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Carrera Marble Honed versus Polished

16 years ago

New to this site. We have gutted a master bathroom. Floor will be Hex Carrera, walls will be rectangular Carrera and vanity countertop also carrera. There is also a black marble border on the floor. What would be optimal finish, honed or polished for all surfaces (floor, walls, countertop)?

Thanks.

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Comments (7)

mrslimestone
16 years ago
I much prefer the honed to the polished - both because I prefer the look and also b/c it hides any future etching better.
bill_vincent
16 years ago
Here-- take your pic-- border is polished and field is honed:
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Somehow my posting never made it so let me try again. I believe that Cambrian & Nordic are granites. I researched these but did not find as much on them as I did the honed AB (probably because there are no problems. Try doing searches on other granites and you won't find much either.). What I did find on them came mostly from this site. Most people said that they did not show the finger prints and were easier to maintain than the AB. I also had my husband go to the stone yard and really question the maintenance of the Cambrian versus the honed AB. They were very positive toward the cambrian (and not the AB). If you hear of anything positive or negative, please let me know. I have a 12x12 sample of the Cambrian which we are going to seal and "experiment" on over the next week or so. Also, I love soapstone. I would have gotten that but I was concerned about having to oil and sand out scratches, etc. I heard it does not take long, but I am a working mother and I have a million things around here that do not take a lot of time. Unfortunately, they all add up! :-)
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plants4
16 years ago
Bill, I've been wondering about this for some time...it seems you're saying that the color difference between the honed marble in the field is different from the edge marble because the edge is polished. It seemed unlikely to me that that was actually the case and as I keep coming back to this photograph because that is one beautiful floor, I thought it was time to ask! Assuming the field is honed carrara, what is the edge marble?

(Of course, you've posted this photograph in several places, so the answers are probably in a different post. sorry!)
bill_vincent
16 years ago
Edge marble is polished cararra. The color difference has nothing to do with whether it's honed or polished. I've seen polished cararra that just as white as the honed in the pic, and vice versa. The reason for the difference is that the stone varies widely from batch to batch as it's cut from the quarry, and if the stone comes from two different batches, this is going to happen. Not usually on this great a scale-- these two just happened to be at complete opposite ends of the spectrum-- but you WILL see a difference.

The difference between the honed and polished is in the reflection that you can barely see, both in the honed and in the polished. With the polished stone, it's a mirror finish, while with the honed, it's more muted.
junco East Georgia zone 8a
16 years ago
Is the care the same for both? Do you seal both of them.
And how do they compare in traction-which would be better for a floor?
Thanks for the info.
bill_vincent
16 years ago
Yes, yes, and about the same. The honed stone feels just a bit more slip resistant, but not by much.
gardenerbabe
16 years ago
Our 15 X 16 addition consisting of 4 feet to our existing master bedroom (making it 15 X 19) along with the addition of a master bath (12 X 15)has been poured, piered, and framed (we have a raised house). The plumber is coming tomorrow and the electrician after that. We have changed the cathedral ceiling to a tray and have vaulted ceiling in master bath with 8' ceiling over enclosed shower, separate bathtub area and enclosed toilet room. I have been reading and learning from all of you over the past 6-8 weeks. Thank you so much for sharing your projects for all of us to be inspired by. It's about time to choose floor material, vanity tops, tub decking and tub skirt. We will have the Kohler cast iron Tea for Two tub and the Kohler cast iron Farmington sink. We will be using Delta faucets in the Orleans collection (bet you can't tell where we are from). Faucets in chrome and tub and sink in biscuit. I travatine for all surfaces or full body porcelain tile for floor, tub skirt, surround and splash with marble tops for the vanities. The shower enclosure will be in biscuit cultured marble (local amily owned company and they do very nice work. Any advice on those choices would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Bonnie

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