For nearly 20 years, we've lived with two travertine bathrooms done by the previous homeowners. Considering they were do-it-yourselfers, they did pretty good. One bathroom, our guest bathroom, has an antique hutch converted into a bathroom vanity with marble replacing the countertop surfaces (I love that piece), marble floors, a slab marble tub counter, marble on the walls, a marble wide windowsill, and a marble with wood trim tub surround. The wood was probably not the best idea around a bathtub, but it has not warped and has help up pretty well. It's required repainting, of course. I am mindful to keep the wood as dry as possible. The grand slab bathtub counter (don't know what else to call it) has held up well. We've had to replace plumbing, but the marble has held up. Maybe next year, we will have the marble polished up in there. That bathroom has light to moderate use and has, miraculously, no real etching even after 20 years. Some hard water deposits around the toilet base. The caulk (sanded caulk?) needs to be replaced around the perimeter where the marble on the walls of the shower/tub touches the marble slab counter. For what it is worth, we never put in a shower curtain there - it is a bathtub bathroom only. I think that helped preserve the marble and the wood. The marble on the windowsill was not done correctly. The windowsill had to be reworked by experts who chose to demo and replace it with something else. Our master bathroom is all pinkish travertine. This bathroom features the travertine shower with glass doors, pinkish (really flesh colored)travertine on the walls, and the windowsills as well. Same problem in here with the travertine on the windowsills. Those sills cracked, warped, and had to be replaced. There is a weird problem on the wall. It looks like there was some filler used in the travertine when it was sold/installed. Over time, the filler seems to have evaporated and has left a more pitted and hollowed surface. The affected area is directly above the wall mounted lights that flank the mirror. I think the heat from the lights might have contributed to it. It looks odd. I have found a tile and marble restoration person. After we finish other projects this year, I'll consider having him inspect and repolish this bathroom, too. This second bathroom has a travertine shower. The shower is badly etched and I don't trust the pan. We have had hard water at times over the past 20 years. The hard water is not kind to the marble. Also, we certainly should have recaulked over the years. Didn't know to do that. Probably sealer too? Not sure, but we had no idea how to take care of it. There is etching of the marble, too, where we used too harsh of cleaning products. I am the most unhappy with the travertine in this shower. I don't think I want a marble or travertine shower in any remodels in the future, but for lower-use situations, like our guest bath, it still works for me. If well-trained adults are the occupants, it might work. My husband, though, tends to nuke the shower to clean it on an occasional burst of energy without my OK. I should have a bathroom that he can nuke with Lime-Away if he wants to, not something with a picky product like marble. I have found a steam cleaner to be useful inside the shower for cleaning. Not sure if it gets the experts OK, but that is what I've been doing in recent years. I haven't needed to use the steam cleaner anywhere but in the shower. The floor in both baths is travertine. We had a bathroom scale that left a small rust stain on the floor where the plastic glide came off its foot. I was able to rub most of it out, forgot what I used - - some sort of Helful Hint - but a bit remains. I am super-hyper about no metal in the bathroom on the floors -- no metal trash cans or step stools, for example, even if coated in plastic. When we first moved in, people warned us that we would be slipping and sliding on marble bathroom floors. Knock on wood, no one has ever slipped on the bathroom floors. We've been mindful to not put down polishes that are meant for wall or counter marble. Polishes for floors must say floor on it. I am always worried about stepping out of the bathtub as it is rather a high ledge to get to the floor. I never step onto the marble, always onto the rug. That's our marble story.

I had the same concerns when I did my kitchen, but was reassured that once it is sealed it is not a problem. I do not like the look of a different material above the slide-in range and since my granite is very dark, I didn't want it as a full backsplash. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my tumbled marble backsplash. I sealed it with one coat of 511 impregnator and Vioila, nothing penetrates. Here is my picture, which I am sure everyone here is sick of seeing already! Susan

@SJ McCarthy: Lots of questions so I am going to break it down: "OK...the 'sealant' isn't a sealant. It is old glue from vinyl tiles. Has it been tested for asbestos? How old were the tiles that were taken up? Do you have photos of this glue-mess?" Whatever the "sealant" is, it doesn't allow water to be absorbed and the 2-3 installers I spoke with about gluing wood to it, all said it needs to be porous. Bostik also said it needs to be porous. I'm guessing the sheet vinyl was original to the house. It had 65% asbestos in the fiber backing. I had it tested. Tyvek suits, p100 respirators, hepa filter and wet scraped it. It still left a ton of residue so we used a mastic remover. Nasty nasty stuff that was not meant to ever be removed. House was tested for fibers and is considered safe. The slab looks great now, I considered just finishing it and having an industrial look, but that isn't very popular in my area so would influence resale. The glue down floor is the most expensive wood install we have. Your slab is one of the old one's that is almost guaranteed to have moisture issues (builders started using moisture barriers under the slab in the mid 1990's). Before you think about 15 years down the road, I would pay for the moisture testing of the slab (in-dwelling probes are your best method of testing the moisture level already in the slab). This can be done now so that you can make decisions later. There is a moisture barrier under the house because I saw it. The floor was jackhammered in a couple places for drain work and there was a very nice, black, intact moisture barrier present. I made sure to put the moisture barrier back, best I could, before the floor was closed up. The adhesives are expensive. They have to be. You would have to use one of the most expensive glues on the market = $2-$3/sf. That's ONE of your mark-ups. The other is the labour which is, another $2-$3/sf. Labour costs are roughly 1/2 the price of builds. Human sweat and KNOWLEDGE come at a price. The cost you were quoted for labour (on the glue down) is completely in line with a knowledgeable human doing it properly. Your installer isn't gouging you...s/he is in-line with the cost of his knowledge/time it will take to get this done properly. I agree. I don't think I am being gouged. The total cost of materials + install of $4.50/sf is very, very low. The preparation is going to be more than the cost of the wood. Preparation must be paid for. With a situation like yours (left over glue on a slab that needs flattening) is going to be $2-$4/sf. I would guess high. Removing the glue is a b!tch! Yes it is going to cause dust. That's what happens when dealing with old things like glue over slab. The cost of materials to float the floor per square foot are $.50 quiet walk, $.50 floor prep, $1.70 wood flooring, $1.80 labor. It's a DIY click lock floor and I asked for them not to glue it on the edges. I HIGHLY recommend you speak to your installer (who sounds like s/he is one of the one's who knows what he's doing) about the cost of the preparation. Labour to install a floating hardwood (there is glue that is added to the joints of every plank) should be $2.50-$3/sf (includes the glue). He charges $2.25 to install wood floors. This isn't the prep work or the finishing work. The labour for the concrete prep is a different cost. I would ask about that. This was a little different, his number changed a few times for this which made me concerned he isn't as proficient in this area since he usually works new construction. His final number was $.50.

The idea of a properly vented fireplace is that the debris stays inside the cavity. I've seen lots of marble fireplaces in online home tours of high-end homes. The heat shouldn't be affecting the exterior to that degree or else something is wrong with the fireplace. You'd want an excellent sealant on marble if you used real marble. Soapstone might be another option. It is heat resilient up to such high degrees that many fireplaces are made entirely of soapstone.