Limestone flooring

[LittleEsme]

Can you tell me the reality of living with a limestone floor please?

Been to visit a local dealer who wasn't very enthusiastic and put me off somewhat. I love the natural, slightly brushed abs jaggedy tumbled look with a little sheen, but having difficulty finding a shade I like.

I'd like to have some feedback from real users though and not salespeople who seem to have an agenda!

Are they easy to clean? How do you clean them? Do they need special treatment? How porous are they (will the keep a grease stain?)

Any feedback or even pics would be great!

Bump!

Will never have one again, it’s porous despite being sealed, it’s stains so easily, everything marks it, (I have it in my kitchen) a tiny bit of butter and the grease soaks in instantly, anything acidic such as a splash of orange juice and the surfaces is etched permanently, it’s the biggest regret in my house and it cost thousands as my kitchen is big and it runs into the hall as well, save yourself the nightmare and go for fake look limestone that’s easy to clean and doesn’t stain, I bitterly regret mine and will rip it up in due course, can’t wait to be rid of it.

We have a limestone flagstone floor and I love it. We had to seal it with a couple of coats and have had it almost a year with no issues at all with any stains. You can't use a steam cleaner or abrasive cleaners on it; I just mop with warm water and little bit of washing up liquid. The one we have is good with underfloor heating too

Have you thought about copies in porcelain. Then you can bleach them, steam them, cover them in grease etc.

Looking at Yorkstone too - anyone be have this?

@ZaraCarmichaelshighheels thanks for your feedback. Did you seal the floor? What with abs how often?

The quote I have is nearly £3k for stone alone so a massive price all in all. Want to get this completely right.

We had it in our first kitchen and are about to fit in in our current cottage. It’s absolutely fine to live with as long as it’s sealed properly when laid. It needs washing before laying. Then sealing, then grouting, then sealing, then cleaning then sealing. Most people only do it once. Ours was down 5 years before we moved house and everyone commented on how light and beautiful it was- it was high traffic with two dogs, kids, and we are rural so lots of mud!

I like ours. It hides a multitude of sins as I only wash it once or twice a week. I scrub the grout every 6 months or so which is a pain but haven’t had to re- seal or wax yet- have had it 3 years and should have done it by now but it still looks fine.

One thing I didn’t realise is the sealant changes the colour of limestone dramatically! So if you get samples seal them before deciding! Ours went from grey to beige. I was a bit gutted because they didn’t go so well with the kitchen units but I found curtains that tie the two colours together well and now it looks fine to me

We've just ordered porcelain look tumbled limestone. It looks lovely and I can cif/flash/steam it to my hearts content 👏

I was tempted by the actual tumbled limestone until the person in the showroom told me to clean it with a little warm water and splash of a special product. I want to clean it thoroughly and deeply every day, so knew I had to stick to porcelain so that it can be properly scrubbed clean with chemicals.

Worst kitchen floor we had was actually engineered wood floor. That was a total disaster and I imagine limestone would be the same. Our neighbour is currently cursing the marble kitchen floor she had installed.

Mines porcelain look a like and it’s fab.

I took it out of my kitchen and will do the same in the bathroom shortly.

My flat was a BTL for 15yrs and the floor was trashed… but even neighbours who have owned from new have struggled to care for it.

I put amtico in the kitchen which looks like new almost 2yrs on.

I did t realise that the sealant changed it so much!

Yes it’s sealed, it needs re doing now but honestly I wish I had done my research and just not gone along with DH who loved it at the time. I very much agree with Posh about the cleaning aspect, you can only really use warm water or special product, I want to use proper disinfectant stuff to clean my floor, mostly I’m fed up with having to be so precious about the damn thing, it’s stressful having a really expensive floor that stains so easily, bane of my life, never again.