Anyone have natural stone floors?

[texican]

I'm wanting to put down natural stone in my home... I've done 'wear tests' with slate and marble, to see how they react to wear and tear and stains... with mixed results...

Home Depot has finally marked down their travertine to my 'price point' of 2$/sq.'

I told myself that when it got down to that price, I could start buying... now they have 8 pallets available.... oh the priorities...

Now...
Talk me out travertine... I'm thinking dogs and cats, muddy boots, blood stains... of course, this just makes it looked lived in, right? patina?

[seedspreader]

Blood stains... whoa. Usually around my house those don't happen QUITE enough to warrant consideration for determining my floor type... LOL.

[boonieman]

I put down some, but only in the doorway entrance. It's about 6'X8'. It get's heavy wear. I also have it in front of the fireplace insert. It's actually the second batch I put down. The first time I made it too small, and then couldn't get matching stone to enlarge it and I took the first stuff up. The mistake I made the first time was using a light colored grout, and it was really hard to keep clean and looked pretty crappy after tracking in and out over time. The second time I laid it, I used a dark colored grout, almost black and it's done and excellent job. As far as the slate itself, zero wear and tear that I've noticed. By the way, this part of the house is concrete slab, so I didn't have the issues that go with putting it on a wooden sub-floor.

[texican]

Originally Posted by ZealYouthGuy

Blood stains... whoa. Usually around my house those don't happen QUITE enough to warrant consideration for determining my floor type... LOL.

Well, was thinking about travertine in the kitchen (right now the plan is for brick)... and if it's in the kitchen it Will see blood, and everything else. When I do the final butchering, it's in the kitchen, where it's brightly lit, and sanitary... and no matter how clean I try to be, blood does drip here and there...

Pretty much all of my meat comes into the house fresh... can tell you where it lived, what it ate, etc.

I'm trying to think ahead as much as possible...know a lot of sealing would need to be done.

Did I mention I have a pathological dislike of ~artificial floors~ ...have el cheapo vinyl tile now, and if I can't have stone I'll live with a stained concrete floor till I can afford something real...

[seedspreader]

We have ceramic tile in our kitchen/dining area, and I love it. Don't knock stained concrete, I really like that look, durable, cheap and easy.

[chamoisee]

If you get a stone floor, buy dishes you don't care much about, and be prepared to replace them constantly. They won't get a second chance.

I have a friend who's laying travertine, granite, and marble mosaic floors in her home. They're beautiful. For me, though, stone is so unforgiving on my joints and I got sick and tired of cleaning up the shards of glass and dishes that I did like, that I'd put stone just about anywhere else ecept for the kitchen.

[texican]

What would be good for kitchen floors? Rubber? or Carpet? I drop a dish now, on my linoleum, it shatters into a trillion pieces... and the Corelle 'break-resistant' are the absolutely worst...thousands of slivers....

Not being rude, but I've heard about different countertops, islands, and floors being hard on dishes... reckon I just have brittle dishes/glasses, cause if I look at em wrong, they break ...

[hoofinitnorth]

OK a few things. I have the travertine I purchased from Home Depot. They had a sale and it was well worth it BUT there are some caveats. First, the pallets are REALLY poorly packed and there is a LOT of breakage. Don't pay for too many broken tiles.

Travertine has MUCH variation in color - be prepared and if you're doing a small area, lay it all out and look at it before setting up your pattern.

Also acclimate it to you area several days before you try to lay it. Take care if you have in-floor heating - there are special guidelines for that too.

Travertine also has weak points and on the back of the tiles you will often see pits and sometimes outright holes! These are ment to be filled with grout, not thinset, but keep this in mind when you think about what will show through after the tile is set in thinset.

Travertine can be difficult to cut - have the proper tools on hand and know how to safely and properly use them or you will waste lots of tile, saw blades, and bandaids and cuss a LOT.

Travertine is THICK and HEAVY. You may want knee pads, gloves, and help.

Next, how steady are your joists? Some floors canNOT support the weight of a stone floor. Sometimes floors move TOO MUCH to support stone without causing breakage or requiring frequent regrouting. There are guidelines for these things.

Next, lie down REALLY HIGH QUALITY concrete backerboard EVERYWHERE you put the travertine and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS to a T. That means you will have to put down thinset then the board with the PROPER SCREWS MADE for the backboard, then thinset again at all joints & screws. THEN you will thinset and put down the tile. BE SURE TO USE THINSET MADE FOR STONE and depending on your grout color and the color of the tile, you may need to buy WHITE thinset vs. gray or dark.

