Why Choose Wood Effect Paving Slabs?

The obvious answer is that Wood Effect Porcelain Paving offers the aesthetics of real timber, without the maintenance and deterioration that comes with outdoor wooden surfaces, such as decking.

Real wood decking has a number of well-recognised drawbacks. Wood needs regular treatment to prolong its life and prevent rotting - if you want to retain its original colour, it will need staining too. If wood becomes wet (something which is unavoidable in the British climate) it can become extremely slippery.

How often have you seen the ugly addition of chicken wire to the surface of a deck, in order to reduce the danger of slipping? This makeshift solution contrasts sharply with the more sophisticated and inherently safe option of our outdoor Wood Effect Porcelain Slabs. These slabs are designed with safety in mind, featuring a British Standards compliant R11 slip rating, which signifies a high level of slip resistance suitable for outdoor use.

A Low-Maintenance Outdoor Slab

With outdoor wood effect tiles, you can enjoy all the low-maintenance, slip-resistant advantages of porcelain (a virtually non-porous material), alongside fade-resistant colours and a scratch and stain-resistant surface. Despite regular maintenance and treatment, wood will inevitably deteriorate over time. In contrast, porcelain paving remains durable and aesthetically pleasing for over 20 years, offering superior value for money and a better return on investment. Porcelain is also much easier to maintain and clean than wooden decking.

Find a full rundown of the benefits of choosing porcelain paving here.

An Easier Installation Process

When laying porcelain tiles, if you intend to contrast colours and textures by mixing stone and wood, choosing to combine wood-effect slabs with stone-effect slabs can simplify and speed up the work.

This is because you only need to prepare a sub base for outdoor tiles, instead of the complex job of building sub-frames alongside sub bases to hold timber planks.

When installing Wood Effect Porcelain Paving or other slabs larger than 600mm in length, it's important to be aware of surface dishing, which can occur due to the size of the slabs. To prevent water pooling on the surface, these slabs should be installed using a ⅓ bond pattern. This installation method ensures that the joints between slabs do not align directly across consecutive rows, facilitating better water runoff and reducing the likelihood of surface pooling.

Top-Quality Italian Porcelain with a Real Wood Look

Convenience isn't the only reason to choose Wood Effect Porcelain Paving. Our Italian outdoor tiles are manufactured to give you all the interest and character you'd expect from authentic, high-quality timber - a unique grain pattern, knots and subtle tonal changes.

Even if you've never considered using timber as a material, wood-look paving offers a unique design option with its own special character.

Designing with Wood Effect Porcelain Paving

Our customers choose our Wood Effect Porcelain Paving to enjoy the subtlety of real timber colouring and the dynamic design options of the long, linear tile shape.

Wood effect slabs also offer a nature-inspired texture exclusive to these designs, resulting in a tonally interesting paving with a very specific character. We are fortunate to work with a range of incredibly talented landscapers and designers and have built up a catalogue of innovative landscaping projects featuring our Wood Effect Porcelain.

Discover more design ideas for Wood Effect porcelain paving here.

Creating Zones with Wood Effect Paving Slabs

Wood slabs are ideal for creating contrast and zoning paving, enabling you to create distinct areas with their own purpose. A rectangle of Rovere Porcelain Paving set into a patio of pale porcelain, for example, would provide the ideal foundation for an outdoor dining set.

A Range of Indoor and Outdoor Flooring Designs

If you have real wood flooring inside your home, wood effect porcelain allows you to choose a near match, creating a flow of colour and texture to unite your indoors and outdoors into a single living space.

At the same time, you gain the advantage of an easy-to-maintain outdoor area.

A Range of Superior Edging Options

The shape of our Wood Effect Porcelain Slabs makes them a shoo-in as edging.

You can add definition to a patio by framing it with contrasting wood slabs from our collection. The edge detail adds interest and can also act as a safety feature, alerting visitors to a change in levels. We have also seen clients installing alternate courses of wood effect tiles to contrast against courses of lighter paving.

A Modern Feel with a Traditional Vibe

Because of its shape, our 1200x300mm Wood Effect Porcelain Paving creates a number of unique design opportunities. It maintains a traditional plank shape, but with wider dimensions. This results in a reduced number of joints when laid, creating a sleeker appearance that is particularly suited to modern design. The dimensions are also a benefit in larger areas, making a wood-look appealing where narrower planks might look too busy.

