auto show room stone flooring

I would like to use travertine or marble on my show room floor but I am concerned that the stress of vehicles being put on the floors will cack the rather "soft stones". I will be installing directly to slab on grade. If I use a high quality flexible thinset like jamo's megaflex or the like will this help with the weight of a vehicle on it. what is your suggestion

Dear Kurt:

If the installation is done right, there's no reason why the tiles should crack. However, flexible thinset is certainly not the way to go: the weight of the cars (concentrated on the tip of the wheels) will crack the tiles due the flexibility of the setting material.

Keep in mind that, all in all, considering the kind of traffic that you (hopefully!) are going to have, marble and travertine are high-maintenance flooring materials if installed highly polished. What's more disturbing about it is that there are lots of quack out there claiming to be able to maintain polished marble floors! And you don't want any of those working their "magic" on your floor!

I would urge you to consider a hone-finish.

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?

Ciao and good luck,

Maurizio Bertoli

www.marblecleaning.org – The Only Consumers' Portal to the Stone Industry Establishment!

Article ID: 684
Created On: Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 7:48 PM
Last Updated On: Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Authored by: Maurizio Bertoli [mail@mbstone.com]