marble surfaces in bathroom and shower - pros/cons?

2,943 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by The Fife
Towns03
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AG
Home improvement team,

We're 're-surfacing' our master bath this/next week. Will experienced people comment on the pros and cons of marble surfaces on the bathroom floor, counter top, and shower? I'm getting mixed reviews from the tile stores.

Pro: My wife will be happy

Cons: ?

Wife doesn't like the color of soapstone much, but someone suggested it was a good natural stone for the shower. anyone have thoughts here, too?

TIA
Dr. Venkman
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Marble soaks up anything and everything like a sponge. It would be ok on the floor, but not a bathroom counter with various colored liquids that may spill. Maybe shower walls if you squeegee it after showers, but not the shower floor.
Towns03
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Will toothpaste stain a polished marble slab? I see people with then in the kitchen. Seems like that could be way harder on the marble.
RK
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we put marble in our old bathroom (shower bench, tub deck, countertops). looks great....but you just have to be extremely judicious about wiping it down...and not scratching it. we are not putting it in our new bathroom.
Dr. Venkman
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Towns03 said:

Will toothpaste stain a polished marble slab? I see people with then in the kitchen. Seems like that could be way harder on the marble.
Yes. Some people like it because it stains and scratches so easily. Instant character.

If you are ok with that, I'd still do lots of research before putting it on shower floors. Not only does it absorb water, but different pieces absorb at different rates. So you'll have big color differences between pieces.

Whatever you do, seal it well and frequently (every 3-6 months).
Aggietaco
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There are decent enough marble-look solid surfaces and printed ceramics that I would go that route if I wanted marble without the maintenance requirements in a bathroom. Otherwise, just get in the habit of routine cleaning and sealing.
YellAg2004
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I posted this in the last thread that asked about marble countertops in a kitchen:
Quote:

We have a bathroom vanity that we bought from Overstock.com that came with a polished marble top. It was beautiful, but after less than a week, it was already showing signs of wear. I wear disposable contacts and just the a drip of saline from the little contact container, if left on the counter for more than a few minutes, would leave a mark.

Realistically, no matter how much you commit to babying the surface in the kitchen, you're going to spill stuff and it's going to get marked/etched/stained/etc. So if you go the marble route, just be honest with yourself and your wife that it's going to happen, so when it does, you won't be disappointed/mad/etc.
The same comments apply in the bathroom. Makeup and toiletries are going to get spilled. Water with toothpaste, soap, shaving cream, etc. is going to get splashed on it. Even if you try to wipe up every drop, you're eventually going to miss some, or you're not going to even realized that you splashed something until it's too late.

No matter how much I liked something, I just can't imagine putting something in that I know I will have to baby every single day whether it's being meticulous in wiping everything down immediately or having to go back and clean/re-seal on a semi-regular basis. I usually have enough on my mind when I'm getting ready each morning. When we got the quartz countertops and shower pieces done in the master bath, we had them replace the marble slab in the other bathroom at the same time. Now I don't have to worry about it at all.
Towns03
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Thanks for all the input! So no one has had an ok experience?
Garrelli 5000
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We have Daino Reale marble in our masterbath. It's beautiful, but we were bad about sealing it. You can see where my wife has set her coffee mug on it over the years. It's lost it's polish quite a bit as well.

I probably wouldn't use it on a surface again that gets standing water.

Before we put our home up for sale I need to figure out how to repolish it. Does anybody know if a dual action orbital polisher for a car would do the trick? I figured I could clean it heavily, polish, then reseal. I also think that Stanley Steamer carpet cleaners will also clean/polish/seal stone.
Take the trash out staff.
TravelAg2004
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I refused to let my wife put marble in the house because of how easy it stains.

We settled on a silestone pattern than looks just like marble and it's freakin bulletproof. We've spilled red wine and didn't get it cleaned up immediately and you'd never notice.
HeightsAg
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If you want the marble look (and I'm not talking about man made surfaces like quartz which can't replicate the depth of natural stone) but don't want the maintenance, your best bet is quartzite. It is pricey so if going this route, make it you are paying for the real deal and not something like dolomite.
BlackGoldAg2011
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AG
We remodeled our master bath in 2014 and put in marble counter, shower bench and ledges. Our experience has been good. We have not babied it like some have warned and there aren't any major issues. We do make sure to seal it annually, and wipe things up when they spill, but we honestly aren't much nicer to it than any other surface in the house. in 4 years, the only major staining on any of the surfaces is a stain that showed up during construction that i am 95% sure was done by the tile guy but that he denied. on the staining front, the only thing i have noticed is that oil based products leave what looks like a water mark that takes days or weeks to "dry". but again, just wipe down the counter with your towel when you are done getting ready, seal it once a year, and it will withstand most of what you throw at it.

now for the scratches, it is much softer than granite and we have scratched it in a few places, but due to the color they are hard to see. just don't do things like use it as a back stop to cut things with your pocket knife... oops.

here is a picture of what we did for reference:
The Fife
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All of the walls in our bathroom including the shower are marble, but I've been religious about sealing it. No way in hell I'd do it on the countertop due to makeup stains and whatnot.
Tumble Weed
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We have Emperador Marble in the shower and on all of the bathroom countertops, with a Spanish Crema for accent pieces. We have used it for 7 years and do not have one stain.

I would have put Crema down for the floors as well, but that stuff is slick and I would have busted my butt.

I have noticed that many high end hotels in Europe, and some in the US, use marble in the bathroom. Honestly, I don't know what the big fuss is about.

beachfront71
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We have Carrera marble in the kitchen and bath..sealed it 5 years ago and never since...have spilled everything on it in the kitchen and clean the bath w regular household cleaners

No problems at all, no stains, nothing.

The only downside is marble tile in the bathroom has a white grout on the floor which gets dirty.
The Fife
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I'm curious, has anything with tumeric been on your conutertop? That's the one thing I have to scrub to remove from quartz. Not knocking your choice of marble or anything, the big one I used to hear about that was staining from anything that had tomato in it.
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