5 Things to Know About Marble and Mosaic Tile Before

You Buy

Why lighting will break or make your bathroom appearance?

What is the real price of your marble tile?

When subway tile pattern won’t work?

How to avoid falls in your shower?

What makes your bathroom tile last?

Start with the end result in mind. You want to show off your mosaic tile, so first thing to think about is lighting. Make sure that the electrician is the first one on the project after all the prep and demolition work is done. Explain how mosaic tile will be installed.  For a featured wall have him place low voltage or other specialty lighting system on the ceiling but make sure that it is placed far enough from the accent wall to avoid shadows.

Make sure that you show him all your sconces or other lamps so that he could plan and install wiring all at same time. This way if anything needs to be changed you will have time before the tile gets installed.

 For a more even light distribution around the mirror use side by side sconces if you have enough space on both sides. If there is no space, i.e. small bathroom, use overhead lighting with open shades (bottom and top).

Show your electrician samples of your tile. Why? Because for darker the tile the more lighting is required. On the opposite, for the lighter color tile you will not need as much lighting.

If you fell in love with the natural stone tile, such as Yosemite or certain types of travertine marble with a lot of variations in pattern, remember that you will spend more than the initial cost times square footage.

For example, your installer will need about twenty five percent more material (tile) for good quality installation.  A good installer knows that natural stone tile with “busy” pattern can look very beautiful or very ugly. Here is the example below of how it should be done to achieve balance.

Interior Design: Klima Design Group, LLCCabinets: Timberline Designs, Freehold, NJ

As you see the subway tile pattern is installed so that the whole wall has a balanced and beautiful look. Tile with less movement is installed for the most part and then the tile with intense color and pattern is used for accents.

Subway tile pattern will create a less formal, younger look in the bathroom even if classic marble tile is used.

Remember that subway tile pattern will only look good if all the lines are really straight. If your wall is uneven consider a different pattern.

Tile flooring in your bathroom and inside the shower has to be slip resistant.

Polished marble floor in the shower is a bad idea. It is number one cause for falls and hospital visits.

Your shower floor tile should not be larger than 4X4 inches. I, personally like smaller mosaics, such as 2×2 or 1X1 inches. Of course there are some other options, such as special solid surface or coating. But in general, try to stick to smaller shower floor tile for your safety.

Interior Design: Klima Design Group, LLC

After marble tile is installed and grout cured, it has to be sealed with a special sealer. Then in three or four days you can wash it with special marble cleaner available in many specialty tile shops. Never use abrasive cleaners. 

NeutraSheen for marble is one of the best marble cleaners you can use. It safely cleans, sanitizes and restores the marble tiles with no rinsing required. This product is so versatile that it works on cleaning granite, limestone, ceramic and porcelain tiles.

What is your own bathroom question? Tell me about it.

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