Laying marble tiles in bathroom

I'm about to tackle our bathroom which involves installing a new bath, basin and toilet, laying a new floor and retiling the walls. The tiles we want on the floor and walls are marble, 30 x 30cm and 1cm thick. I've read a few posts here about preparing the floor first with plywood but is there anything else I should be doing? I've heard about sealing marble? What does this entail? Also, the bathroom is quite small but it's on the first floor, should I be worried about the weight of the tiles on the sturcture of the house or am I being paranoid?

Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers!

weight isn't an issue.

Marble requires a far more rigid floor than ceramics or porcelain, about 50% more rigid so 12mm ply isn't enough.

Your best bet is to glue and screw Aquapanel to the floor using Rapidset flexible tile adhesive. This gives a rigidity similar to 18mm ply but it's only 12mm thick.

Set the marble in a suitable adhesive (use white for light colours) then seal with Lithofin Stain Stop MN.

Grout the tiles once this is dry, leave overnight and reseal the whole lot including the grout.

When fitting the w/c and basin remember to protect the marble surface as it will scratch, so sit the toilet on an old soft towel to slide it in place then drag the towel out from under it.

__________________________
lynda, moderator

website removed, see forum rule 12

Thats brilliant. I knew about the aquapanel on the walls but would have gone ahead with plywood on the floor and ended up with a few cracked tiles i suppose. Thanks for the advice.

Sorry to butt in - Is marble suitable for a bathroom floor? Thought it may be dangerous as its very smooth and slippery when wet. What are your thoughts?

Hadn't thought about it actually. Anyone else think it'd be too slippery?

kiwipaul said:

Hadn't thought about it actually. Anyone else think it'd be too slippery?

Click to expand...

You can put an anti slip coat (from a good tile supplier) but they can effect the finish of the tile ie matt/shiney. Ask in the tile suppliers and they will give the best advise.

___________________________-
lynda, moderator

please note forum rules 17 & 20