Engineered Marble VS Natural Marble

Posted by Dikambwar Gupta on December 18th, 2017

Flooring plays a very important part of your home or any building. With so many options available in the market the most important factor that forms the base of your decision making is the durability of the material. There is no doubt that marbles are the best choice in terms of durability. Both natural and composite marbles offer durability and easy maintenance.

Marbles make your home look more luxurious and elegant. It has become the first and most preferred choice of an architect, interior designer or even a homeowner. But the problem which everyone faces is that the marbles are very expensive and it goes out of everyone’s budget. So to come out of this many opt for inexpensive engineered materials.

The engineered ones are often chosen over the natural ones because they are non porous and have resistance to abrasion and shock. These have dimension stability which contributes to less wastage and breakage. If you are looking for large application they offer more uniform colours than the natural ones which are very good. These can be made available very quickly and manufactured when required.

Let us look at some of the key points of difference between the two types of marbles.

Price:  Natural marbles are quarried and cut and then brought to facility and therefore the cost goes high which makes them expensive. Whereas man made marbles are just a mixture of marble dust, gel coat, superior strength polymers and colour pigments and are not quarried which makes it less expensive and a great choice for your flooring.

Appearance: There is no comparison about the quality and elegance of natural marbles. The engineered products may offer variety of colours and designs but nothing can beat the natural look of a natural stone.

Maintenance: Being a natural stone it requires a lot of care and upkeep. It is very porous and therefore has high maintenance where as the manmade material does not require a lot of time and money in maintaining as they are not so porous.

Installation: Installation of any stone is a very difficult and time taking job and requires professionals to do the job. These are very heavy and hard materials which need to be installed with precision. On the other hand the engineered marble is less fragile and cutting and shaping can be done on site and therefore has an easy installation process.

Both of these marbles have advantages and disadvantages. And if your are still confused You can find a number of materials which can be used for flooring such as vitrified tile, ceramic tiles, porcelain tiles, stone flooring which includes granite and sandstone flooring.