Our Cinder Porcelain Paving slabs were the first choice for Stephen Etheridge of Esse Landscapes. Esse used the pavers for a large patio scheme because they gave exactly the “clean, contemporary, but tactile feel” that was needed.

A Selection of Dynamic Paving Patterns

The linear shape and size of these tiles sets our Wood Effect Porcelain Paving apart from the rest of our Porcelain collection, giving you a wider range of laying patterns to choose from.

Not only can these tiles be laid in a stacked or staggered pattern, but also herringbone to ape wooden flooring - creating a striking contrast to any surrounding paving slabs.

Alternatives to Outdoor Wood Effect Tiles

At London Stone, we're the first to agree that wood-effect porcelain is a 'Marmite' product. The long slabs are wider than standard wood planks, and the slabs are, of course, jointed with grout. This has design advantages, but if you're looking for a low-maintenance wood effect that has similarities to real timber in decking construction, then we recommend checking out our composite decking ranges, where you'll find low-maintenance, guaranteed options ideally suited to both traditional and modern schemes.

Steps and Coping

As with all our porcelain paving colours, our Wood Look Paving is available in matching steps and coping. A variety of edge profiles are available to add subtle textural detail to your garden design, giving you everything you need to create a space-embracing design with real character.

Guaranteed Quality

All our porcelain paving carries a ten-year homeowner's guarantee. Rest easy, knowing that you've chosen Wood Effect Paving Slabs that will give lasting pleasure.

If you'd like to make a purchase, all our items can be bought directly through our site. We offer free nationwide delivery for orders over £750 + VAT.

FAQs

Do You Offer an Installation Service for Your Range of Wood Effect Porcelain Paving?

At present, we don't offer an installation service for our Wood Effect Porcelain Pavers. However, if you require a landscaper of garden designer, our Landscape Specialist Scheme may be of use.

Before committing to a landscaper, you should ensure that the person you choose is right for your garden project. It's worth asking your proposed tradesperson if you can view a portfolio of similar works - we also recommend getting several quotations before making a commitment.

More information about installing our outdoor wood effect tiles can be found on our Installation FAQ page.

Can I Return My Wood Effect Paving Slabs if I'm Not Happy with Them?

It's rare that our customers are unhappy with our products. However, in the unlikely event of an issue developing with your Wood Effect patio slabs, we will do our utmost to ensure a suitable resolution is found. In these instances, we ask that you contact us as soon as possible, so that we can put the issue right for you quickly. Rectifying order issues is more difficult once your items have been installed, so we recommend that you get in touch as quickly as possible.

We understand that sometimes people change their minds. When purchasing your Wood Effect Porcelain Paving items from London Stone, you have the right to cancel your order and return your items within 14 days of delivery. The only exception to this is bespoke and pre-sealed items. Please note that your patio slabs must be returned in their original condition and packing.

If your Wood Effect slabs are faulty, damaged, not fit for purpose or not as described, you have a 30-day period in which to return them. We will also collect the materials at our own cost, taking full responsibility in these situations.

How Long Will it Take to Deliver My Wood Effect Porcelain Tiles?

At London Stone, we pride ourselves on our fast shipping times, keeping a huge variety of items in stock at any time. If your order of Wood Effect Porcelain Paving is placed before 1pm, we can usually deliver your products the next day.

Bespoke orders need to be manufactured before shipping, so the lead times for these items can vary. For further information, please speak to a member of our team.

Customers can also collect their Wood Effect porcelain pavers from our Southern distribution centre near Heathrow, or our Northern distribution hub in Manchester.

Do You Have Any Showrooms I Can Visit?

Yes, we currently have ten showroom locations based around the country:

When visiting our showrooms, you can view our wide range of porcelain paving items and see how they might look when placed in your outdoor space.

Our showrooms are conveniently located, displaying all our porcelain paving products in an aesthetically pleasing manner to help you visualise them in your own space. We also offer free parking, hot and cold refreshments and free Wi-Fi, making you feel at home in every location.