Planning to construct your dream house or renovate an existing one? Well, you must never overlook its flooring, as it enhances the beauty of your home. Choose the one that fits well with your lifestyle while it matches with the over design. The flooring you choose influences your space’s durability and value. Tiles and marble emerged as the two most preferred flooring materials. People love tiles as they come in many varieties and offer versatility. Marble, on the other hand, offers your dream space a luxurious and timeless appeal. As homeowners, choosing tiles vs marbles is often challenging. Therefore, we created this blog to help you understand the difference between tiles and marble. The blog covers everything about these two flooring materials, including their varieties, look, cost and durability.
Marble vs. Tiles: What Are They?
Tiles and marbles are different from each other in nature, bearing characteristics that are unique to them.
Tiles
Manufactured and available as thin, flat pieces, tiles are perfect for diverse applications. You can install them on your walls, floors and even countertops. Manufacturers manufacture tiles using materials like porcelain, ceramic, glass and cement. Although making tiles requires extensive artistry and ensuring the qualities make them fit for flooring, each of the varieties has its own characteristics and application in construction.
The Manufacturing Process: Tiles are made by combining clay, silica, and other materials and then firing them at high temperatures. Depending on the type of tile, they may be glazed or left unglazed. For advanced options in residential or commercial projects, consider vitrified tiles, they undergo additional processing, offering higher strength and lower porosity.
Common Uses: Tiles are popular for their high durability, a wide variety of designs and ease of maintenance, making them perfect for residential and commercial projects. You can use tiles in various areas of your house, like the kitchen, bathroom and outdoor patio.
Marble
Marble is a naturally occurring metamorphic rock. Being porous in nature, they highly absorb water and other liquids, often resulting in stains. Moreover, they react to acids and alkalis, while tiles are resistant to them.
Quarrying and Processing: Since marble is naturally occurring, it involves quarrying and processing. The process involves several stages from extraction to finishing by specialised experts. After extracting the rocks, the experts transport them to the factories to cut them into small slabs using specialized machines. The slabs undergo further polishing and finishing, enhancing their appearance and durability.
Common Uses: Construction professionals use marble mostly for floorings, wall coverings, countertops and other decorative features. Besides, the material stands as a popular choice for artistry, including sculptures and monuments. The presence of calcium carbonate makes marbles perfect for soil treatment.
Differences Between Tiles and Marble
Tiles vs. Marble: Composition
Marble is a natural stone, composed primarily of limestone. The limestone undergoes metamorphosis and crystallization, converting calcium carbonate into calcite crystals. On the other hand, floor tiling comprises silicates or clay fired at high temperatures.
Tiles vs. Marbles: Appearance and Aesthetics
Floor aesthetics will transform your room. Therefore, you must choose an ideal flooring material that plays a pivotal role in facilitating it. Are you looking for a flooring option to impress your guests? Well, you can never go wrong with marble, as the presence of grain lines creates a natural impression. When you have a well-polished marble flooring, you will find it reflecting luxury and opulence, offering your home a perfect elegance.
Tiles, on the contrary, offer a more unified appearance. If you are looking for wall or floor tiles, you can find excellent tiles in different materials and designs, such as those of wood or natural stone tiles. You can also avail them in diverse patterns and colours, offering your space a uniform and predictable look.
Tiles vs. Marbles: Durability and Strength
Before investing in a particular flooring like marble and tiles, it’s essential to consider the durability of your flooring. If you are looking for a long-lasting solution, marble is the best choice for commercial and residential spaces. Marble is a resilient product, and when you polish and clean your marble floors well, they survive for an extended period. However, marbles often turn yellowish after a certain period.
Most homeowners prefer tiles to marble, so they choose a special type of tile, popularly called vitrified tiles. These tiles go through a process called vitrification, strengthening and boosting their longevity. Besides, tiles offer remarkable durability against scratches and blemishes. They are excellent materials, requiring minimum maintenance and withstanding high foot traffic. Remember, your tiles are prone to cracks and damage, which you must replace.
Tiles vs. Marble: Penetration and Porosity
The material and texture of marble make them porous. Marble is a natural stone obtained from parent rock, formed during natural processes like disposition, pressure and temperature. The processes involved in the formation of marble create porosity in the rock, including the holes and channels that weren’t filled during the rock formation.
Tiles, on the other hand, are made of materials like clay, sand and cement, undergoing artificial compression during the production process. Therefore, tiles have less porosity compared to natural stones like marble. It means if you are choosing high quality tiles for your house flooring, it will absorb less water compared to marble.
Tiles vs. Marble: Heat Resistance
Tiles, especially those made of porcelain are popular for their heat resistance. Since they can handle high temperatures, you can use them in settings without the risk of damaging surfaces, including stoves and fireplaces.
Marble while heat-resistant often becomes hot to touch, especially during warmer conditions. If exposed to heat without protection might lead to damage.
Longevity
Tiles generally have a long lifespan. However, the longevity of your tile flooring depends on its quality, usage, standard and the type of model purchased. If taken proper care, high quality tiles last for over two decades.
