Jura Limestone

[divorcingjack]

After making the classic error of going to see someone else's lovely house (with a massively larger budget than ours), we have discovered the beauty that is grey Jura limestone with a gorgeous smooth matt finish. I've heard some bad things about "regular" limestone; easily damaged/stained/resin filled, but apparently the Jura variation is much harder wearing. 

 

Has anyone used it? We're thinking of it on floors and *possibly* walls (budget depending) in 3 bathrooms. Where did you buy from? Is all Jura limestone the same or should I be looking for particular things? Does it need to be "babied" - we are a careless and clumsy family. I have managed to utterly destroy the (presumably unsealed) sample with  a teabag, tomato puree and lemon juice. None of which should be present in the bathroom, but I do have small children. Actually, tea might well be present, along with wine. 

[oranjeboom]

1 hour ago, divorcingjack said:

I have managed to utterly destroy the (presumably unsealed) sample with  a teabag, tomato puree and lemon juice. None of which should be present in the bathroom, but I do have small children. Actually, tea might well be present, along with wine. 

On a totally useless reply....Depends how long it takes to get your bathroom completed. You could have all manner of 'ingredients' in there during construction period...just look at @Onoff's bathroom thread. I imagine he's had a few ingredients in there over the years...

 

On a serious note, limestone is porous and will suck in any spills and anything corrosive like Lemon I would be wary of. Also think of all the other items you will have in there like cleaners, hair dye etc. Limestone would have to be 'sealed' appropriately. I've come across some jura lookalike porcelain tiles as well that look pretty much like your polished jura.

[Mr Punter]

Look at porcelain for the walls - very durable, non- absorbent, hard as, looks beautiful, and LVT (posh vinyl) for the floors - looks fantastic, huge range of finishes, slip resistant, easy clean and warm.  Both reasonable cost.  No weird maintenance. Do not DIY install unless you have the skills and experience with these.

[Nickfromwales]

Some porcelains stain too  Had a customer order 110m2 of 600x600mm jasmine and we did the full tests on it....permanent marker pen, red wine, tea bag, and a dollop of spag-bol. 

FAIL !  The wine and tea bag stains were there for life, we tried everything to get them off but in the end Porcelanosa had to exchange them and bring a similar tile, which passed with flying teabags colours. 

Sealing a porous tile once isn't a lifetime solution, they need constant re-sealing throughout their lifetime, the frequency of which is dictated by the traffic and the type of. In a shower area you'll be sealing them at least once a year, in an entrance lobby, even as much as twice a year.

How long had those tiles been down in your friends house, and have you asked them about cleaning / maintenance ?

 

[divorcingjack]

We had large format glossy porcelain in a previous house, it was an absolute nightmare tbh. My tiler hates me and if they saw a drop of water, they were a death trap for slipperiness. They had to be sealed too before laying but stained anyway. I HATED them. 

 

I guess what I'm asking is that if we seal this limestone with the proper stuff and re-seal once a year, do I need to worry about them in-between times? It will be in a wet room, so they will be down in a shower area. 

 

@Nickfromwales, unfortunately we don't know the owners. It was a previous job of our joiner - he took us to show the work he'd done with shadow gaps and built in storage before we agreed to his quote. It's a holiday home though (one of a number of homes!), so I don't imagine it is heavily used. 

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

Ok, and agree that there are problematic porcelains out there too. Its down to doing the legwork tbh. The Jura will let you know when its in need of sealing again usually, as the tile will start to absorb and retain surface moisture much more than when its sealed and the sealer is "intact". 

Nowt wrong with sealing once a year etc as tbh its just a lint-free cloth and a bit of elbow grease. An average bathroom floor should be cleaned and re-sealed in less than an hour or two. 

 

A good exchange here 

Lithofin

 

And product info here