Polished Granite vs Marble

[MTR]

I am just trying to get some ideas for our second bathroom reno.

Seems polished granite and marble are all the rage, I have not looked at costings but I am sure its going to kill me. Anything I like seems to have over the top price. I particularly like Carrera marble, just been looking at bathrooms on the net.

I would probably not do marble on the floor, but go charcoal colour unpolished/flat tile.

I have also seen the polished granite floor tiles looks pretty amazing. Immediate thoughts, slippery, not a good idea

Anyone know the pros and cons. Whether these are actually suitable for bathrooms, I assume they are, but I suspect porcelain tiles may be easier to maintain and cheaper.

MTR

 

[Tim86]

Marble is awesome... for soaking up stains and then looking like s*&(

 

[hematite]

Marble is awesome... for soaking up stains and then looking like s*&(

You should seal it then

 

[pinkboy]

Marble is awesome... for soaking up stains and then looking like s*&(

Don't talk down something you obviously don't know about.

I have over 500m2 (almost 20t ) marble in my house. All floors and bathrooms/laundry floor to ceiling. It is all sealed annually and not a single stain. Even my bathroom sinks are marble. We do have granite bench tops though which are sealed as well, but wouldn't stain as easily as its much more dense than the marble.

Our main floors are polished and the wet areas/patios are honed. Perfect mix.

Porcelain will be slightly cheaper, however will still be slippery when wet like most tiles anyway. Slightly less cleaning, care and maintenance as well.

pinkboy

 

[Scott No Mates]

Marble is awesome... for soaking up stains and then looking like s*&(

Big Jules built a few little monuments in a little place called Rome. They've stood the test of time and no-one has ever complained about staining of the marble.

Apparently the Greeks did it before Jules too. No issues. But then again, they didn't put it beside their bbq either.

 

[Tim86]

Don't talk down something you obviously don't know about.

I have over 500m2 (almost 20t ) marble in my house. All floors and bathrooms/laundry floor to ceiling. It is all sealed annually and not a single stain. Even my bathroom sinks are marble. We do have granite bench tops though which are sealed as well, but wouldn't stain as easily as its much more dense than the marble.

Our main floors are polished and the wet areas/patios are honed. Perfect mix.

Porcelain will be slightly cheaper, however will still be slippery when wet like most tiles anyway. Slightly less cleaning, care and maintenance as well.

pinkboy

We have marble vanity tops which we sealed probably six times in a couple of months trying to get it to stop getting more and more stains. Sealed it originally too and we never put anything that would stain on the vanity top and yet it still stained.

Your experience may have been different pinky but swearing at people on the internet that have had a different experience to you demonstrates that you have a lot of growing up to do.

In my experience marble soaks up stains like a sponge, even after being sealed.

I'll post pics if that will prove to you that I know what the. "**** I'm talking about".

 

[westminster]

MTR all tiles have a rating which will show you where they should be used in terms of slipperyness but even the standard inside rating is ok for a bathroom.

I've been looking at a lot of stone recently and will be using granite and marble together with porcelain tiles.

The Carrara and other pale grey/white marble being a pale marble is more prone to needing upkeep and staining so I'm not going to do a bench out of it but I have found some nice real marble wall tiles which I'm going to use somewhere.

 

[Tim86]

Before and after 7 months use. Used 2 different types of sealers too, just in case one was dodgy, and it is still getting stained and all we use the vanity for is washing our hands. It's a mystery to us why it keeps staining, maybe a soap we are using doesn't agree with it? No idea.

But yes like I said, my experience is that it soaks up stains like a sponge, and we've tried all sorts of things to get the stains out with no success. Eventually I will be getting someone to cut a bit of granite to replace the marble.

 

[westminster]

pinkboy what type of marble do you have in your bathroom?

The guys at the stone place was pushing me away from Carrara/Calacutta as he said it was really high maintenance for a bathroom and kitchen bench. I ended up choosing a black granite as it's supposed to be easier to look after.

I might go with a pale engineered stone as a contrast if the pale marbles are too much upkeep.

 

[Tim86]

pinkboy what type of marble do you have in your bathroom?

The guys at the stone place was pushing me away from Carrara/Calacutta as he said it was really high maintenance for a bathroom and kitchen bench. I ended up choosing a black granite as it's supposed to be easier to look after.

I might go with a pale engineered stone as a contrast if the pale marbles are too much upkeep.

Interesting, my marble is the Carrara type.

 

[pinkboy]

pinkboy what type of marble do you have in your bathroom?

The guys at the stone place was pushing me away from Carrara/Calacutta as he said it was really high maintenance for a bathroom and kitchen bench. I ended up choosing a black granite as it's supposed to be easier to look after.

I might go with a pale engineered stone as a contrast if the pale marbles are too much upkeep.

Interesting, my marble is the Carrara type.

And guess what, my marble in my ensuite is also Carrara, and so are all 4 of my bathroom sinks.

Not a single stain on a single tile, because I know how to lay it, seal it properly and maintain it throughout its life.

It looks nothing like Tim86 after pic because of above!


pinkboy

 

[pinkboy]

If you can manage it without the insults (because we all had so much fun with that argument...) are you able to share how you maintain Carrara marble.

Also if you have any ideas on how to get out stains that would also be useful info.

Tim86, long time no speak!


The Cararra tiles I laid in my house are high gloss, high polished. To a small degree, this protects the surface moreso than the honed finish your piece appears to have.

