We like the appeal of warm Natural Stone and Slate offers an earthy look but it's days are numbered in your shower.

There are a number of Natural Stone products you see installed in shower design centers all over made from Marble, Travertine and yes, Slate. My advice and I know a lot of design centers will hate me for this but, "don't do it".

Marble, Travetrine and Slate are porous even if polished and will absorb water. Sealer, and let me tell you about sealer, it is meant to be a "temporary" barrier between the surface of a Natural Stone and the liquid in this case shower water. Sealer is supposed to give you time to remove the liquid before it can be absorbed, dry and leave a film etc.

A good sealer like Rainex will repel water for a while but like the windshield of your car it wears off. I suggest resealing your shower every 6 months and no longer than a year.

In this example this dark Slate shower began to flake as the surface deteriorated requiring a complete tear out and rebuild. That's a ton of work and expense and this is the second slate shower I've rebuilt and I have cleaned up and resealed others.

Granite would be a better choice if using Natural Stone but still, it requires sealer. To test the surface sealer of your tile wet your hand and place it on the surface of the Natural Stone for a minute. Pull your hand away and see if it leaves an imprint. Different sealers will act differently but the sealer should stop the water soaking into the surface. If not you don't have enough sealer.

This is why Tile Manufacturers are spending so much time and money trying to mimic Natural Stone. I actually like Natural Stone for the workability. I can cut it with a wet or diamond saw and finish corners by hand. Can't do that with Porcelain or standard Ceramic Tile.

Here is that same shower after we finished it with Porcelain Tile that looked like Honed Marble. We did use Granite on the flat surfaces and shelves in the niches. I think Natural Stone is fine for trim and Design Elements but not a good product for the whole thing.

I am only saying this because this is what I see and what I deal with regularly and want you to avoid telling me what I've heard so many times before, "I wish I had read your blog before we installed  (fill in the blank) in our shower".

There comes a time when every shower needs replacing or an overhaul. Remove all the old grout, re-grout and reseal after cleaning the surface. Like anything else they all wear out over time. Fixtures begin to lose their surface coating and all the new has faded and you look forward to a new shower.

New materials and styles are being added daily it seems. I take a stroll through Floor & Decor, the Tile Shop, Dal-Tile and Arizona Tile from time to time just to see what is new in inventory and the material available is amazing!

Plan between $16,000 and $20K for something like the shower pictured all totaled......
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