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What is the most durable stone floor?

When looking through potential natural stone floors, there are various influences on a final choice, including your budget, desired style, durability, functionality, maintenance and other expectations. 

In a kitchen space, the durability of a new stone flooring is paramount as this room is used for a variety of potentially damaging tasks, from big cooking pans that cause chips to vibrant colourings that can stain the new floor.

To prevent damage in high-traffic areas, the most durable stone floor material is Granite. Granite floor tiles and granite stone, in general, are incredibly scratch resistant, and highly durable. Also, as igneous rock, granite is virtually impenetrable by moisture, making it stain resistant.

Best Stone Flooring For Kitchen

Which Stone flooring is right For You?

There are several options to look at when choosing stone flooring for the first time, or even when redecorating a new home. 

From granite floor tiles to limestone tiles, this article will offer advice to select the right stone flooring for your home. Whether you desire a farmhouse-style kitchen with a rustic appearance or kitchen flooring with an eye-catching diamond pattern, there are so many choices to look at. There are countless natural stone tiles to look through, below, we break down some of the most popular choices!

Limestone

Limestones tiles are highly durable, making this stone a great choice for floors demanding hard-wearing capabilities, like the kitchen, boot rooms or hallways. 

Limestone is ideal for busy family homes and comes in a variety of different shades, from classic brilliant white to deep black shades that help camouflage surface stains, dirt or other spills. The more radiant shades make a fabulous choice to brighten up a dark room.

Natural stone flooring is a great option for individuality as Limestone offers unique slates each time, the veins and grooves creating captivating patterns that can enhance the existing interior style. 

Limestones' texture range is wide, with perfectly smooth to coarser finishes, the edging of the limestone tiles can vary from a neat square edge to a Tumbled edge, or worn edges, for a rustic appearance. 

Quality of limestone flooring matters, with higher density stone being more stain resistant and scratch resistant making it a practical choice for most rooms that are considered high-traffic areas, like dining rooms or kitchen floors. Remember to check limestone's different densities to determine which offers the perfect finish and level of durability for your home.

Slate

Natural slate flooring offers a simplistic cracked appearance, drawing in the eye and forming a unique character in your own home. Slate is the perfect partner for farmhouse-style kitchens or country homes desiring a contemporary and durable floor material. 

Slate is highly durable and demands little maintenance or effort when cleaning, making it a practical choice for busy family homes or active households. It's worth noting as a metamorphic rock, slate is highly water resistant.

Natural stone floor tiles like Slate should be calibrated for easy installation and the perfect finish, uncalibrated tiles create an unlevel floor. 

To resolve this, installation or 'bedding up' can be used, though this will take extra materials, time and money. Uncalibrated slate tiles should be installed by a trusted professional to ensure the stone floor is durable. What's more, Slate naturally is a great conductor of heat, making it the perfect partner for underfloor heating to combat the chilly stone.

Marble

The unique characteristics of Marble have made it a popular choice since the beginning of time, from historic monuments to lavish architecture signifying wealth. 

Marble tiles create a classic and luxurious look in your own home, with various shades to match your original style. The natural beauty offers different textures and finishes, each suitable for different rooms, from a glass-like polished finish to a sanded, durable matted surface. 

It's worth noting that fully-polished marble flooring can become slippery when wet, and could be dangerous at a later date, so consider lifestyle demands.

Marble must be professionally sealed to prevent stains or discolouration as the luxurious stone is incredibly porous, meaning it allows water to pass through. Out of all flooring options, Marble is the least suitable for the kitchen, as acidic substances can even damage the finish, instead, opt for a more practical choice like porcelain tiles- a great marble dupe. 

As expected, with naturally luxurious stone flooring like Marble, the cost of flooring your home is considerably higher. Many choose to use marble as an elevating aspect, whether an all-encompassing marble wet room oozing in spa-like luxury or a dramatic hallway that introduces your interior style to guests.

Granite

Granite is one of the most durable natural stone flooring types, it provides high stain resistance and scratch resistance. This makes it a practical choice for high-traffic areas, whether boot rooms or the kitchen space.

