OT- Marble or Granite flooring ???s

[stitchlovestink]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has marble or granite flooring? what do you like about it? what do you not like about it? Does marble have grout or does each piece 'butt' up to the next piece? Did you put it in yourselves or have it installed? IF you put it in yourself, how difficult was it? thanks for any help or advice.

 

[LoriKay]

We had a marble floor in the foyer of our last house. It was beautiful but I'd never have it again. I didn't know that marble is pretty soft which is a problem and cleaning it was a total pain. We were told to just wash it with water but it had to be dried immediately or it would look cloudy so I would wash it and my husband would come along behind me and dry it. He was totally thrilled each time he had to help with it. Oh, and the marble had grout. We didn't build the house so I can't help with installation questions.

 

[Sleepy]

Marble is definitely not a good idea. As the other poster said, it is soft. You have to be careful of what you cleaners you use. It stains easily too. Around here, it is mostly used in smaller spaces like window ledges or staircases. It is rarely used as a flooring in the average home.

We have alot of granite around here, but I don't see it used as a room flooring. It is mostly used for tables and staircases. We like the granite staircases, because they are beautiful, but of you fall, they leave horrible bruises. Cleaning them is easy, but if they get wet, they are extremely slippery. I would avoid granite flooring for that reason. Granite can crack just as any stone can. What would be your backup if something happened? Will you have extras? Granite is difficult to replace/match up as the stone changes in the quarry. We currently have a kitchen center island/wine rack/dining table that can't be replaced because the quarry ran out of stone. We fear something happening to one of the pieces when we move back to America. Our pattern has alot of swirls and other markings and is a green color. I suppose if you have a generic pattern like black with no special markings, it would be easier to replace broken pieces. Good luck with your decision.

 

[sunnyday123]

Marble is beautiful as flooring, but it is slippery as **ll!!!! We have it at work in our lobby, and we aren't allowed to walk on it. I have granite countertops, but haven't ever heard of flooring. I suppose it would be just as slippery as marble..

 

[BrettS]

My parents have marble tile in their foyer and I don't think they have too much of a problem with it. Their builder got a great deal on damaged 16x16 marble tiles and just cut them all down to 12x16 to get rid of the damaged parts. There is grout between the tiles and I know that they need to be careful about the cleaners they use, but otherwise they're happy with it. That floor is close to 15 years old now and the marble still looks very good, but the grout is starting to crack and come out in a few places.

 

[hmgolden]

We have granite tile in our bathroom, and I LOVE it. I don't know if I would install it in a large room though - the total area of our floor that is tiled is probably 5x6. Our has very thin grout lines between each of the tiles. It does get super cold, especially in the winter time, but we installed a heated floor which I adore even more than the granite.