Sunday, May 24, 2009

DIY Guidelines for Successful Marble Installation

Marble has a touch of elegance and class like no other home décor. It is durable, brilliantly colorful, naturally stylish and widely different. This explains why so many people across the globe are looking for marble to enhance the ambience of their houses. Simply, having marble flooring can bring charm and elegance to your house. It is a marbelous option!

Since this natural stone is precious, it is a bit costly as well. But, with the advantages that marble has, your money will be worth your value. In fact, marble ensures that you can save the cost of installation by doing it yourself. This is a very credible thought given the easy installation of marble.

However, there are certain things that you have to be careful about while installing marble in your house. The next few lines will deal with them briskly.

Put yourself at the position of the expert. The first thing that will qualify you as an expert is research. So, don’t forget to do that with the marble. You need to know about this stone in details before you begin the installation process. There can be many sources of information and the Internet is one of the best options to know about this natural stone.

The next step would be to ensure a suitable floor for installation. You need a dry, clean and level floor for a successful installation. This kind of floor will negate the chance of cracks in the marble. Also, you have to ensure that the floor is strong enough to hold the marble.

Now, you have to put aside the baseboards. Have a look at them, may be they are too old to match the marbles. Anyway, you can retain it or bring some new ones after the installation is done.

The time has come when you should chalk out the plan to lay the marble on the floor. The plan will serve as a preview that will ensure that you have the adequate number of tiles. It is better to have some pieces extra for you never know about the emergency. While planning the installation, you must ensure that you start the operation from the exact center. This will ensure that you will not step on the tiles while installing them. You can always take a piece of paper to make the plan apparent.

Now, it is time to think about the thinset. This should be in correspondence to the color of the tiles. This is because of the transparency that the marble has. Thanks to this feature, the color of the marble can be distorted or even changed if you choose the wrong thinset.

You should use cold water to mix the thinset. If you use hot or warm water for this purpose, the hardening process will be quick. Also, you should ensure that there is no lump in the mixture. Do not spread the thinset over an area that you can not cover within 15 minutes.

During installation, spacers should be used. This will ensure proportionate gap between the tiles. After the installation is over, it should be left overnight to dry up.

Finally, you can grout the tiles now. Use the color that matches the tiles. However, before doing that, you should read the instruction properly. The grouts should be spread properly with the help of the float. After waiting for while, you should clean off the tiles with damp sponge. Finally, seal the grout.

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