Crema marfil tiles very unevenly colored

14 years ago

Arrgghh...this bathroom renovation stuff is killing me. Long story short, honed crema marfil tiles (12x12) on bathroom floor and shower walls with tumbled (1x1") crema marfil on shower floor. Some of the tiles look light and creamy (as I'd hoped) but some look downright dark beige-grey. Huge variation in color from tile to tile. (I wasn't there when they did the install or would have stopped it; then when I saw it partly done I thought it was the lighting in there...alas, it's not). So, my question is: is there any way to lighten the darker tiles? It seems the tiles may be from different lots. Should tile store be responsible or am I just out of luck? Thanks in advance for any help. Feeling downright defeated...

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Comments (8)

blondelle
14 years ago
There are different grades of Crema Marfil. The ones I'm familiar with are the select, which has less veining and a cleaner more uniform look, and the standard which has more veining and a bit more color variation. I haven't seen one though with drastic color variations. Did you specify the quality of crema marfil in your contract or store? If it's much different from what you saw in the store I would contact them.

You really should check the tile before it goes up ;-(. Are there many dark ones? If not maybe they can be replaced. Hope you can resolve it. Can you post a photo?
conn123
Original Author
14 years ago
blondelle,
how do i get an image in here? have been trying for last two hours...
thanks...
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Thanks Bill, I was considering returning the floor tiles (not laid yet) but since we do have extra tiles we have asked them to set aside the darkest ones and not use them. The lightest ones are still darker than the samples we saw, but acceptable. They have already put up the accent tile and while the difference is very subtle, it does show. What irritates me is that these came from a reputable stone supplier who got very good recommendations. I feel a bit betrayed that their sales guy didn't warn us about the variation in the stone, or that what was delivered might not be nearly as light as the samples they showed us. We still have to pick out our slabs for kitchen & bathroom vanity counters, but at least there we will know exactly what we are getting.
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Nancy, I think our tile is pretty crumbly, too. There's a fine powder all over whatever surface I put them on, and the back of the tile is really irregular. It makes me wonder how they get the front of the pieces so smooth, without the indentations that the back has. Do they cut the pieces thicker than needed and then somehow grind it down to a smooth surface? Or maybe they fill the front side with something. It's really a remarkable difference between front and back? I really like the look of the marble, but I've tried to find something else that would be easier for DH to work with. However, he says he thinks he will like working with it, I think mostly because he took one tile out in the garage and was happy to find that he could easily polish the sides of the tile pieces so that they would look more finished at the end of the counter run, where the one side is exposed. It sounds like, despite the challenges, you're happy with your choice of backsplash, correct? Anna, Thanks for the link to your kitchen---it's lovely. You really achieved a remarkable transformation, and I do like how your backsplash works with it all. I really like the larger size---what size are they? They look like they're maybe 4x8? We'd like larger, but so far we've only found the subway size at Home Depot that is affordable. Was you tile also a bit crumbly and uneven on the back side? Where did you get yours? Thank you, too, for the information about sealing. It makes sense, now that I think about it, that it would be important to seal before grouting. So you put the tile on the wall, let it dry, then seal, let that dry, then grout, then seal again? Do you use the sealer on the grout, too, not just the marble? We have always sealed our grout, but it would be nice to just use one product that would cover everything. The decision to use the Crema Marfil is not 100% certain, because the granite hasn't been installed yet. We don't want to make the final decision until we have the entire slab installed and we can look at our samples with the installed countertop. However, it was the first thing I found that I liked, remains my favorite, and it's the one DH prefers at this time; so likely we will go ahead with it. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. It's so helpful. Edited to Add: Oops, Anna, I went back and looked at your lovely photos again and noted that in your summary you said that your tiles were 3x6. Guess I didn't read carefully the first time through. This post was edited by sail-away on Wed, Mar 13, 13 at 16:38
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Just a word on HD. Their tile is inexpensive, often imported from China where imperfect pieces of stone are cobbled together into tile. Tile that would fail inspection at a reputable supplier is regularly sold through HD. You may not realize the horror until it is time to install it. What HD is great at is providing an inexpensive option, and taking things back. YOU MUST INSPECT EACH INDIVIDUAL TILE IN EACH BOX. My best advice to you if you go this route is to order extra boxes of tile, then sit at HD in front of the customer service desk, open each box, remove defective tiles, and replace them with acceptable tiles from other boxes. When you have enough full boxes of inspected acceptable tile, return the rest. Good luck!
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blondelle
14 years ago
Upload it onto www.photobucket.com. You need to register but it's free. Then just copy and paste the link into your message here and it should show up. Be sure to check that it shows up in the preview before submitting the message, and that you have pasted the right link.
conn123
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks a million, Blondelle...
Let me know what you think...

Here is a link that might be useful:
bill_vincent
14 years ago

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty extreme. Did you buy them from your installer, or did you get them separately?

or did the place where you got them also supply the installer?
blondelle
14 years ago
Oh dear! That looks like two different colors of marble. The installer should have looked them over and said something before putting them all up. All the lighter ones seem to be grouped together in that photo. Hope you can get the ones that stand out replaced. I can't believe that's all from one lot of tile. That's much more than a natural variation :-(.

Sorry that happened, but it should be able to be fixed.
conn123
Original Author
14 years ago
I bought the tiles separately at a local tile store. Installer is GC's tile guy. I'm asking the tile store to give me a few extra tiles so I can have at least the four in the bottom center of the photo replaced.
Is it true that Crema marfil tiles will naturally lighten over time as they dry out? At the moment, even with those four replaced, the tile is much darker than the crema vanity top.
bill_vincent
14 years ago
Yes, they do lighten up, even using white thinset, as the thinset dries. It can take as much as a week before it completely dries out.

I'm surprised the installer actually put those in. A BLIND man could see the difference there! Even if those four were put in first (as they probably were), they still could've been pulled and cleaned while fresh, and then there'd be no problem taking them back.

if you don't mind emailing me, I'd be curious as to where abouts you are, and who's doing the work. (I'm pretty familiar with Connecticut and the tile trade there)

Crema marfil tiles very unevenly colored

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