Would you consider sand "natural stone"?

I have a marble shower floor - Calacatta Gold basketweave and a marble large feature wall in my shower. My bench as well as the curb of my shower are also marble - remnants from my marble counter.

I don't find them particularly difficult in terms of upkeep. My shower floor has a very good slope so that there are no pools of water or dampness. I have an excellent Panasonic Whisper fan which runs based on sensing ambient humidity levels. My shower is dry as is my bathroom - no steam condensation on glass enclosure or mirrors after a shower.

The shower is in my master bath. I don't wash dogs or dye my hair in the shower nor am I a farmer washing off copious amounts of mud every day. I also use liquid shower soap but I have always used liquid shower soap rather than bar soap as bar soap is kind of gross to me when it sits out and/or is used by multiple people.

My maintenance instructions state that the marble needs to be sealed periodically so that's on my to do list. To me it's a reasonable bit of maintenance as weighed against the pleasure I take in the aesthetics of my master bath. FWIW, my bathroom is NOT a shrine to marble as most of it is hand fired ceramic tile :-)

In the mid 80's my parents remodeled their master bathroom with a glossy marble tile. It looked amazing. My mother loved it until my father started using the toilet ... any little drop or splash was forever etched in the floor tile and no product would remove them. They were very careful in what they used in that bathroom and how they cleaned it for the next 10+ years until they sold the house. My mother has never used marble again!

I could live with marble, but I can't control what other people in the house do, so I choose low maintenance products. I don't even put a lemon down on my quartzite counters and I know it isn't affected by lemon juice. My DH, on the other hand, would never remember that a marble could be etched by many commonly used foods and products. For household sanity, I choose low maintenance products!

Pee pee patina! Learn to love it, keep the lighting low...or use a fluffy toilet rug!

We had blanco carrara floors and walls in three bathrooms in two homes. After a few years, they dulled and needed professional maintenance. We moved on.

Last house, we used green quartzite for floors, shower walls and bubble air surround. No special maintenance. No problems. (No shoes, no dogs, hair dying or mud farming, allowed here.)

Like this:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/reef-road-beach-style-bathroom-portland-maine-phvw-vp~134827457

I guess slate is considered a natural stone? It’s okay but a pain to put down. The underside is so uneven that building it up so that all the slate was level took forever. Thank goodness my husband has more patience than I do. We are on a well so I knew we couldn’t go with anything light like marble because the minerals in the well water would stain it over time.

Oh my god- pee patina would be traumatic! I wonder if it shows the same on DARK natural stone? Shudder..

Helen yess this is kind of the way I see my upstairs bath working out. I don’t plan on doing anything crazy in there so it should be relatively easy to clean and I also plan on investing in a very powerful fan (I actually considered installing 2 fans, one for in shower one for the bathroom).

BT your home looks gorgeous <3

Jalarse I was actually considering using slate- speaking of minerals in the water- I live in Jersey where the water is super hard. Even with a softener I imagine I’ll have a fair amount of minerals. I’m actually confused though, don’t the minerals leave a WHITE stain?

I used a natural stone tile in a honed finish on my shower floor. It has a really nice feeling on your feet and doesn't seem to require any more maintenance than porcelain tile. I would definitely use it again.

Smitrovich what kind!

I quit specifying natural stone in wet environments over 10 years again. People don’t want to commit to getting rid of the toilet bowl cleaner, or bathroom cleaner, or the hair dye, or to the frequent mechanical cleanings that getting rid of “modern” acidic cleaners requires.

Stone is a luxury material, and it can last a lifetime if correctly chosen, installed, and maintained. Unfortunately, NONE of that was happening. People were buying cheap box store stone, hiring the lowest priced “tile guy”, and then either not cleaning it, or using the wrong cleaners. They wanted the Luxury, but not the costs. That’s going to be a fail every time.

The phrase..it wears like stone ...doesn’t really apply to showers....tile is MADE for that ..there are a million things to worry about in stone selection...I won’t be doing it again...

Corinne Masterson - Limestone!

Hmm I wonder why some people seem to have an ok time. I appreciate the feedback Rita & Live- all those points make a lot of sense.

Im wondering Smit, did you go with an expensive limestone & an expensive install?

We used a multi colored quartzite tile in our bath remodel in 2005. There have been no problems with it what-so-ever. I guess it just depends on the stone.

So long as someone understands what is required to maintain something, why shouldn’t they use it. Every product needs to be maintained appropriately. You don’t scrub a wood floor with a bucket of soapy water. Many granites need to be sealed periodically. Wood tables and other wood furniture needs to be protected appropriately as do many granite counters.

If you aren’t willing to make the minimal effort required to appropriately deal with things, then don’t. Speaking for myself and many friends who have chosen to have stuff in our homes that requires some amount of care, it’s worth it. How difficult is it to stock appropriate cleaning products? I have seen marble in kitchens and bathrooms after a decade of use or more that look fine and they were used in a normal way without indue pampering.

I have marble in my shower and onyx on my vanity countertops. With the shower, it's honed afyon marble and no, I don't use harsh chemicals, but I don't baby it either. If it etches, I'm ok with that. I expect marble and my onyx to be living finishes that will change over time. I consider those changes to be part of the beauty of the stone. and yes, we even use bar soap!

I believe usage of bar soap may qualify as some kind of mortal sin around here based on all of the threads I've read where numerous posters recommend not using bar soap to prevent soap scum and other evils. (I confess I use bar soap too; sometimes body wash, but often bar soap--the triple-milled fancy stuff but sometimes even Lever2000!!!) I don't have any natural stone in my showers though except for some marble niche shelves in one shower.

The issue with most bar soap is that many use animal fat as fillers or bonders and that produces scum. Only exception I know of is Dove. With liquid soap, you don't have that issue....

What about Dr. Bronner's bar soap and Tom's of Maine bar soap? (that's mainly what I use) Those don't appear to use animal ingredients like sodium tallowate, etc.

ETA: My dad always used Kirk's Castile, which I think also doesn't use animal stuff.

I have used Castille before, and you're probably right. As to the others, I would check ingredients and/or call the mfg.

Side note - Natural bar soap works best - no chemicals, no dyes and you would have to not clean your shower for weeks before seeing any build up.

As for materials - I say go for whatever is beautiful to you and maintain as that material requires. You can't blanket everything under the category of "natural stone" and get the same answers. Each stone has its own characteristics and maintenance needs.

I had an apartment once that had the old glue up glossy plastic walls in the shower. The landlord let me gut the bathroom ( it really needed it ) with his material approval. I managed to get thicker glue up shower walls with a tile-look pattern and molded shelves. Fancy right?? Well those flat glossy glue up panels were so much easier to clean! Live and learn..

If you understand what your stone will need and look like over time and you are ok with what you have to do, then just get it and enjoy!

Oh I use Etro products and I believe the soap I use is all vegetable based.