The most durable of all floorings are tile and stone-materials and when these are properly installed they actually last the lifetime of a house. This roughness combined with the natural splendor of stone and the implausible array of tile types, colors, patterns and as well as the textures makes tile and stone the materials of variety where quality and character plays the most important.



Tile and stone are fundamentally different. Stone is just what its name implies: quarried slate, limestone, flagstone, granite or marble. Tile is made from slabs of clay that are fired for hardness. A third material, stone tile is made from real stone aggregate suspended in a polymer binder. This is a relatively affordable alternative to stone.

Marble Tile might be either glazed or unglazed. Glazed tiles have very tough, smooth surfaces, which reject water and stains. The glaze, applied among the first firing and a second one, gives the Marble tile color and texture. Glazed tile actually comes in all color of the rainbow and might be very high gloss, satin, matte or dull and might be smooth or textured.

Marble tile is made in various different sizes from 12 by 12-inch (or larger) pavers to tiny mosaic tiles, which are sold pre-arranged on a webbed backing. The joints between Marble tiles are filled with grout. The kind of grout most normally used is a very fine, thin mortar, which is sometimes colored but epoxy-base grouts are as well used on occasion.

Flooring Marble tile needs to have a nonskid, stain proof base (if it's only stain-resistant, it needs to be sealed and regularly resealed for protection). The slipperiness of a particular Marble tile is rated by a resistance coefficient and, more than anything, this is a factor, which limits where or whether a tile needs to be used as a floor material.

Because marble tile and stone floors are heavy, stiff and unforgiving of movement, they are applied over a durable, firm base otherwise they would crack. Wood sub floors are either unbreakable with a secondary under mourn of plywood, cement backer board or for a more tough application-a bed of mortar. Marble Tile might be laid on a tangible slab using a thin-set adhesive.