Porcelain Forecourt with Granite Step

The front of a house is the part everyone sees, so a tired forecourt drags the whole place down. This red-door home had the front laid in large-format grey porcelain with a granite step at the door, and it reads clean and sharp against the brick.

The finish

Large grey porcelain tiles were laid across the front, kept to a minimum of joints so the surface reads as one clean plane rather than a busy grid. The grey sits well against the red brick and the dark windows, and a darker border frames the edge. The scale of the tile is what gives a small front area a greater sense of space.

The granite step

A single granite step lifts cleanly to the threshold at the front door. Granite is the right material for a step that takes daily use: it is hard-wearing, it grips underfoot, and it weathers without losing its look. The step ties into the porcelain around it rather than sitting on top of it.

Why porcelain out front

Porcelain suits a front forecourt for the same reasons it suits a patio. It is dense and non-porous, so it does not stain, soak up water or grow moss. It holds its colour rather than fading, it stands up to Irish frost, and it cleans with a brush and water, which matters on a surface that faces the road and takes the weather head on.

Why the base matters

A porcelain forecourt is only as good as what sits under it. Each tile is bedded on a solid, well-drained, compacted base, which is what stops tiles rocking, cracking or lifting once the weather works on them. It is the same principle Paul Delaney applies to every surface the crew lays.

"The base is everything. If the sub-base is wrong, the whole thing fails inside three years."

Paul Delaney, Delaney Tarmac