Great questions looking forward to the answers you get. Might have to use it for my window surrounds, niches and baseboards.

Might "have" to use it? Interesting story there, I bet... :)

I know bill wrote in another thread that it's 'tough' material, but I've seen on other sites that people actually advise against it for bathrooms. I wonder if that's only for counters -- if it's only going to be on a vertical, would that be a different proposition and not as demanding/risky? We're finally getting to our daughter's bathroom and I have some beautiful vitreous to do a blend accent with and I want to use the thassos as the field.

Oh Bill...you around? Mongo? Does mongo even come by here anymore? Ah, the old days...

FWIW, I tested a small piece of polished thassos - left vinegar on it for about a minute, and I did not notice any etching.

Hi Flyleft, as for my "Might have to use it for my window surrounds, niches and baseboards." The tile I am planing on using is a white glass on porcelain so top portion of tile is white and bottom is grey. So if I use it for these areas I am going to have this gray stripe everywhere. Bill do you have any thoughts for that. The shop sales person said installer could miter the edges for around the window. Now that sounded nice but the more I think about it the more I think "man that's going to be hard!" Plus.. I am planing on a couple of niches and then there are the base boards, but I kinda thought I could hit the edges of the tile baseboards with some white paint. What are your thoughts on this Bill? TIA!

I'm here! Intermittently. My old business partner is terminally ill, I've been back and forth, halfway across the country, helping him and his family get their affairs in order.

I check in here once in a while, but there seem to be more "design" questions than "installation" threads, so I read more than post.

Wassupwichu? Hope you and yours are well, Fly!

Thanks, Bill, fluke, jjaazzy & mongo (nice to see you!)--

I read on John Bridge someone having trouble cutting a particular kind of marble -- did the thassos perform well for you, Bill? The poor guy was losing marble right and left, looking for a good technique and the right blade...

fluke, I have to say it's so sweet that you left the vinegar on for a whole minute :). That's someone who wants a test to work :). I also read somewhere else on the web that all marbles turn yellow after a while?! but a responder said that it partly depends on the substrate and the adhesive.

jjaazzy, what is that tile you're using?! It sounds like something I might like! I want to find, basically, a brilliant white to be the offset of an unpolished marble-look porcelain on the floor. There will also be that vitreous glass in grey and gold (they look like silver and gold), so it wouldn't be too bad if the brilliant white were glass too. Would you share the name of the tile? Weird that they don't make a bullnose for your kind of situation. You'd think you're not the first person to use it...

Sorry to hear about your and your old partner's situation, mongo. Of course you're being a mensch in such a troubling time. Totally in character, I say boldly, as I know you so well from here :). We're well, I've been given a clean slate of heart health after the strange MI thirteen months ago, and I've even started running again while DD does XC! Guess you have a daughter in college now, yes? Hope she got the school of her choice, and hope you all are thriving as well.

jjaazzy-- I don't know that I'd trust mitering laminated glass. That's going to be tough to get a clean edge, because of how soft the glass is, and how hard the porcelain is. I don't know for sure, because although I've heard of it, I've never worked with it. But I'd be nervous about it. Not quite sure how I'd handle the outside corner edges otherwise, though-- maybe Schluter's stainless bullnose strips? Same with the base. OR, you could paint it. :-)

hee hee - i guess you're right about wanting the test to work : ) can repeat tonight, leaving the vineagar on overnight just for kicks. other marble samples i had etched immediately

i also seem to recall stories of thassos yellowing over time

fly, what porcelain are you using? I'm torn between using marble or porcelain on my shower & bathroom floor.

Thanks Bill and Fly, Yea my thoughts exactly about the mitering so here is the new plan! I found a fabulous marble called Naxos. It is beautiful and I am so tickled that finally finally finally I picked something and I have a plan! It is white and has all sorts of crystals through it, large and small with tiny puffs of very light grey. It is stunning and full of all sorts of sparkles. I will use this to do all my window and cubby edging, and will use this behind the vanity area where marble won't be a issue. Have you heard of this material, Naxos?

The white on porcelain is called Brilliant Crystal (I think) I just search hi and low to find the paper I had. They tell me it is glass laminated onto porcelain, extremely tough and scratch resistant. They tell me it is the answer to Thasos that sometimes is not consistently white. It only comes 24" x 24" and 36" x 36" and is pretty thick at 1/2". You should be able to find it. It was the one tile that I could find at 70% of the places I went to. // ok just took another stab at finding tile for you and if you look at pictures you will see the over all look more then just seeing tile sample. Hope this link works. It is the 5.99 white tile not super white (pretty but not that white!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile example and name

flyleft,

You have seen my sivec white bathroom? I looked all over for thassos and found one source in LA which carried good quality thassos but it was expensive. I finally found sivec which is very white although the whiteness is different from tile to tile.
Thassos has a gorgeous crystalline structure. The sivec will scratch from footwear so I try to limit that in the bathroom.

