Finally I got the long anticipated email from Apartment therapy with the tip for doing your own cheap and chunky marble floor. Big disappointment. The tip? Buy cheap marble pieces from Home Depot and buff them down to kill the shine. I'd already thought of that. But I'm not sure that's going to make for easy cleaning and that's a high priority here. Everything cleans off polished marble, including the red wine ring I found three weeks after our last party. (Which of you put that red glass bowl over the stain?) I just Windexed it off. But buffed marble and possible pee sounds like it might lead to odd yellow stains on the floor, and that would annoy me.
Does anyone know whether buffing makes marble more pervious?
Otherwise I could go with Porcelanosa Urbatek Zone Nature, which would be maintenance free and cheaper at $5.95 sq'.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Bathroom flooring: the tip
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5 comments:
Buffing will make it more stain pervious... because you are creating dips and valleys for stains to hide in when you take the shine off.
That being said, we put slate down in our bathroom... a rock with many of the same problems ans unpolished marble. We sealed it with sealer, and it is still stain free and looks great after 4 months. I forgot what brand we used... it was sort of expensive (but we bought it used). Ignore the problems I had with it... if you follow the directions, you won't have any! :)
I love the look of sealed slate but doesn't the sealer make it look shiny? In which case I could just leave it alone......
NOPE! The key is to use a PENETRATING sealer. I used TileLab SurfaceGard Penetrating Sealer... there are lots of others. The penetrating sealers go into the stone, leaving a natural finish. I forgot what the other kind of finish is called, but it sits on top of the stone, and leaves a wet looking (or shiny) finish.
Here's a link to pics of our installed slate floor... it's not shiny at all!
http://tinyoldhouse.blogspot.com/
2007/11/our-new-slate-floors.html
I remember your floor it looks terrific and NOT shiny.
Now do you think I can buff off each marble tile so it all looks the same?
I'm crushing on the marble link you put up. *le sigh* I already order slate, so I'm sure it will look good when I do the upstairs bathroom.
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