 A closed surface and seamless finish are necessary for Granite flooring to prevent the collection of dirt. Moreover, Marble with fossils or shells sprinkled on the surface provides cover from obvious muddy footprints, making them easier to clean and less dirty.

As with all natural stone flooring types, Granite delivers a unique character to your home, coming in a variety of colours. Textures range from the popular choice of neatly polished granite to a more rustic brushed granite finish, choose whatever natural variation matches the original style of your own home.

Flagstones

Large flagstones make a popular flooring choice in farmhouse style kitchens, and boot rooms, providing a rustic appearance and high durability. 

Flagstone flooring gives a sense of bucolic warmth, and with numerous edging options, you can customise the large format tiles to match existing textures and materials in the room. 

Although a fabulous choice for rustic farmhouse interior style, Flagstones can be incorporated in many ways providing a contemporary space whilst tributing the classic Georgian homes of the early 17th to mid 18th century. These large tiles are great for large spaces, as each flagstone covers a big area!

Sandstone

Natural stone flooring types like Sandstone come in a variety of styles, each offering unique character and textures. 

As a sedimentary rock, Sandstone is a natural beauty delivering random coloured mineral specks that can match the interior style of any room, it's versatility makes it a popular choice. 

In the 2022 market, Sandstone is one of the most chosen natural stone flooring types, with its soft neutral undertones matching most styles and colour schemes. A popular finish is to buff the stone tiles, creating some grip for wet areas, though it's worth noting it must be sealed to prevent liquids from being absorbed. Sealing the stone flooring also helps it with stain resistance and scratch resistance.

Choosing Stone Flooring

When looking through the types of stone flooring, you should consider what's your biggest concern, whether it should be highly durable or be made from rarer stones and so on. A key factor for anyone getting new stone flooring to consider is their set budget, so always check the price before making a final decision.

1. Price

The price of purchasing and installing different types of stone floors can vary greatly. Elements like the size of the space, preparation, material, tile size and finish will all affect how expensive your home's new stone flooring will be. 

Maintenance costs over the years should also be considered before choosing stone flooring, it's best to consider what you can spend and lay a price point down. There are so many beautiful natural stone flooring options to look through until you find a practical choice that matches the style of your home. If the flooring is in a kitchen or bathroom, it should be highly durable, so don't cut corners on this attribute or maintenance costs, in the long run, will be greater.

2. Durability

Stone floors are considered one of the most durable options for flooring, yet this doesn't mean some are more resilient than others. What's more, some offer greater stain resistance, which is great for busy family homes or wet areas! 

You should think about the main demands of your household whether you want to create a light space in a room without many windows or maybe you need the most durable stone floor for a regularly used boot room, these elements will help you determine the durability required from the stone flooring.

3. Maintenance

On top of maintenance costs, you should also consider the maintenance time required, and the level of care needed when cleaning the stone flooring to avoid damage. 

Appearance and texture range is important for interior design desires, but they should be balanced against maintenance expectations over the years. For instance, a slate patio is low maintenance and creates a nice modern space, whilst a highly polished marble floor may demand a greater amount of time spent on maintaining its perfect elegant appearance.

4. Resale Value

In a few years, you may want to sell your current home and find a forever home. If this is the case, you should remember that the type of stone flooring you choose now could positively impact the asking price. 

The resale value is generally increased whenever stone flooring is installed in a home, however, some types of stone floors can bring greater returns than others can. The location of your home and the current local housing market will also play a role in the stone flooring decision.

5. Do You Love it?

Lastly, but most importantly, do you love it?

Out of all the flooring options, over the years stone flooring has remained one of the most popular choices for many homes. It's a timeless classic that delivers scratch resistance and stain resistance while offering a great natural variation of colours and vast texture ranges. 

Although they can come with a big price tag, they can bring big returns in the long run and last for 50 to 100 years, or even more with proper maintenance. Over the years, little change to stone floors' appearance occurs, so make sure you listen to advice and take plenty of time to choose the perfect natural beauty for your home.