To Use or Not to Use Natural Marble for Flooring

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This post is exclusively for our readers who are in the process of buying new home or upgrading or renovating their current homes. Read on before you make a decision – whether to use Natural Marble for flooring or not.

Natural Marble is a beautiful material to use on the floors of your home, but just like every other product, natural marble does have its fair share of advantages and disadvantages.

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Malford Ceramics, a supplier of tiles, natural stones, mosaics, and compressed quartz in Singapore, has compiled a list of pros and cons of using Natural Marble!

Advantages:

  • Looks Premium and Expensive: Natural Marble is often used in premium establishments such as five star hotels and high end commercial developments. Natural Marble has the ability to provide a royal look and it is often selected for use solely based on this point, regardless of the disadvantages this material has.
  • Looks Seamless: Unlike manufactured tiles, Natural Marble can be laid with a 0.5 mm or 1 mm joint width (tiles usually use a 2 mm joint width). Marble is a natural resource and therefore, it is more porous than a man-made tile. Should there be any tremors or movements within the ground, the porousness of the material will be able to accommodate to the movements, whereas a sturdy manufactured tile may crack at the sides with a tiny joint width.
  • Absolutely Flat: Manufactured tiles are prone to not being absolutely flat because they are a fired product. Laying them too close to each other might result in its uneven heights being very obvious. However, Natural Marble can be polished and grinded after installation. This means, the Marble can be grinded till the whole surface is absolutely flat.
  • It Can Last Forever: Yes, marble is difficult to maintain, but it can last forever. Marble is roughly 2 centimetres thick and can always be polished whenever the shine weakens of if there is a chip or scratch on the surface. Polishing the marble would mean a very thin layer on the surface would be grinded and it would look brand new immediately after.

Disadvantages:

  • Expensive: Natural Marble is usually 4 to 5 times the cost of manufactured tiles. The price you see at your preferred retailer is usually not final. You will have to include the sealant and dry-laying cost, and probably the polishing cost too. You might end up paying S$25.00 per square foot for this material.
  • High Maintenance: Unlike tiles, Natural Marble is very weak. They have to be kept dry all the time because it is a very porous material that has a high rate of water absorption.
  • Subsequent Costs: As mentioned in the previous point, marble is weak. This also means its shine will not last forever and its surface is prone to scratches and chips. Though this problem may be solved with polishing, it is something many would like to avoid due to its cost.
  • Lack of Resistance to Many Liquids: Be it your dog’s urine, red wine, acidic household cleaners, or toothpaste, be prepared to live with an unsightly patch until your next polishing. Furthermore, polishing might not be all you need. If left on the marble surface long enough, you might require a special cleaner along with a session of polishing. Example: Mr. Muscles Cleaners that we get from local supermarkets contain some acidic substances.
  • Troublesome Dry-laying: The veins on marble is extremely unpredictable and many individuals do not like this characteristic of marble. Therefore, home owners are allowed to go through this process of dry-laying. This involves selecting each piece of marble, piece by piece, to decide which piece goes where. This is to minimise the high chance of the direction of the veins from marble to marble being too abrupt. This process might take a long time, given the fact that most marbles have unpredictable veins.

With the above advantages and disadvantages presented to you, you will probably be in a better position to decide if your new home should use marble as a flooring solution!

In conclusion, marble should only be used if the owner is confident of properly maintaining it by keeping it dry and clean always. If maintenance is going to be an issue for you, there are still many other flooring alternatives available, such as tiles and compressed marble!

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Should you decide to use marble for your homes, be sure to ensure your supplier provides the following:

  • Dry Lay (you would want to ensure your floor looks harmonious and not with abrupt veins)

  • Sealant (a protective layer on the marble to make it less porous)

We hope you have enjoyed this post! For more information on tiles, do check out this link!

Thanks Malford Ceramics for this wonderful post! It would help us immensely before choosing the right kind of tiles for our homes. ♥

 

30 thoughts on “To Use or Not to Use Natural Marble for Flooring”

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  3. Elizabeth O

    Oh, this is very informative. I am thinking of getting marble floors too. Thanks for sharing this, I will consider these tips.

  6. Tiffany Yong

    Totally understand the concern of using marble because that’s what my family used in our house and gosh! The water stains we saw after we first mopped the floor was horrendously shocking! Definitely not something I will use in my future home~

  12. Hui Ying

    nice but hard to maintain!! my grandmother house’s flooring is marble, therefore always need to keep cleaning and maintaining if not will look dirty~~

  15. Shivani

    Absolutely love marble tiling and I do have to say that there is a premium feel to it. It also makes the whole vibe look and feel rather elegant too.

  16. Sharon Lee

    It was not easy to maintain such premium floor tiles, such as marble! But it does looks really pretty and presentable! I know that marble prints somehow go into our daily life essential too!

  19. Emily

    I am afraid of high maintenance items. Looks like natural marble is not something for me. Thanks for this informative article.

  22. Claire Algarme

    Although marble looks wonderful for interiors, it’s truly hard to maintain. My friends were just discussing about it this afternoon, how it’s harder to keep marbles clean as compared to tiles. I guess marble is great for structures where there is regular maintenance (and budget), such as hotels and buildings. But for homes, when the daily grind sets in, I’d go for practicality. 🙂

  23. cest la jez

    i am really thinking of upgrading or renovating my home! decided to use Marble too, but a little bit over budget, still considering. anyway, thanks for sharing this ^^

  24. Mum Tuscany

    I grew up in a house with marble flooring that I’m actually thinking of renovating the floors of my house now by replacing the tiles with marble. But you’re right. The expensive price is prohibiting me from doing so. About cleaning, I have no problem with that because cleaning my own home is one of my hobbies. Hehe. It’s just the price of marble that’s really hindering me from going through with my plan.

  26. Amanda Love

    I wish I had seen this post sooner as I have just recently renovated my kitchen and replaced the countertops! These are lovely and you can see that they have good quality as well.

  29. Jason Panuelos

    Marble is undeniably a great finish on almost every surface. The problem is that it’s not great for the earth because it has to be mined heavily. Hopefully more synthetics can be made to use in the future 😉

  30. Fred

    We have a marble countertop in our guest bathroom and we can really see that it can have stains with various substances. They do look unsightly in the long run if they are not wiped off right away. Good to learn here that there is special marble polisher solution. Will find.

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