Stone, Marble & Granite

Stone: marble, granite, slate, onyx and more…

This is another huge category of product now available in many sizes, including 24” x 24” down to fractional mosaics. Here are a couple of things to watch out for:

1. Be prepared to invest in a true stone professional to perform the installation. You really have to know how to do this correctly – especially in some formats – or the end result will not be pleasing. Dimensional stone tiles (24”, 18”, 12”) should be installed on a thick mortar bed. The reason is so that each tile can be leveled one to another so that there are no height differences from one tile to the next (we call that lippage). This is not as easy as it sounds and I’ve seen many stone floors that are just poorly installed.
2. The American National Standards Institute specifies that a mortar bed be at least ¾” deep, which means that your new ½” tile plus ¾” (or more) mortar bed is going to raise the floor up at least 1 ¼” to 2” on average. Less than ¾” mortar does not have the stability necessary and can fracture and cause a failure.
3. Natural stone tiles need to be sealed after installation. Commonly, a penetrating sealer, which literally penetrates the surface and fills the pores of the stone, is used, and more than one coat is highly recommended. Penetrating sealers can be purchased from us or home stores – but a cheap penetrating sealer will not perform as well or for as long as the more expensive products. The penetrating sealers also need to allow moisture to pass from the substrate to the surface to evaporate. If not, a build-up of moisture can cause a bonding failure and alkalinity can collect inside the tile and degrade the tile. Protect your investment with the best quality sealer!

• So how much is this really going to cost?