Limestone tile comes from a sedimentary stone that has played a storied role in architecture and design for thousands of years. Ancient cultures across the world used this beautiful and abundant material, from the Egyptians to the Mayans. Even its use as a flooring material, not unlike the way it’s often used today, is ancient. Just as alluring now as ever, limestone also fits into the most starkly contemporary buildings.
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Limestone Tile Background and History
Today, the highest quality tiles and slabs come from quarries in France, Portugal, and Turkey. Specifically, Finike from Turkey, Beaumaniere from France, and Azul Lagos from Portugal are some of the most popular varieties.
Limestone tiles come with many different finishes, such as honed, polished, and textured finishes. The softly distressed finish, showcasing an authentic patina that gives the impression of long use, is especially popular with designers at the moment. Tiles also come with various types of edges. A chiseled edge, for instance, can give limestone a more rustic appearance.
Limestone Tile Home Uses
Limestone’s muted colors allow it to easily fit in with any design scheme, complementing the subtlety of elegant contemporary design just as easily as the natural simplicity of a rustic aesthetic.
Limestone tile floors are a favorite in bathrooms and kitchens. Limestone floor tiles might require extra sealing when used around water due to the stone’s porosity, but the right sealer makes this easy. You can even use limestone tiles and slabs outdoors in patio settings!
Residential walls also look wonderful in the soft, intimate colors that limestone provides. Consider limestone wall tiles in entryways, bathrooms, living rooms, and more.
Limestone Tile Commercial Uses
Limestone facades are one of the most renowned commercial applications of this natural stone material. Thicker blocks can be used for such exterior cladding.
Limestone also looks great in high-end bathrooms! Hotel, restaurant, and office bathroom floors, sinks, and walls can be made to look particularly striking with the use of limestone. A limestone backsplash under a mirror, for instance, brings poise and elegance to the room.
Though limestone is by no means limited to such colors, the warmness of soft-colored limestone can really open up a space, perfect for when you need a room to be inviting and comfortable (think hotel lobbies, waiting rooms, etc.).
Limestone Tile Offerings at Country Floors
Country Floors offers classic limestone sourced from world-renowned quarries. Though many associate limestone with lighter colors, we also provide darker varieties of limestone, perfect, for example, for creating an intimate mood in low-light dining rooms and elsewhere.
For those desiring something more inventive than classic tiles and slabs, Country Floors also provides creative limestone tile mosaics and waterjet designs. Some of our mosaics and waterjet designs even combine limestone with other stones like marble!
Explore all the products shown above to get a sense of the breadth of our offerings.
Limestone Tile Installation and Maintenance
Natural color variation is expected in this material. Blocks from shallow quarries have more natural contrast in background and veining. For this reason, we suggest that you dry lay your tiles before putting down thinset so you can try these unique pieces in different combinations and see which works the best.
Unlike other natural stones like granite, this material is softer and can absorb more water. In this respect, it is much like travertine, which is in fact technically a unique category of limestone. This should not deter you from using it in most residential flooring and wall tile applications, since there are many types of sealers in the market to make it perfectly suitable.
You can use non-color enhanced sealers to provide a good coat of protection. Apply several coats of the sealer you choose. Your floors may need to be resealed from time to time.
We also recommend making use of a bigger grout joint to allow for floor settlement and a more rustic look.