Think about your grout lines - I advise SMALL grout lines as it seems to work better with thicker tiles and I learned it is perfectly fine to have 1/8" grout lines done well with a good base from the Las Vegas hotel tilers.

Next, you have to SEAL the stone with the proper stone sealer. You do this AT LEAST twice. First you thinset the tiles down and then seal them. You follow the directions for the sealer and sometimes do it two or three times. THEN you grout. Then you seal the grout AGAIN after it's cured and again follow the directions and do it two or three times. This will make it SO much easier to keep clean and care for and you may have to seal and reseal it a few times over the years.

Finally, think about what you will use for trim - it is sometimes hard to find a good matching trim in travertine or another material and think about your transitions between travertine and whatever else you have - also think about door heights and whether or not you will have to adjust them for your new floor.

I put the travertine in my bathrooms. I love it. However, I personally would never put stone or tile in a kitchen - it is too easy to drop a glass and break it (instead of it bouncing or just splatting and stopping) and it I spend so much time standing in there that it would KILL my feet (even in good shoes/slippers).

We have a different ceramic tile in our entry, another ceramic tile in our laundry, and will have that laundry tile in our storage closets. We have bamboo throughout the balance of our house (in the kitchen too) and love it. We wouldn't trade it for the world and it's very resilient to pets and even a bit of water. We bought it from Home Depot too and got a good deal on a sale.

[foxtrapper]

I've never had natural stone, but I did have slate. I'm so glad it's gone. Coldest flooring in the winter I've ever met. Made your feet and ankles ache.

Nothing could beat it for shattering things. From plates to teeth, broken skillets to broken bones. Man, I don't think there was anything made that it couldn't break, dent, or at least tear up.

When it comes to homes, I find wood hard to beat. Yes, for high traffic areas with hobnail boots and the like a carpet runner is important. But otherwise, just a rug over it for softness and warmth, and it's good to go. And golly gee, you can fall face first on a wooden floor and keep your teeth.

[chamoisee]

Vinyl floors don't kill dishes. I have one right now, and I don't especially like it, but it is easier on the dishes and my small kid's skulls (not kidding). Ideally I'd like to have those 12" square linoleum tiles like they do in grocery stores. They're cheap and durable and they come in a variety of colors. If I had $$$, my first choice would be bamboo.

Seriously, as badly as dishes break on other floors, stone just sends teeny tiny slivers scatterring everywhere. The absolute worst, IMHO, is a jar full of honey. Sticky mass of honey studded with hardly visible splinters of glass........groan.

[markjen2525]

As a tile setter who has done stone, tile, travertine and marble, I am a fan of hard surface flooring. I like its' beauty and durability. It is not rocket science to install with a few basic tools that can be rented from an equipment rental place. Using natural stone has some issues that need to be addressed. Sealing the stone before installing is very important. Se'tting over a wood substrate does require a backerboard. I prefer Hardeebacker but and good quality cement board will work. Be sure that your floor joists can handle the weight and lay the backerboard across the floor joists for even more stability. Lay the stone or tile so that it is level and straight and let the thinset cure for at least 12 hours before you walk on it. Seal the stone again after you grout it. there are several good books for the DIY types. "Tiling 1-2-3" from the Home Depot is an excellent resource.

[texican]

I've done some slate projects for others, and have slate semi planned for the entrance area. All of the ground level flooring will be slab on grade. Will probably let the slab cure/settle for a long period before putting slate or travertine down anywhere... and maybe bite the bullet and add the isolation membrane.

I know this may sound silly, but I want to construct a home (minor castle, or at least with a hint of being a castle) that will be around a couple hundred years... and would like the floor to last that long. My current floor is 18 years old, and the linoleum 12" tiles are faded down to the substrate base in places... didn't last twenty, much less a hundred years.

foxtrapper...you know I've thought quite a bit about the new home and the flooring and whatnot (sitting on a deer stand gives a fella time for reflection )... I thought about blood stains but I never thought about losing teeth over the flooring! Will have to run the whole teeth losing scenario through my building protocols program!

and chamoisee, I agree vinyl floors don't kill dishes... People Do! Sorry, I couldn't resist the play on words.

The upstairs areas will have mostly wood floors made from wide planks, tongue and grooved, engineered on site...

