviewing color, veining, finish, size, and edge detail.

    7. Sorting & Packaging

    Once Material has been approved it is then systematically sorted and grouped together by its respective tonality and character. This is perhaps one of our most vital steps as it ensures our customers receive a balanced look. Sorted material is then given a Lot # and placed into styrofoam boxes which are placed onto pallets to be loaded and shipped onto a container.

    8. Shipping Logistics

    This is one of the steps that truly separates us from everybody else. Whether your material is being shipped via ocean or air freight, our knowledgable import department with over over 45 years of experience works tirelessly to assure your order is delivered within above industry standard lead times.

    9. Receiving & Warehousing

    Once the material arrives at our 65,000 SF warehouse and prior to being accepted for storage or shipped to a job-site, it is immediately inspected and organized by our highly trained quality control team to ensure it passes all required tests and standards.

    1. Raw Material Selection

    Local and premium quality raw Materials: Clays and Feldspars are sourced and grinded down into a fine powder.

    2. Spray Drying

    The fine powder is then combined with water and made into a liquid slurry. The liquid slurry is put in a large spray dryer in order to reach 5% water.

    3. Pressing & Slow Drying

    The spray dried with 5% water mixture is then loaded into a cast and pressed at the requested size. Pressed material is moved onto an assembly line and is slow dried for 25 minutes at temperature of 410F.

    4. Printing

    Once material is completely dry, it is sent to a high definition ink-jet printer which will give the tile its color and pattern.

    5. Firing

    Once the material has been printed, the material is then fired in the kiln for 1 hour at an extremely high temperature of 2246F. This process is significant as it strengthens the tile, expels access water, and enables the tile to reach a .03% porosity rate.

    6. Finishing

    After the material has been micro-beveled, it is then hand-sorted and laser machine checked for size accuracy and color/finish quality.

    7. Sorting & Packaging

    Approved material is boxed with its respective tonality shade, palletized, wrapped, and loaded onto a container.

    8. Shipping Logistics

    This is one of the steps that truly separates us from everybody else. Whether your material is being shipped via ocean or air freight, our knowledgable import department with over over 45 years of experience works tirelessly to assure your order is delivered within above industry standard lead times.

    9. Receiving & Warehousing

    Once the material arrives at our 65,000 SF warehouse and prior to being accepted for storage or shipped to a job-site, it is immediately inspected and organized by our highly trained quality control team to ensure it passes all required tests and standards.