We don’t quite mean finding the marbles under the desk. We mean finding marbles that look decoratively spectacular in your home.

It’s a well-known fact that if you want to ratchet up the look of your home and increase its sales potential, install marble tiles. That is one of the quickest and easiest methods to make your home something special. And really, marble tile installation is just about as easy as ceramic tile installation. Sure, there are a few small differences, but it certainly is not difficult if you choose to do it yourself.

Many people prefer to have a professional do this kind of job, just because working with marble tile can be a bit finicky and does need some patience. But having said that; how is marble tile different from ceramic tile?

Well, first and foremost, marble tile is considered to be a completely natural material. In other words it comes from natural deposits and is really a form of limestone. This type of material has been used for hundreds of years in buildings like palaces and cathedrals, so it’s not new, but the way it is installed and how it looks when it is done is verging on new for the 21st century.

Marble has character and because of that, it lends itself to giving each project a slightly different and very interesting eye appeal. The colors in it vary and therefore so do the tiles themselves. Something you may appreciate even more is the interesting veining in marble that often has streaks of a different color. There is nothing dull and uninteresting about marble. Unfortunately, those veins represent small cracks, and that means it has the potential to crack at that location.

Installing marble, while relatively easy, needs care because the tiles are prone to breaking and cracking. You must also make certain the base the tiles are installed on is totally solid and very flat; otherwise this creates a situation where the stress on the tiles causes tile cracking. Aim for a flat tile base with no give and take your time doing it as well. Better safe than sorry.

You might also want to be aware of something else relating to marble tiles referred to as lippage. Here is how that works. The tile is ground to a flat surface with machinery, and the heat of grinding creates different thicknesses in some of the tiles. Thus, lippage is the variation in height of the tile edges. This means the installer has to take the variations into account when laying the floor, otherwise you run the potential of an unevenly laid floor that looks unprofessional.

When all else is said and done and you don’t think you want to tackle laying a marble floor yourself, call on a professional with extensive experience to make your floor all that it can be: beautiful, elegant, and properly laid.