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Designing Your New Bathroom
Like everything else, there used to just be a few choices to remodel your bath. One of the biggest decisions was what tile you were going to use. Now there are a few choices of material. Tile is still popular but there are others like natural stone or cultured stone. Here is what you need to know about those choices.
Tile
The most common material to remodel your bathroom is ceramic tile. It looks good and lasts for decades. The problem with tile is that it needs to be grouted to fill the joints in between the individual tiles to seal it. Then a sealer needs to be applied to the grout to make it water resistant. Keeping the walls behind the tile dry.
One of the major issues with using tile is that the grout is porous. It is made from materials that include sand. Sand makes the surface of the grout joints rough. In these rough spots water accumulates and allows mold and mildew to grow. It requires constant upkeep.
Natural Stone
Over the years we’ve developed the ability to provide entire walls of decorative stone. Walls made of marble or granite. Talk about expensive! Think about how much 3 or 4 slabs of marble cost and all the labor to install those super heavy stone slabs. In some instances, the flooring needs to be shored up to support the added weight. Looks great but costs a fortune.
One of the huge benefits of using a natural stone slab besides its beauty is that there are no grout joints. The slabs are sealed with a specialized caulking that is mold and mildew resistant. Plus, there are very few joints in this style because they are only around the outside edge of the material.
Cultured Stone
Cultured stone has been an attempt to blend the benefits of the solid slab with limited joints and the light weight of tile compared to an entire stone slab. It is ground up stone that is bonded with an epoxy and made into full sheets. During this process a pattern was applied to the surface much like an inkjet printer prints on paper to make it look like tile or stone.
The problems with Cultured stone are that it has been susceptible to environmental degradation. Until recently, when you used cultured stone the pattern on the stone was susceptible to UV light and would fade making your beautiful remodel look cheap, old and dated in just a few short years.
Enter Tyvarian. Tyvarian is a new product that is cultured stone but a unique process has been developed that applies the pattern on the stones finish by embedding it into the material. Making it last for decades. This also has added benefits in that patterns can be created and applied to the product that has never before been available before?
Have a log cabin? How about a log wall for your shower? Are you a rock-hound and love geodes? How about a geode wall surround for your shower? Sounds impossible but it is now available and in stock.