Travertine and Limestone

Jon1981_2

Hi there,

I'm retiling my bathroom and looking to use limestone or travertine - does anyone know where I canget it affordably - I have found it here for under £25.00 per sq/m which is good value but am I missing anything?

http://www.homesandbargains.co.uk/offer_month.php

Thanks.

kranti

I have found this place quite reasonable in the past:

http://www.chilternmarble.co.uk/index.html

randall1uk

I bought limestone tiles for £17.00 for a guy off ebay a real bargain

Sui_Generis

Someone posted a link to an eBay seller a few weeks ago the prices looked great.

Jon1981_2

Thanks - I'm not sure about buying this kind of thing on ebay as you can never be too sure on quality - I want to put underfloor heating in and the last time I retiled one of my floors, the tiles cracked. Thanks for the advice but I'm pretty happy with what I've found having seen a sample.

I'll be saving money in the long run....

donna-j_2

Homebase had some reduced to clear.

Alan_M_2

First of all, I'm a stone wholesaler, I sell Limestone and Marble. So now that's my conflict of interest stated how can help?

Travertine and Limestone, which both fundamentally the same geological chemicals (Calcium carbonate - of which marble is also mostly composed of) they are two different product due to how they were formed.

In laymans terms:-

Travertine is formed around hot springs where water and gases deposit calicum carbonate, these build up over millions of years, compress and bacome rock. This rock is quarried and is almost entirely full of holes, very much like a coral appearnace, this means there is very little wastage during quarrying as most of the stone is deemed useable.

If you require a smooth surface finish, the holes are filled with either a cement based or resin based (for the better producers) filler and it's then machined flat. There will be quite a range of shades even throughout a 1st Quality batch of Travertine.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock made up of calcium carbonate settleing on ancient lakes and river beds, the result is an absolutely solid natural product that does not require filling or man made input of any kind other than cutting and finishing. As a result, there is more wastage during production as any seams that aren't pure cannot be sold as first quality products.

You will find cheap limestone available (we sell a commercial range) this is stone that wasn't pure enough to sell as first quality, there are imperfections and vents in the stone itself (a vent is a crack that happened millions of years ago but heat and pressure has fused the stone back together, but the appearance is still there although in most cases it isn't a weak point). Almost all stone on eBay is of this variety.

At this point I should explain that I don't sell travertine, from a business point of view it's a nuisance as I can't guarantee quality from the producers, each container that arrives is a pot luck and I can't do business in that manner.

From a personal point of view I don't like travertine as a material, it's cheap for a reason, there are too many unknowns about the manufacturing processes that mean we can't guarantee it for commercial and industrial application. I can guarantee limestone and Marble, and I know what I'm getting before it arrives with me.

If you're looking for a budget stone, you would get better value for money looking for a lower quality limestone than a high or mid quality Travertine.

Sui_Generis

Jon1981 wrote:

Thanks - I'm not sure about buying this kind of thing on ebay as you can never be too sure on quality - I want to put underfloor heating in and the last time I retiled one of my floors, the tiles cracked. Thanks for the advice but I'm pretty happy with what I've found having seen a sample.

I'll be saving money in the long run....

This was offered as deliver or come and collect so probably not too chancey.

JayneH_3

Following the advice of another moneysaver some time ago, we ordered our travertine tiles from Tile Giant. They agreed to take back any overstock, so we ordered an additional 10%, then went through the whole lot picking out any tiles we didn't like.