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kerrygw

White marble mosaic floors - thoughts?

kerrygw
15 years ago

I'd love to hear from those of you who have white marble mosaic floors in your bathrooms - basketweaves, whatever. I love the look of the white thassos and ming green (or blue celeste) basketweave floors, but I'm afraid the white grout is going to drive me crazy trying to keep it clean. My tile retailer is saying if I go with the stain resistant grout it won't be a big deal, but I'd love to hear some real world experiences and thoughts. Thanks so much!

Comments (16)

  • maryland_irisman
    15 years ago

    JMHO--I certainly share your admiration for the flooring but personally would choose a marble look alike instead of real marble. I do know marble is porous and easily scratched. Considering the range of usual activity in a bathroom, along with dropped makeup, residual powder, hair coloring, etc. I'd suspect more than the grout being stained.

    To directly answer your question, there are treatments to protect the grout but they must be routinely administered at intervals that would make it very easy to forget.

  • kerrygw
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    You do bring up a good point with the marble itself, rather than the grout that I'm so worried about, but there are so many people with marble floors in their bathrooms.. I wonder if it's really THAT bad??? Taking marble completely out of the equation really limits my choices (while still keeping to the look I like). So many choices!! :-)

  • pharaoh
    15 years ago

    kerry, we have sivec white marble in our newly remodeled bathroom. We went with the largest size i could find 18x18. I hate grout lines and with a bright white grout, i wanted to minimize grout lines.

    Yes, it will scratch and etch. we dont wear shoes inside the house so that helps. and ask the males in the house to 'aim' carefully :)

    Other than that I am very pleased with marble. I have always wanted a white marble bathroom. probably the most classic, elegant stone for a bathroom.

    Here is a link that might be useful: white marble

  • bill_vincent
    15 years ago

    Actually, Thassos is a pretty tough stone. it'll take alot to hurt it. One thing I should caution you on, though. The stain resistant grouts (the epoxies, including Spectralock) have a real problem with bright white grouts. Because of the yellow epoxy matrix, it tends to color the grout slightly. Also, the lighter the color, the less stain resistant they are. Just an FYI, so there are no "unreasonable" expectations. :-)

  • kerrygw
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks everyone. This tile will be in our master bath (which is not heavily used by anyone other than DH and myself) so I'm hoping that without the rugrats doing their damage it will hold up fairly well. Pharaoh - beautiful bathroom!! Bill, I appreciate the heads up on the yellowing - that's very helpful. I'm thinking about maybe doing a thassos & blue celeste basketweave with a blue celeste border.. maybe a different colored grout would work better anyways?? The yellow undertones might drive me a little crazy, so that's a really good point.

  • Jeannine
    15 years ago

    Marble has been used in bathrooms all over the world for years. I've seen it on floors everywhere from hotels to The Banana Republic in Newbury Street in Boston. If it was so terrible to care for, would it be used in such high-traffic places? As long as you are careful to use cleaners that are safe for marble, you'll be fine.

    Grout comes in so many colors and it gets sealed (along with the tile). For thassos with ming green, I'd use either a light gray or a light green grout (like Laticrete's Taos Teal). I used Laticrete's Silver Shadow grout in my basketweave floor and it looks great...light enough to blend in with the tile, but not light enough to get stained easily.

  • bill_vincent
    15 years ago

    Kerry-- Jeannine went in the same direction I was going to advise. Look at the light grays. Do you know what grout manufacturer you'll be using?

  • kerrygw
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    I don't know yet what grout manufacturer - are there any I should be gravitating towards or away from? I'll definitely take a looks at the light grays - seems like it would work well. Thanks everyone!

  • bill_vincent
    15 years ago

    The reason I asked is because depending on the manufacturer, I'd give you the colors to look at. :-)

  • pirula
    15 years ago

    If I may hijack for a moment (but may help OP as well), let's say one wanted a soft look like jeaninne's above, in Mapei grout and one had Cararra hex. Bill? "Warm Gray"? "Mist"?? I've got your samples from before still, they've been so helpful. I remember you mentioned "Pearl Gray" in a previous post, but I don't have that sample in my little box.

    Thanks!

  • bill_vincent
    15 years ago

    No, you don't want pearl grey. That's one step lighter than charcoal-- what might be called a medium to dark grey. As for the other two, though, those would be the colors I'd recommend from Mapei.

    Matter of fact, this isn't carrara hex, but it IS white hex with warm grey grout:

  • pirula
    14 years ago

    Great thanks! I'll use either warm gray or mist.

    And I'll relay the "balloon construction" thing to Joel.

    Ivette

  • lindamarie
    14 years ago

    I am having the same decision. I want a white marble floor to go with my Kohler Artist Editions English Trellis fixtures.

    The hex was suggested, but I do not care for it. I was also looking at the Thassos. I like the 12" size for the 6 1/2"
    x 7' room.

    I also do not wear shoes in the house. Pharoh, how do you get away with that? My son and hubby give me grief.

  • pharaoh
    14 years ago

    lindamarie,
    No shoes is a hotly debated topic on these forums. I guess it is an asian thing that you grow up with. so it gets ingrained in you. i find street shoes to be unhygienic for the home, plus i cant wait to get out of shoes as soon as i get home.

    we do wear slippers in the home. in the summers i like to go bare feet.

    Parties are different. It is hard to get everyone to remove their shoes although most of our friends are respectful of our sanctum :)
    Heels are the worst for rugs, hardwood floors, marble floors...

  • Jeannine
    14 years ago

    We grew up taking our shoes off at the door...and I have an Irish mother and a French father! I haven't gotten my boyfriend on board and having a dog kind of defeats the "keep it outside" mentality, but I've tried to keep that up.

    FWIW, if I didn't find the Laticrete Silver Shadow, I would have used Mapei Warm Grey.

    Track it down in advance...especially if you'll be needed the unsanded variety. Sanded was easy to find, but I had to drive an hour to get the unsanded. Lowes refused to order it in Silver Shadow!