Granite vs. travertine vs. sandstone vs. ???

16 years ago

Plans for our (major) renovation project are progressing and we need to start making some decisions soon, like what materials to use for floors, walls, shower, and counter in the master bathroom. We have a vague idea of walls and floor done with some kind of stone tile and a granite counter; we saw a bathroom shower done with travertine tile that we really liked but have no idea what the differences are between the different kinds of stone, what kind of care they require, how durable they are, how well they hold up to wear & tear, etc. We are looking for low maintenance and can't afford to use the most expensive materials (our allowance is $10/square foot, but it is also not a huge bathroom so we could probably afford to splurge a bit if we saw something we really loved). We saw a beautiful pale green polished sandstone tile at Home Depot (although we wouldn't order through them in a million years) that would look great on the walls but realistically, how well would something like this hold up?

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motherpam
16 years ago
This is just my opinion and conclusion.
After a few hundred hours of research, we decided on 18 x18 honed/filled travertine floors, 12 x12 honed marble tile for the shower and tub (which is butter-soft to the touch), honed marble mini-slabs for the vanity counters, and 1x1 polished onyx squares on a mesh sheet in tones of brown/beige/gold as decorative pieces on the tub, shower, and vanities. (I believe "liner" in the vernacular). Our floor travertine is $2.69 /sq. ft. The marble tile is $10.50 sg/ft. The mini-slabs are $117.00 each and are 24" x28" with one edge already bull-nosed and a charge of $35 to bullnose a second edge. We may use the "scraps" of the mini-slabs as part of the backspash along with the 1 x1 onyx.
I have discovered that natural stone is not as high maintenance as people say. (basing this on the various and sundry abuses I have put my samples through) It is clearly durable; just go see some Roman ruins or gothic cathedrals to verify that. It is not more expensive than good porcelain or ceramic tile; and there is not a big upcharge for installation.
Most important to us was this simple factor. With every single porcelain/ceramic tile we looked at the pixels that create the "stone look" are very evident. That pixellated look just really bothered us, especially in something like the shower. When I come home beaten down by my work day, the first thing I do is retreat to the shower. I am looking forward to the fascinating and calming effect of studying the endless variety of swirls, niches, glitters, and veining that only natural stone has. Not to mention how that honed marble feels. Ahhhhhh. (that sounds bizarre only until you actually feel marble)
I hope some of this helps. It took us about a year to make these decisions.
A good source of information is the findstone web site. I also recommend visiting model homes in high-end developments. We take a digital camera along and get pics of every possible aspect that we find even slightly interesting. Later at home we glean these photos and the "keepers" get put in my remodeling binder.
Good luck.
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Granite vs. travertine vs. sandstone vs. ???

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motherpam

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