Limestone flooring and small children

[pootlebug]

So having looked at way too many options for floor tiles, the one I like the look of the most is a mid grey-ish limestone. Some suppliers say that it's fine so long as properly sealed and maintained (several coats of sealant initially, then mopped with a hot water/wax mixture every three months or so) liquids will just pool on the top of it.

Another stone shop I spoke to said that there was no way they'd pick limestone with small children as spilt juice etc would be acidic and attack the stone. He recommended granite or porcelain.

Anyone experience of looking after a limestone floor with small kids etc?

In case it is relevant, it is to go through a kitchen/dining/living area.

Honestly? It is beautiful and feels gorgeous but IME is a lot more high maintenance than ceramic/porcelain (I wouldn't have a granite floor).

My parents have a limestone kitchen floor - they don't have small children but have had dogs and cats and had to be really careful about wiping up any pee or vomit very very quickly as it will mark. Same applies to wine or juice. Sealant buys an extra 30-60 seconds to wipe it up but certainly doesn't make it as resistant as ceramic. (That said, I don't know if parents do the hot wax thing, so maybe that would help more, but really are you going to remember/bother??)

Also, they have a patch where the stone is just flaking away (called spalling I think) - possibly due to water having got in underneath it as it's near the garden door. God knows how though as the door is not left open. Or it could just be a flaw in that bit of stone. This is despite them having bought supposedly super durable top quality stone.

We have also got some sort of limestone in our kitchen - we didn't choose it, the previous owners put it in. No spalling for us, but it does have quite a lot of marks and scratches which are now permanent. Also quite a few tiles have cracked (though I guess that could happen with ceramic too).

I also had it in a bathroom in a previous property and one of the tiles did flake/spall due to water behind it. We had to have it chopped out and replaced IIRC.

There are some very good "fake" stone tiles around, made of ceramic (not cheap, but nor is stone). Much much hardier.

Having said all this... I still might choose limestone for a kitchen floor if I was re-doing a kitchen today... despite all these issues... because I LOVE it so much. It really depends on how much you love it.

You can now get a very effective sealant called Dry Treat. It has a 15 year guarantee and doesn't need to be reapplied. Many stone masons rate it.

I have put limestone in both bathrooms and sealed with Dry Treat. So far so good.

And as I am clearly the really crazy lady I have bianco carrara marble worktops in the kitchen also sealed with dry treat.

Whether it works as well as they (dry treat and various stone masons) claim, only time will tell for me. However if you look at Americans who post on interiors websites (Houzz.com etc) they all use Dry Treat for their pale marble worktops and seem to have no issues at all.

I think it's worth remembering that a sealant won't stop etching in stone such as marble or limestone from an acidic liquid but if you have your floor tiles honed then you won't actually see the etching. If they are polished you will.

We have children and limestone floor. DON'T DO IT:) ours hasn't Stained but where one of them missed the toilet and was sick on the floor the acid has taken off the shine off the tile and left a burn mark.

Thankfully it's only in the bathroom as I can't imagine how stained it would get in a kitchen. Ours never looks clean either. I wouldn't have it again as in m opinion it doesn't look as nice or clean as normal porcelain tiles.

Thank you all. That's one yes, one no, and one maybe