Marble Flooring: What to Know About Buying, Installing, and Maintaining It

2022-10-08 17:33:27 By : Ms. Sara Chan

By Donna Boyle Schwartz and Glenda Taylor and Bob Vila | Updated Mar 25, 2022 2:14 PM

Beautiful marble flooring started its journey into our homes as limestone. Millions of years of metamorphosis—intense heat and pressure—produced a dense variegated stone that can be polished to a high shine. Marble is now mined throughout the world and is highly prized as a natural product for countertops and flooring. Polished marble reflects light to make rooms seem more spacious while offering a touch of elegance.

Like many types of stone flooring, marble is often installed in “wet” environments, such as kitchens and bathrooms, where frequent water splashes can be simply wiped away without causing damage. However, marble is susceptible to staining, especially due to highly acidic and alkaline substances, including coffee, juice, wine, soda, vinegar, berries, tomato products, tobacco, oil and grease, baking soda, ammonia, harsh detergents, bleach, and in some parts of the country, “hard” tap water. Marble is also very sensitive to staining from pet urine, which can cause permanent damage and etching of the floor, making marble a less-than-ideal choice for households with furry friends. The best way of keeping your marble looking fabulous is to invest in a good-quality marble sealant, and blot up any spills promptly with a soft, absorbent cloth. Be sure to blot rather than rub the stains: if you rub marble in a circular pattern or scrub it too aggressively, you can damage the surface and make it look dull.

If you’re thinking about incorporating this fabulous flooring into your home design, read on to learn about the different types of marble available, how to choose the best one for your budget, and glean some DIY tips should you opt to tackle marble flooring installation yourself.

Marble flooring tiles come in varying colors and surface patterns. The contrasting color lines running through the surface are known as veining, which can be heavy and pronounced or delicate and barely noticeable. While more than a hundred varieties of marble exist, there are three main categories, each type identified by its appearance.

Photo: homedepot.com via MSI stone

The above types of marble can be finished to either a high gloss or a matte look, depending on what’s best suited for the location.

Marble flooring comes in tiles of differing sizes, ranging from small, 2-inch by 2-inch squares, to large, 6-foot by 8-foot slabs. For residential purposes, marble tiles are rarely larger than 2-foot by 2-foot, because larger slabs, which are very heavy, require specialized installation. Large slabs are usually found only in commercial and public buildings. Tile thickness ranges from ¼-inch to ¾-inch for residential tiles, while commercial marble slabs can be up to 2 inches thick.

Quality also varies by surface design and density. While no industry standard exists, a few factors can tip you off to the tile’s quality.

Unfortunately, the slip factor makes polished marble unsuitable in homes with residents who are at risk of falling. To reduce the slip factor of polished marble, consider using multiple area rugs with non-slip backing, or apply a nonslip product to the floor’s surface, such as SlipDoctors’ Stone Grip Anti-Slip Treatment. Nonslip products are designed to increase the grip traction of the floor without reducing its shine. Honed marble floors are naturally less slippery than polished marble floors.

A good amount of labor goes into quarrying and finishing marble tile flooring, which is why even lower-end marble is pricey. The least expensive marble tiles start around $5 per square foot, and higher-end tiles can run $10 to $40 per square foot, depending on density and veining patterns (fine veining is preferable to heavy veining). Also, the larger the tile, the more expensive it is peer square foot. When comparing the price of marble vs porcelain tile, you can expect to pay as little as $1 to $3 per square foot for the latter.

A budget-friendly option is marble-look flooring: modern printing and finishing technologies mean that you can get a marble look in ceramic tile, or even in vinyl and laminate flooring. Costs range from $1 to $3 per square foot for marble-look ceramic tile, and from $1 to $5 per square foot for vinyl tile or laminate plank flooring.

RELATED: 5 Types of Tile Worth Considering in Your Next Renovation

Professionally installation marble tile can add an additional $3 to $7 per square foot to your budget, depending on the going rate for labor in your area and whether additional work is needed. Factors that could add to your installation costs include:

As with ceramic and porcelain tiles, homeowners who are knowledgeable in basic tile-laying practices can save a lot of money by installing their own marble floors. However, if you’ve never laid tiles, you’re better off hiring a professional tile setter to do the work. If you opt to DIY the project, keep the following tips in mind:

While marble is a durable flooring, it requires a little extra care to help it retain its beauty.