I've been saving materials and whatnot for over ten years... nothing in the world wrong with the current home... so I'm going to try and avoid the compromises one makes when younger, and trying to get a roof over one's head as soon as possible.

[GrannyCarol]

Originally Posted by chamoisee

Vinyl floors don't kill dishes. I have one right now, and I don't especially like it, but it is easier on the dishes and my small kid's skulls (not kidding). Ideally I'd like to have those 12" square linoleum tiles like they do in grocery stores. They're cheap and durable and they come in a variety of colors. If I had $$$, my first choice would be bamboo.

Seriously, as badly as dishes break on other floors, stone just sends teeny tiny slivers scatterring everywhere. The absolute worst, IMHO, is a jar full of honey. Sticky mass of honey studded with hardly visible splinters of glass........groan.

Linoleum tiles MOVE after you put them in and look just awful. I have a friend with them in her kitchen and, after a few years, there are uneven gaps around her tiles with sticky glue just sort of grabbing dirt. Not cool at all.

Now... as for a jar of honey, that reminds me of when I was just little, an eon or so ago... and I wandered into our living room at the time, carrying a jar of honey. Now don't ask me why I carried it upside down. Too bad the lid wasn't tightly sealed! There was a preferment stain on that carpet, which I am not sure my parent ever replaced!

I'm looking at either tile or wood (probably engineered or laminate) to redo my kitchen in. It has cheap sheet vinyl flooring now and it needs a redo soon. I want something classy, natural and inviting looking. I'm not too worried about breakage of glasses, etc., that will happen in any case. I cook, but I don't stand for hours in my kitchen either. I'm leaning towards wood.

We have tile in our front entry - some water seeped in under the door and lifted the subfloor a bit and a couple of tiles don't lie right any more. I'm wondering how much of a problem that will be in the kitchen - or was it just not done properly in the front hall? Along with the kitchen, we have a laundry room and bathroom, both of which currently have subfloor damage from leaks in the bathroom and will require some work soon so we can use the bathroom again. So... we're thinking its time to pull up some flooring, replace some subfloor and redecorate!

[texican]

Carol,
wood floors of any sort in the kitchen are ok....as long as you don't have water leaks from under the sink... of course, nobody ever expects a water leak, but when it happens, IT happens... I've had a few homes that I had to chisel out the wood flooring where it'd warped in the kitchen and bathroom, from plumbing leaks...

they do have some of that wood grained vinyl that looks real, and is a heckuva lot softer than wood or stone...

[LMonty]

HD travertine at $2 a tile last year in the bathroom here....guess its a good deal, there's more than one of us who did it! LOL We also went with a darker grout, on the advice of our "tile guy" (DH's friend, who does it professionally) Kind of a Cocoa color- worked real nice, both aestheticly and for the cleanliness reasons mentioned above.
Another tip he suggested is to use a lighter color that was in the travertine for the walls and tub surround, but the same grout- that tied it in together it looks really neat...

But that is one darn COLD floor! I wish we had gotten the warming underfloor, for that small area, it would be worth it.

[foxtrapper]

Originally Posted by texican

foxtrapper...you know I've thought quite a bit about the new home and the flooring and whatnot (sitting on a deer stand gives a fella time for reflection )... I thought about blood stains but I never thought about losing teeth over the flooring! Will have to run the whole teeth losing scenario through my building protocols program!

It wasn't such a big deal for me. Though breaking/denting/shattering everything that fell onto the floor was most annoying. It was when we spawned. Kids fall all the time, and frequently face fown. Having him or his friends splatting on the stone floor just wasn't acceptable to us, so we ripped it out before he became mobil.

[RedTartan]

I need new flooring in my mudroom. I like the look of slate, but I'm planning on buying a high-quality vinyl that looks just like slate. You'd have to touch it to know that it's not slate.

Now I just have to search the net to learn how to install it myself.

RedTartan

[hoofinitnorth]

LMonty - we did the travertine in our showers & up about 3.5' on all walls in the bathrooms as you suggested in your post and we are very pleased with it.

On the leveling thing - I'm glad markjen2525 mentioned that and echoed stuff I said. The leveling thing is important ESPECIALLY if you buy two different tile sizes from HD. We bought 12" and 18" tiles and the thicknesses were VASTLY different - VERY difficult to do a good job with thinset to make them level.

[hoofinitnorth]

The thing that worries me about slate are the big slivers that can come off it and maybe wind up lodged in a bare foot...

[spam4einstein]

I like slate. Dosnt show dirt.