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Honed vs. Polished Marble Bathroom Dilemma

8 years ago

I'll start off by saying I am OCD so marble and me don't mix well. However, I have decided I am doing 18X18 Cararra marble on my bathroom's floors and 2" hex Carrara marble for my shower floor. I got a sample 12X12 from thebuilderdepot and it was fantastic. White-ish in color with distinct grey veining. After discussing with my contractor, I decided to go with 18X18 marble as I have a fairly large bathroom at 12' X 12'. I kept going back and forth between polished vs. honed. I plan on sealing the marble so I am not concerned about stains but I am concerned about the etching. However, I don't plan on any foreign substance being on the floor except water from the shower. I have read countless threads on this forum but still not sure if water etches? I live in North NJ where we have hard water so that is a concern. Even though I prefer the polished, I was thinking honed which hides etches better is a better compliment to my OCD.

To make it more complicated, the tile place where I got my subway (1 hour drive!) gave me a great deal on 18X18 polished ($9 sq. ft.) vs. the $9.95 on thebuilderdepot but I dont like the material as much. It is a bit more grey in color with less distinctive veining. However, it could just be that thebuilddepot.com gave me a fantastic sample which isn't a good indicator of what I would get if I ordered 150sq. ft. I am lost :(

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Comments (3)

Fori
8 years ago
You can test how your sample reacts to your water and see if it's bad. Then test all the stuff you might clean it with or spill on it.

I'd be tempted to leave polished for the walls and honed elsewhere--it's okay to mix 'em.
jewelisfabulous
8 years ago
Around here, the minerals in the water leave long black streaks on the Carrera marble homeowners put in their shower. It's such a shame to see it happen to such beautiful stone.

Have you looked into the porcelain "Carrera" tile? It has the beautiful white with grey veining. It's a dead-ringer for marble, but not susceptible to the issues the porous Carrera is affected by.
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" but I cant justify that price for a manmade product trying to mimic the au natural that speaks to me." Exactly the way I felt. I sat their tonight with the granite thinking about how lovely nature made this (and trying not to think of the big hole it left in Brazil somewhere :( Are you talking about countertops or backsplash? If you pick marble, be aware that it will not look like the day you installed it for long. I was at a friends recently with honed carrera on the island maybe for 10+ years. It still looked natural, smooth, but certainly not shiny new. Think about bars that you have been to with marble on the long surfaces. Or the bistro tables. Nothing wrong with the look, just not shiny and new looking. It's all in what YOU want ;) Are you the type to love the stone or the type who wants it all shiny/perfect/pretty?
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enduring
8 years ago
I'm with Jewel654, have you looked at the porcelains? Here is a few that I was looking at. I went with the large one shown here in the center. Thats a pan of snow. The large tile is called Atlas Concorde, Marvel Calacatta Extra, and is from Italy. I chose the matte finish, and this sample is matte. I bought it through Nebraska Furniture Mart. They were very helpful and gave me a discount as well. The other tiles shown are a variety of other tile samples.

The tile is ever so slightly warm and looks beautiful with my walnut vanity and woodwork in the bathroom that I finished this past summer:

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