RELATED: The Best Marble Sealers for a Smooth Finish

If your beautiful marble floors are showing signs of wear and tear, don’t panic: as a natural stone, damage to marble is rarely permanent. Marble floors can be repaired by savvy DIYers, but it is important to use the right technique and the right products. If you are unsure, you may want to call in a professional. The most common issues with marble are overall dullness and surface scratches. There are numerous marble repair kits designed to fix minor scratches and restore a marble floor to its original shine. A good quality marble polish will often do the trick: before applying the polish, wash the surface and buff it with a damp cloth. Apply the polish in thin coats, following the manufacturers’ instructions. Multiple coats of polish may be needed to fill in the scratches and restore the shine; patience is a virtue when it comes to restoring marble.

For extremely worn or scratched floors, it’s best to call a professional to hone and polish the floor. The average cost to polish a 200-square-foot marble floor ranges from $600 to $1,000, with the average being $800.

Deeper scratches and chips may require professional marble repair, depending on the size and depth of the damage. Chips can often lead to cracks, and cracks require professional stone restoration. Crack repair typically involves filling and gluing the crack with a professional-grade adhesive and then refinishing and polishing the surface.

Marble can be cold underfoot, but it has very high thermal conductivity, which means it transfers heat effectively from a heating system to the surface of the floor. Marble also retains a significant amount of heat, which makes it energy efficient.

There are basically two options for keeping your tootsies warm with heated marble floors: toe-kick heaters and under-floor heating, which comes in either hydronic or electric varieties.

Toe-kick heaters have the advantage when it comes to installation: because the units are installed at the level of the floor, often along the base of a vanity or cabinet, but not under the floor, they can be added to an existing marble floor. The units are priced from about $50 and typically plug into a 120-volt circuit. Larger units may require installation by a licensed electrician to ensure adequate electrical supply.

Under-floor heating, also known as in-floor or radiant heating, is installed underneath the marble floor, and therefore has to be put in before the flooring. Under-floor heating is either hydronic, which uses hot water circulating in tubing under the floor; or electric, which uses cables under the floor. The cost of under-floor heating will depend on the square footage of the floor, but a typical “starter kit” begins at $100.

Beautiful and luminescent, marble flooring confers an unmistakable air of elegance to the spaces they grace. It has been a popular flooring choice for centuries due to its distinctive veined appearance, and the fact that no two marble floors are alike.

This type of flooring comes in various grades, colors, hardnesses and finishes, making it a versatile and practical choice for many different types of decor. Marble is suitable for use in high-traffic and wet environments, and with proper care and routine polishing and maintenance, it can last a lifetime or more.

Marble flooring is a flooring option that’s coveted by many homeowners, but as with any home construction material, it’s important to consider the material’s pros and cons. Learn a little more about marble floors by reading these frequently asked questions about them.

A. Marble floor tiles can start at about $5 per square foot and go up to about $40 per square foot, depending on the style, color and finish. Professional installation may add an estimated $3 to $7 per square foot to the price, depending on local labor costs and if any additional prep work is needed.

A. Although marble is beautiful, that beauty comes with a high price tag. Indeed, one of its main disadvantages is that marble is not a budget-friendly choice; it also typically requires professional installation, which adds to the overall cost. Marble is a natural stone and therefore is porous, so it requires regular sealing. Marble can be slippery and cold underfoot, making it a poor choice for people with mobility concerns. Marble also is susceptible to staining, scratching, chipping, and cracking.

A. Marble floors can literally last a lifetime. On average, a marble floor will last 25 years or more, with proper care, cleaning, and regular maintenance.

A. Unfortunately, marble floors are not so good for homes with pets. Marble is susceptible to staining by acidic or alkaline substances, and pet urine is extremely acidic. Polished marble floors are also slick and can be scratched by pets’ claws. Therefore, marble floors are not the best choice for pet owners.

A. A regular cleaning and maintenance routine will keep your marble floors looking like new. Use a clean, soft cloth or natural dust mop to remove grit and dirt on a weekly basis. If using a vacuum cleaner, use the softest brush attachment. Minimize dirt and debris accumulation by putting area rugs or runners at entry doors and in high-traffic zones. Wipe up any spills promptly, blotting with a clean, soft cloth (do not rub.) Polish and seal marble floors once or twice a year. And, when the marble starts looking a bit dull, call in a professional to clean, polish, and seal the floors.

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