Homeowners consider marble as a long-term purchase. If maintained properly, marble flooring will last a lifetime, becoming more beautiful over time. The aesthetic value of well-maintained marble enhances your property’s value over time.
Tiles vs. Marble: Maintenance and Cleaning
Tiles require low maintenance. They do not require sealing and are resistant to blemishes. Normal regular cleaning, such as sweeping and mopping, will help them stay in pristine condition.
Marble is sensitive to acidic materials, and you must clean it immediately to avoid scratches and stains. You need to clean your marble flooring with specialized cleaners, helping it maintain the gloss. You must also use special sealing that helps in avoiding moisture and stains.
Installation Process
Tiles require simple installation. If you are opting for tiles made using ceramic, porcelain and natural stone, you can set them in various patterns. Besides, they are lighter and easier to cut, making the installation process easier. Above all, installing tiles requires less time compared to marble, making a difference in the marble and tiles’ price.
Marble is delicate yet heavy, and therefore requires careful handling and skill. Ensure to appoint a qualified specialist to ensure proper fitting, saving waste, and guard against damage during installation. The meticulous cutting, polishing and sealing make installing marble flooring labour-intensive.
Tiles vs. Marble: Price Difference
Budget is another essential factor that you must consider as a homeowner before finalizing the type of flooring. Marble is expensive when compared to tiles. It’s because of the natural provenance and distinctive veining. The cost of covers extraction, shipment and installation processes making marble an expensive flooring option.
With tiles, the scenario is different. The wide varieties of tiles available in the market like ceramic, natural stone tiles and porcelain tiles, the prices of them are reasonable. The affordability of tiles, particularly porcelain tiles stand as an inexpensive substitute, offering your interiors a marble-like appearance. If you are worried about the budget, ensure to compare the price difference between marble and tiles in India.
Tiles vs. Marble: Cost per Square Feet
The price of tile flooring in India, on the other hand, ranges between INR 34 and INR 150 per square feet, depending on the design, size and the brand of tiles you choose. Ceramic tiles are more affordable than the more sophisticated vitrified tiles.
Today, the landscape of marble in India experienced dynamic shifts in quality, availability and pricing. With the various options available in the market- from luxurious white marble to striking color patterns- homeowners are overwhelmed to select the most suitable ones for their home. The price of marble flooring ranges between INR 650 and INR 1000 per square foot.
Tiles vs. Marble: Design, Styles and Variations
If you are opting for tile flooring, you enjoy multiple design possibilities. While matte finish tiles give a modern and somber appearance, glossy tiles reflect light, offering your space a sleek impression. Furthermore, you can avail tilers in various forms, including subway, hexagonal, wood-look and mosaic tiles, offering flexibility to the designers.
With diverse options in finishes, such as honed, polished and textured surfaces, marble flooring gives your home a traditional and refined appearance. Each of these options gives your home a distinct look and feel. However, with marble’s natural nature, you can create a few design variants compared to other materials.
Tiles vs. Marble: Comparison Table
| PARAMETERS | TILES | MARBLE |
| Composition | Comprises of silica, clay and other aggregates kiln-fired at high temperatures. | It’s a natural stone comprising dolomite and calcite |
| Appearance & Aesthetics | Gives your space a uniform and predictable look | Reflects luxury and opulence, offers your home an elegant look |
| Durability & Strength | Highly durable. Resistant to scratches | Strong. But often leads to scratches |
| Penetration & Porosity | Relatively low. Resistant to stain | Relatively high. Can be stained easily |
| Heat Resistance | More heat resistant | Not heat hesitant and becomes hot to touch when exposed to heat |
| Longevity | Lasts for 10-15 years | Lasts for a lifetime |
| Maintenance & Cleaning | Easy to clean and maintain, requiring minimum care | Requires sealing, regular cleaning, and professional care to maintain its shine |
| Installation Process | Easy installation process | Labour intensive process |
| Price Difference | More affordable | Expensive |
| Cost of Laying (per sq. ft.) | Affordable (between 34-150 INR) | Expensive (between 650-1000 INR) |
| Deign, Style & Variations | Wide variety of colour, designs and patterns | Elegant, luxurious and unique veining |
| Eco-friendliness | Can be eco-friendly as they can be recycled and non-toxic | Not considered eco-friendly |
Conclusion
Marble and tile stand as excellent choices for your flooring. While marble is naturally beautiful and offers a luxurious appeal to your interiors, tiles offer excellent durability, adoptability and simplicity of upkeep. Whether you want to have tile flooring or marble flooring, be sure to conduct proper research, to determine the ideal material that suits your requirements.
As a leading construction firm in India, Brick & Bolt offers complete start to finish, including floor installation. Whether you require installing a new floor in your new house or want to renovate an existing one, the professionals provide them all. With them, you enjoy real-time tracking, transparent communication, quality checks and regular updates on projects from the first date until the final delivery.