Use of Marble in the Wet Areas

Hello everyone!

I talk to a lot of customers everyday and a lot of our customers inquire about what kind of tile they can use in the bathroom, especially on the floors of the showers:

• Is it safe to use large tiles?
• Can I use polished tile on the floor?
• Is marble/travertine suitable to be used in wet areas?

Most of the customers I talk to on a daily basis are home-owners who fall in love with our affordable selection of premium products and they need help in answering these kinds of questions. Nowadays, our white marble collections are especially very popular because of the simplicity and the feeling of spaciousness they present. From the exquisite Italian Calacatta Gold to White Carrara (aka Bianco Carrara) and to Greek Thassos White, white and subtle gray continues to be very much in demand.

Usually, these white marbles are all safe and durable to be used both in residential and commercial projects. When it comes to which size and finish to use in the bathrooms, here are the general guidelines I recommend my customers to follow:

• Large tiles can be used both on the floors and walls. If you want to use a large tile on the floor, a honed or tumbled finish - as opposed to polished - would be safer due to their anti-slippery nature.
• If you want to go with a polished look on the floor, go with smaller sizes - 4"x4"and smaller -with grout lines. The mosaic tiles on mesh are excellent choices for the wet floors since the grouted mosaics, even when polished, are perfectly anti-slippery.
• If your cabinets and all other accents in your bathroom have a lot of movement in the color/pattern/texture, you may want to stick with simple designs such as 2"x4" or 3"x6" brick tiles. Basketweaves and hexagons are great choices if the rest of the elements in your bathroom are more on the simplistic side. On the other side, the bigger the size, the more simple your design will be and the more spacious your bathroom will look - e.g. a 2" hexagon mosaic would make the bathroom look bigger than a 1" hexagon.

When it comes to the selection of material, colors and sizes for the bathrooms, there are more important criteria than simple aesthetics. The safety and durability of the material and design become equally important. Marble mosaics and tiles, in various size and finishes, present endless design alternatives that can satisfy a multitude of criteria.

Cheers!