Marble Tile & Flooring

Marble Tile & Flooring

Marble tile sets a perfect statement in any entryway or floor space within your home or a commercial space. Marble floors have a reputation of being one of the most luxurious home design materials and its attractive veining and color options can truly make it stand out in any room.

Marble is a metamorphic rock, capable of taking polish, and it is the impurities that give it its character, and beauty. Marble is typically a light colored stone, the fewer the impurities, the whiter the stone. Silica, iron oxides, clay and graphite provide the color and rich veining while calcite crystal is the base of a true marble. Marble deposits can be hundreds of feet thick, and some high producing quarries, produce over a million tons per year.

Marble comes in a wide array of colors including pink, yellow, blue, gray, and even black; the impurities don’t make marble unattractive, they make it more beautiful. Today, marble is quarried from all over the world including Greece, Ireland, the U.K., throughout the United States, Russia, Romania and Sweden, but the top producers of true marble include Italy, China, India and Spain.

Marble can be quarried in a parallel or perpendicular direction to the bedding plane. A perpendicular cut is referred to as a “vein cut” or an “across the bed” cut. The parallel cut is referred to as a “cross cut” or a “with the bed” cut. Vein cut slabs show the veins of the stone running lengthwise, or vertically, while the cross cut slab shows the cross section of the veins, typically creating a far more dramatic pattern.

Marble has been the material of choice for monuments, temples and buildings for thousands of years. Marble has long been a symbol of tradition, luxury and extraordinary taste. Throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Far East, marble buildings remain. The Ancient Greeks used fine white marble to erect some of the most iconic buildings in the world.

The Parthenon in Athens, the Coliseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal in India, and even the White House, are all fine examples of how architects, sculptors, and craftsman have used marble to create beautiful buildings throughout the ages. In addition to exterior facades and flooring, Thassos marble became the stone of choice for baths and pools. Thousands of years later, Thassos marble is still being mined from ancient quarries and it remains one of the most beautiful natural stones on earth.

After the Ancient Greeks, the Romans started using marble slabs to clad brick and mortar buildings. It was this innovation that allowed them to erect entire marble cities, in a short time. As marble continued to grow in popularity, quarrying methods and tools vastly improved to allow for greater harvesting of natural marble.