Nevertheless: The way I treated mine was straight out of the box, each tile was individually sealed straight away using Dry Treat 40SK: http://www.drytreat.com.au/Products/Protection/DRY-TREAT-40SK or another is Dry Treat Meta Creme: http://www.drytreat.com.au/Products/Protection/META-CREME which Is better used for maintanence, but alas slightly cheaper. You have to leave these products several weeks before water immersion.

I then use the Meta Creme for maintanence annually. There is another which the name escapes me that can be used, but very similar products. You have to be extremely particular and get every inch and evenly.

For Granite, I like a spray made by Du Pont, simple called Granite and Marble spray (or the like). Once every couple weeks is fine.

You're already up a brick wall with your marble. 1. The harshness of the Brisbane water obviously has stained it. Several half sealer applications after the fact will trap the stains in and will 'grow' over time. You wont have much success getting those out.


pinkboy

 

[arms]

Big Jules built a few little monuments in a little place called Rome. They've stood the test of time and no-one has ever complained about staining of the marble.

Apparently the Greeks did it before Jules too. No issues. But then again, they didn't put it beside their bbq either.

the greeks were the first known race to use marble in major structures ,the advantage of marble in outdoor structures is that it is porous and water passes through it unrestricted ,now on a horizontal that's not a good thing ,thus the need to seal the marble to try to hold water /liquids .
irrespective of the sealing marble is simply not suited for horizontal surfaces with out regular upkeep .
granite has a tighter structure molecular wise and is better as a horizontal surface but still needs to be sealed on installation and yearly upkeep .

 

[Tim86]

Tim86, long time no speak!


The Cararra tiles I laid in my house are high gloss, high polished. To a small degree, this protects the surface moreso than the honed finish your piece appears to have.

Nevertheless: The way I treated mine was straight out of the box, each tile was individually sealed straight away using Dry Treat 40SK: http://www.drytreat.com.au/Products/Protection/DRY-TREAT-40SK or another is Dry Treat Meta Creme: http://www.drytreat.com.au/Products/Protection/META-CREME which Is better used for maintanence, but alas slightly cheaper. You have to leave these products several weeks before water immersion.

I then use the Meta Creme for maintanence annually. There is another which the name escapes me that can be used, but very similar products. You have to be extremely particular and get every inch and evenly.

For Granite, I like a spray made by Du Pont, simple called Granite and Marble spray (or the like). Once every couple weeks is fine.

You're already up a brick wall with your marble. 1. The harshness of the Brisbane water obviously has stained it. Several half sealer applications after the fact will trap the stains in and will 'grow' over time. You wont have much success getting those out.


pinkboy

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah just rang a marble repairer. It turns out carrara marble has a high iron content, and those marks aren't stains, they are the marble rusting!

So the mystery of how the marks appeared from just washing your hands has been solved.

We did seal it first, but it was just a bunnings sealer so apparently they don't work and water got in and rusted it.

We have another one of these vanities yet to install. Will be getting someone out to seal that one professionally. Then will put that in the bathroom that should only be used once in a blue moon.

Will get someone to cut some granite to replace the rusted marble bench top.

But yeah moral of the story, don't rely on those sealers you get from bunnings.

 

[Tim86]

By the way having an issue with your marble has to be the most first world problem possible right?

 

[Tim86]

the greeks were the first known race to use marble in major structures ,the advantage of marble in outdoor structures is that it is porous and water passes through it unrestricted ,now on a horizontal that's not a good thing ,thus the need to seal the marble to try to hold water /liquids .
irrespective of the sealing marble is simply not suited for horizontal surfaces with out regular upkeep .
granite has a tighter structure molecular wise and is better as a horizontal surface but still needs to be sealed on installation and yearly upkeep .

Good explanation. Explains why you see rusting in applications like mine but not in those other applications.

 

[pinkboy]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah just rang a marble repairer. It turns out carrara marble has a high iron content, and those marks aren't stains, they are the marble rusting!

So the mystery of how the marks appeared from just washing your hands has been solved.

We did seal it first, but it was just a bunnings sealer so apparently they don't work and water got in and rusted it.

We have another one of these vanities yet to install. Will be getting someone out to seal that one professionally. Then will put that in the bathroom that should only be used once in a blue moon.

Will get someone to cut some granite to replace the rusted marble bench top.

But yeah moral of the story, don't rely on those sealers you get from bunnings.

Well there you go, we both learnt something new today. I was always lead to believe it was the metals in the water that caused the staining, not inside the marble itself.

By the way having an issue with your marble has to be the most first world problem possible right?

Indeed.


pinkboy

 

[westminster]

By the way having an issue with your marble has to be the most first world problem possible right?

One of the ultimate ones

Carrara marble is so 'in' at the moment and I love it but I am a low maintenance person. I had a look at the new Caesarstone carrara style engineered stone but it doesn't have the look I want.

Maybe I should use some Laminam as a splashback to still get the look

 

[arms]

But yeah moral of the story, don't rely on those sealers you get from bunnings.

why would you go to bunnings to get a specialised product for a surface you have no doubt spent severe dollars to purchase .beggars belief

 

[Tim86]

But yeah moral of the story, don't rely on those sealers you get from bunnings.

why would you go to bunnings to get a specialised product for a surface you have no doubt spent severe dollars to purchase .beggars belief

Because it was called "Marble Sealer"

I thought it would seal marble.