The era, style and designs of interiors has had these two natural floor materials as one of the alternative flooring options to slate, stone, quarry tiles or even solid hardwood. Hard floors installed with marble or granite are timeless, never going out of style.
Marble Natural Floors
As a hard flooring material, marble is usually associated with Italy. This hard material is generally imported from quarries in form of cut slabs and tiles.
Marble comes in a number of colours mixes, the most popular being white marble. These types of natural floors can however be stained by tinting it with hues of yellows, greens, blues, browns and black. This makes it a popular choice of hard natural floors because it can be tinted to any colour to fit into an interior décor colour scheme.
As an element of durable and hardwearing natural floors, marble is a favourite floor finish that adds great style into an interior space.
The main disadvantages of marble natural floors is that they retain stains if they are not quickly wiped or washed off. So if one spills red wine or similar household stains on marble, unsightly stains will appear if its not cleaned within minutes.
The installation of marble involves laying slabs or tiles over a block-board surface that is firm and perfectly flat, or over a well screed-ed floor.
Granite Natural Floors
Granite has colour very similar qualities with marble. Natural floors made with granite slabs or tiles, have an edge over marble in that it retains its lustre even when exposed to inclement weather. Unlike marble, granite is a grander hard flooring material that does not retain stains.
Granite floors are aesthetically pleasing, and the high shine and lustre resulting from polishing these beautiful natural floors adds class and sophistication to large interior spaces. This doesn’t mean that natural floors cant be used in smaller spaces though.
Installation of granite is best left to the professionals as the receiving floor needs to be carefully prepared before installation commences. The ensuing grout lines must then be filled with a matching cement grout mix.
As unique natural floors, they may both seem a bit costly, and may not seem to fit comfortably into ones budget, but it is important to note that once the final decision to use any of them is made, these aspects far outweigh the total cost:
- Durability
- Longevity
- Maintenance free
- Grandeur and Elegance
If one desires to 'up' the value of ones property, the floor must be importantly considered. It can not afford to be an underestimated afterthought.
Choosing and installing natural floors is the way to go when ones requirements are meant to be long lasting. And unlike many other flooring materials, these natural floor elements, once wisely invested in, will retain their beauty, and there may be no need to worry about flooring works for decades to come.
Virginia Iyabo Smith - Virginia Iyabo is a professional interior designer, an interior design consultant, and a custom furniture designer. She started writing ...
Join the Conversation