Go for it. I think white marble is classic and luxurious :)

Um, yes, pharaoh, I remember your bathroom :). I'll get a sample and see what it looks like next to the tub. I've decided I want whatever surface it is to be as close to the color of the tub as possible, since they'll be right next to each other. Also remembering that it will be a kid in that room...

jjaazzy, that is *exactly* something I'd like -- unfortunately we don't need 200 sf of it, only about 80. Ugh, I wish I could find it already local in the PDX area...it would be perfect. I want WHITE *and* relatively durable :).

fluke, the second test should tell whether the first test was just a ... well, you know :) And I'm using an ILVA very light grey mottled matte through-body rectified porcelain, very industrial looking -- I got it (from craigslist, actually) because I happened to have found some nice vitreous (handmade, sold at Ann Sacks) at a salvage in tones of grey and gold, and the tile echoed the grey and the birch furniture will echo the gold. Will be contemporary, but a very different color set than the master or the powder room, since it's upstairs. I wanted it light and airy--it has an opening skylight--and we'll paint the walls a slightly greyed ice blue. The glossy clean-edged white and the somewhat rough-edged handmade vitreous should make the textures/sheens/colors really work well together, I think. I'm really glad I'm using tough porcelain for the floor because it's so carefree (see "kid" mentioned above :)). Yet since I've saved so much on both tiles (and got a very sleek crystal fixture for over the sink at a salvage as well :)), I can spend more on the white element if need be.

sounds like it will be stunning. one of my favorite combos right now is a yellow-ish washed oak with white, a blue-grey (like lagos blue limestone), and a bit of black.

well, i left balsamic vinegar on the tile for well about 36 hours - it dried out on the tile. no etching, but the brown color did absorb a bit. definately seems tougher than the carrara or crema marfil samples i had - those etched immediately.

can't wait to see your floor - i'm debating whether i want stone or porcelain (something light grey & mottled - i'll check out ilva).

Sorry to hear you can't find this product in your area. I had a very hard time finding white choices too. Good luck in your hunt! I scoured 3 counties for my tiles!

Good to know, fluke -- I'll pick up a sample tomorrow! Thanks.

jjaazzy (I like to type your name, btw :)), I've done two counties so far. Could I ask what the brand name was of what you're using--was it just "Brilliant Crystal"? Was it one of those China import kind of tiles?

Oh, and fluke -- the ILVA is really just one of those many commercial marble-looking tiles (it's from their 'marmi' line) that comes in unpolished and polished -- I chose it because 1) it worked and 2) it was on c's list, being cleaned out by a tilesetter and very inexpensive. You could find similar through Crossville Empire, for example, or many other lines of commercial porcelain.

OH, and if you want a porcelain that looks so much like Calacatta gold I cannot believe it, I can look up the name of a tile I saw at Pental this week. Just flat out incredible. If I could have used it, I would have. Comes in I think 12x12 and 12x24, probably more. If you want me to find the name, I will.

Fly I just called the company and asked them for name of tile and that is the name "white Crystal" so while I had the gal on the phone I told her about you and your need for white tile and asked them if they would ship it and she said they would. So for lack of any other way I could think of, even looking into some of the stores that I know have it that might have a location in your area, that produced no results. I will give you the name of company. Maximum Tile & Marble, 305-477-0199 maybe ya'll can work something out. Maybe if they have have a good relationship with a shipper it won't be too crazy. (I'm a dreamer)

Flyleft, are you talking about this Calacatta tile?

Here is a link that might be useful: Evolution Tile

Yes, I am, marcolo. To me it's amazing, so much better than any other imitation I've seen. Have you seen it? What do you think of it? Guess it does come in other sizes after all...

And jjaazzy, cool--thanks! I will follow up with them. I really appreciate your taking that trouble. I see that they couldn't be further from us--ain't that always the way :)

wow, that evolution stuff looks amazing - nice to hear it looks good in person too. i'm always disappointed by carrara-like porcelain when I see it in person.

fyi, crossville empire was on my short list.

I have a line on some nice turkish marble (carrara like), with no brown/yellow that i can get for about $3 a square foot - i just don't know about the upkeep. i'm not a slob, but i just like the thought of being able to use strong cleaning products in the bathroom even though it's rarely needed..

My GC just finished installing polished thassos on my bathroom walls...says it's not necessary to seal because he used an epoxy type grout. Is this true?

I went to the Greek island Thassos on vacation a few years ago and took this photo of a quarry. It was a beautiful island easily accessible by ferry near Greece's 2nd biggest city Thessaloniki. I didn't know about Thassos marble then but I bet all the ruins I saw...that were not yellowed....were made of it.

Here's the beach where we stayed and I think these slabs we dove off of were Thassos marble too.

Wow that's so cool, I always wonder what happens when they run out. : (