Kitchen Floor Tile - Advice

hughm

We had decided on a polished Marble (Crema Marfil) 60 cm x 40 cm x 2cm tile for our kitchen. It is a small kitchen, only about 10 sq Yrds of floor space.

This tile will look amazing with our cream shaker units and Beech counter tops. It will also complement the new solid wood floors that will be running up to it in 2 places.

HOWEVER, my wife has been put off by a friend saying they had one and it was lethal when it was wet. Are they really that bad. I thought that as it was a natural stone and, the assistant in the store said it was pours even though it didn't appear to be that it would soak up liquid reasonably well. He did say that it needed to be sealed on installation and every 18m.

I don't want to end up with some glazed porcelain that will be 90% as slippy when wet as the polished marble. I also don't want to make the mistake of getting a non glazed tile again as they just soak in the dirt and are a nightmare to keep clean.

Is polished Marble that slippy when wet? Does it stay slippy for long when wet?

Thanks

squire1

I've put "honed and filled" travertine in bathroom and ensuite. It is sealed and I have not noticed it being particularly slippy. Nice warm smooth texture to it and very easy to keep clean. However, I wouldn't fancy spilling a bottle of cooking oil on it.

How can the salesman say it will soak up liquid if he is telling you to seal it? You can get sealant in either glaze or matt finish if that makes any difference to you.

The Hill Billy

hughm wrote:

I thought that as it was a natural stone and, the assistant in the store said it was pours even though it didn't appear to be that it would soak up liquid reasonably well.

The assistant was talking out his jaxie.
Marble isn't porous - certainly not if it is sealed.
Anyway, would you want your marble floor to soak up any liquid?
What if you spilled red wine on it?
I don't think that even Barry Scott & a supertanker of Cillit Bang would shift a stain like that.

hughm wrote:

Is polished Marble that slippy when wet?

More slippery than an eel in Jon Bon Jovi's sweaty leather trousers.

hughm wrote:

Does it stay slippy for long when wet?

Until the missus wipes it up. :rolleyes:

hughm

Hmmmmmn,

just been talking to my tiler and it's back to the shops me thinks. He told me that I would need about a 18mm of ply to secure a 20mm polished marbel tile. That along with a couple of mm of adheasive would put the level well above our wooden floor.

Now looking for either a 10mm polished marble or very very similar glazed porcellain tile with a 9mm ply.

If you know of a glazed porcellain tile that is very very very very similar to a Crema Marfil polished marble i woudl love to hear about it and where you got it.