Granite / marble tiles

[GMM]

SWMBO is thinking granite or marble floor tiles. Apart from the cost (!)*, my biggest reservation is that they'll be buggers to cut. Furthermore, as they're so heavy, it might be tricky to stop them from sinking a tiny bit once in position.

I have a (cheapo) electric tile saw, so would use that, and there aren't many cuts to be done (fortunately): Are my reservations valid or am I just being over-cautious?

• Actually, the extra is relatively small when all the other costs are factored in, it just looks expensive.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Granite certainly is. Marble is soft and easy.

[Jim K]

what "other costs" of using granite over marble?

Jim K

[usenet2012]

In message , GMM writes

Cold unless you have underfloor heating and an excellent surface to break things on when dropped.

[The Natural Philosopher]

use a thickish bed of self mixed fast set cement.

If you do get slump problems, use a thick bed but put wedges under each tile till its set.

Marble is very very bad for a floor. It is susceptible to acid attack and that's what you need to clean grout and cement off.

Yes. I used slate. the slate was only half the cost. I've also laid marble effect tiles - good quality ones. they are really nice. cost near as much as the marble, but are a lot tougher.

Ive laid quartzite and colored marble wall tiles as well. nice. You should treble seal the marble surfaces before laying to protect it - than you CAN use a bit of acid and with luck, it wont screw the marble.

but a glass of split wine is enough to f*ck bare marble beyond repair.

[GMM]

Looks like marble should get the vote for ease of laying then...

[GMM]

Sorry - I didn't mean extra cost of one of those over the other but simply that my experience is that differences the headline cost of (in this case) the tiles are rather blunted when compared with the overall cost of the job, which includes some fixed costs (here tile cement, grout, a new cutter blade, other buggerations etc). By the time it's all put together, I normally take the view that you might as well do the job properly. It's also only a small area so unlikely to break the bank whatever I use.

[GMM]

That's what I've normally done, although I was wondering why that's a good idea on a flat level floor since, in principle (it seems to me) it's only there to stick the tile down and so a thin layer would slump less. Of course, not all surfaces are flat or level....

Hopefully nobody will be spilling too much wine in my new downstairs bog, but I take your point. The honed slate tiles I was looking at the other day did look good, and surprisingly cheap. Maybe I can do some opinion forming....

[Andy Champ]

I would wonder what spilt urine will do to it. Or for that matter, spilt descaling cleaner...

Andy

[harry]

Well don't be tempted by travertine when you go to look. It is shit.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's usual to seal marble used in these circumstances.

[The Natural Philosopher]

both v bad for marble, no prob for slate/granite tho.

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes, but it takes a lot of sealing to do that and it adds to the cost appreciably.

[GMM]

I had sort of reached the conclusion it was unsuitable for what we're trying to achieve. Is it shit for a aprticular reason then?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Marble is pretty popular for floors in public buildings - but granite is rare?

The front door steps in my house which should have been stone had been replaced by concrete which I didn't much like. I clad it in real marble tiles (last of the bin at a local tile place so cheap) many years ago and it still scrubs up just fine.

[harry]

I have it in our living room. The natural rock is full of voids. They cut the rock and fill the voids and then hone. The problem is, there are more voids just under the surface. When walked on, they collapse after a while and leave a hole. You are left having to fill these holes but it looks a mess really.

Most of the fancy swirls and colours on it are actually the filler, not the rock. Various fillers are used depending on how much you pay. But it doesn't get over the basic problem.

[GMM]

Thanks - That's well worth knowing. Seems to me that makes them fundamentally unfit for purpose.....

[GMM]

And sometimes a little bit of wear and tear can give it character don't you think?

[harry]

My thoughts exactly. I got them as a cheap job lot from Tiles-R-Us About ten holes in 20m2.

[GMM]

Well, we went for the granite ones (decide by a higher authority). Now I have the joy of laying them.....