From time immemorial marble personified magnificence and prosperity. Marble floors were found not only in the royal palaces, but also in state and public institutions, as well as in the mansions of nobles and nobles. Today, marble can be used in interiors of different styles. As before, this material is an indicator of good taste and respectability.
Marble Flooring Houses
If we are not talking about the presidential palace, but about a residential building, then marble floors are most often laid in the hall, corridors, halls for receiving guests and bathrooms. The imagination of the designer is limited only by the solvency of the customer. The color and structural pattern of marble can be matched to any interior. Typically, designers use one of the following options:
- artificially aged marble;
- glossy plain marble floors;
- glossy floors with a pattern of veins;
- matte floors;
- floors with a complex pattern of marble in various colors;
- marble flooring;
- floors from marble slabs (tiles made by cutting monolithic slabs);
- use of mosaic technique.
Marble: a brief description of the breed
Marble is a rock with a granular crystalline structure. It was formed under the influence of high pressure and elevated temperatures during tectonic displacements of the bowels of the earth. The color of the breed depends on natural impurities.
Marble is considered a solid and durable material, but it lends itself well to processing. This makes it an excellent, durable and popular finishing material.
How to choose marble for flooring?
In addition to color, natural pattern and decorative pattern, when choosing marble floors, it is important to pay attention to density characteristics. To do this, it is necessary to understand well for which surface the cladding is selected.
Marble for cladding floors must have a thickness of at least 2 cm. This is due to the fact that the floors will be sanded from time to time, and in addition, they are under a lot of stress, causing natural abrasion of materials.
The next criterion is the density of the material. For halls, corridors and halls, you can choose coarse grades. It is dry in these rooms and the material will not be affected by humidity changes. For bathrooms and showers choose fine-grained varieties.
To reduce costs without compromising the artistic value of the interior, a floor covering called marble chips has been created.
Marble chips floors
There are two names for this material. One of them is ground marble, the second is crushed marble.
The production technology is extremely simple. The crumbs are made from crushed quarry stone, and then sorted according to four fractions:
- Marble crushed stone from 2.5 to 5 mm in size.
- Fine screening with a particle size of less than 5 mm.
- Marble flour with a particle size of up to 2.5 mm.
- Marble dust.
Defective marble can be allowed into the production of crumbs, in the structure of which defects are found. Marble chips from this material are of high quality, but the material is significantly cheaper.
A concrete mortar serves as a bonding base for marble chips. Such floors are laid on a cement screed, the thickness of which is more than 2 cm. Special wire or fiberglass cores are laid in it, with which you can form a coating pattern.
Ground marble is best bonded with M400 cement. Three parts of crumbs and 0.5 parts of water are added to one part of cement. For better saturation of the marble solution, it is worth taking crumbs of different fractions.
Marble chips are suitable for creating geometric patterns, as well as for mosaic floors.
Marble Mosaic Floors
Mosaic floor coverings look good in large areas. It can be stations, lobbies and corridors of public buildings, stairwells.
Initially, a mosaic pattern project is created. Next, they mark the cards and install the veins, according to the project. Before kneading the solution, the marble chips are cleaned of foreign impurities and, if necessary, washed to improve cement bonding. Colored elements are created by adding coloring pigment.
When ordering marble floors, the prices of which always remain high, a person receives a high-quality coating that will last for many decades. Marble chips and mosaic patterns will be cheaper due to the cost of the material, but the complexity of the project will be included in the price. Therefore, a mosaic with numerous small color details is highly rated. Marble and granite floors are an expensive pleasure, their price is approximately from 2500 to 5000 rubles per 1 m 2 . But style and quality are worth it!