Natural stone flooring
Natural stone flooring

Among many flooring materials, natural stone flooring comes at first priority for many owners at the time of their house design because of the luster and elegance that natural stone possesses amongst many building materials.

Whether it is about your home or a commercial project, opting for the right stone flooring is important and so you have to be aware of their properties and their useability. And, in this blog, this is where we will help you.

There are a variety of stone flooring options available in the market, like marble, granite, limestone, etc. However, choosing the best out of them is never an easy task. They all come with their pros and cons as per the requirement and the suitability.

To assess whether a particular type of natural stone floor covering is suited for a specific area, you must first understand the qualities of the stone.

1- Granite Flooring

White granite

Granite is one of the hardest natural stone flooring materials and is best suited for heavy traffic areas like lobbies, parking areas, etc.

Is granite best for flooring?

Because of their general durability, robustness, and variety of color possibilities, Granite stones are a classic and popular flooring choice. It’s almost resilient to scratching and stains, so it’s a fantastic choice for families with dogs and kids.

Granite flooring is a wonderful choice if you want to make a good affecting change in your kitchen, entryway, or bathroom. You can find a variety of color options, like black granite, brown granite, gold granite, green granite, and in fact white granite as well. You can also find translucent granite for your kitchen countertop.

You can use these color combinations to create a beautiful floor covering at the time of your house design. If you don’t want to use granite stone flooring, then you can also opt for granite finish tile as natural stone tiles are available in the market. They can give you the feel of the granite and also are pocket-friendly.

The granite price per square foot depends on the design that you are selecting. Generally, the granite price ranges from 80Rs.to 350Rs. square ft. depending on the design that you have chosen but sometimes it can even reach Rs.2000/ sq.ft.

2- Marble

 Tuomas A. Lehtinen / Getty Images

Marble flooring makes a stunning look in any doorway or floor space, whether it’s in your house or business place. Marble stones have a reputation for being one of the most opulent home decor materials, and their appealing color variations can make them stand out in any space.

It’s a crystallized limestone, which means it’s more porous than granite. Because of this, it is more vulnerable to discoloration than granite. As a result, marble is better suited to low-traffic spaces such as libraries, studies, and fireplaces. Also, you can polish your marble flooring again to get the entire new look without breaking your flooring.

But after prolonged contact with water marbles can deform, decolorize and also can spall at the veins and crack. It is advisable that you rather not use it as your bathroom or any other water-prone area.

Marble price may range from Rs.30 to Rs.700 depending on the design you have chosen.

If you want to have a natural stone flooring look in your bathroom, you can choose natural stone tile or marble tile as flooring materials for floor covering at the time of your house design.

3- Limestone

gray limestone floor in kitchen
Limestone flooring

It is made up of settled sedimentary rocks and provides a robust, solid surface that is suitable for natural stone flooring. Limestone flooring’s muted tones offer any space fresh and inviting air. Limestone flooring comes in a variety of gentle beige and tan colors and gives off an informal, comfortable vibe.

Limestone is sturdy and eco-friendly, versatile, and charming. They are soft stones and so can be easily cut in different sizes if you want to have some desired pattern in your space.

But they are porous stones and can chip easily compared to other natural stones in areas where there is a lot of foot traffic, and need regular maintenance because they are porous in nature. Also, avoid them using in the bathroom or other water-prone areas.

The price of the limestone flooring is much less as compared to marbles and granite. So if you are looking for natural stone flooring than, limestone can be one of the options for flooring materials

4- Slate

Slate flooring

Slate flooring is an excellent indoor stone tile flooring option because of its rich colors and unusual texture. Slate is made out of crushed sediment layers that developed beneath the sea. It is resistant to fading, scratches, cracks, chipping, breaks, and also chemical resistance.

Slate for natural stone flooring can last for a very long time if properly cared for. It requires proper sealing before using it as bathroom flooring material or in the kitchen. Slate flooring can be considered in very high traffic areas but is not as strong as granite flooring.


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5-Travertine

travertine-natural-stone-flooring
Travertine natural stone flooring

Travertine stones are a popular flooring option since it is one of the most long-lasting stone flooring selections available. Travertine’s rough cut-down style gives texture and a dramatic appeal to any floor space with its neutral color tones.

This stone is porous because it contains hundreds of pores in its natural state. So, the stone is then filled and polished to give it a sumptuous high gloss look. Travertine textured tiles stand out due to the existence of natural pores and veining, which add a unique texture.

Because it is porous, it requires proper maintenance and should not be used in wet areas like bathrooms or kitchens. It should be sealed properly at a regular interval to protect it from moisture, discoloration, and other damage.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Stone Flooring

Choosing the stone flooring considering all its pros and cons is not easy. Whether it is for the kitchen, wall tiles, or stone flooring for the bathroom. They have their pros and cons.

Pros: 

  • Unlike any other building material, natural stones serve to offer living spaces a direct and eternal link to the natural world.
  • Because each piece of stone is a one-of-a-kind creation of the earth, each flooring application is unique. Every floor piece of natural stone is unique and has its own beauty.
  • Stone flooring are environmentally friendly and pollution-free. So it is beneficial to the environment.
  • You can transform your old natural stone flooring into a completely new one by polishing them.
  • They are seemless (without joints) once they are installed.

Cons:

Well, natural stone flooring comes with some disadvantages too such as,

  • Marble and other polished materials are readily scratched.
  • Natural stone, with the exception of granite and certain slate, is porous and requires sealing on a regular basis to protect its surfaces.
  • Some stones are extremely fragile and quickly chip from their visible grains incase of poor-workmanship.
  • They are expensive as compared to tile flooring and requires skilled labour.

Above all, while opting for natural stone flooring, some other factors are also there that you need to take care of. They are such as absorption rating, coefficient of friction, grade, indoor vs. outdoor rating, etc.

Conclusion

There are so many options available when it comes to natural stone flooring as a building material at the time of your house design.

These natural stone flooring materials add elegance and grace to any space when they are used as floor coverings. But they are expensive and difficult to install so you can opt for natural stone tile flooring if you want to add stone texture into your spaces. You can find all types of natural stone tile, like granite tile, marble tile, travertine tile, and many more.

Here, in this blog, we have discussed all stone flooring in detail. So that an interior designer can go through this and make a perfect choice for stone tile flooring. I hope this was useful for you. Keep visiting us for more such information.