Cultured Marble Home Improvements

Remodeling a bathroom can be tricky. It's the one room in your home that gets moist often, and if you have no window or ceiling vent, it stays moist for a long period of time. Painting and wallpapering in a bathroom can prove to be time consuming and a waste of a good weekend. There is a solution that adds both elegance and value to your home, and you don't have to do the work. Cultured marble is a beautiful way to improve any bathroom.

Cultured marble adds all the elegance and beauty of real marble, but costs a fraction of the price and can be made in custom colors. The important thing to remember is that cultured marble is limited to use in the bathroom, simply because it's too easily scratched and chipped to be used in a kitchen around knives, heat, and cookware. Some chips can be repaired, but it's more likely that an accident in the kitchen would cause a crack or chip too large to repair, and the entire piece would have to be replaced.

Depending on where the cultured marble is replaced, some companies warranty their product for at least one year. Cultured marble has a 10 - 15 year life if properly cared for and any chips are patched soon after they occur. It's possible to finish an entire bathroom in cultured marble. Products offered are: Jacuzzi and standard bathtubs, showers, vanities (vanities include the sink), walls, window wraps, and columns. Columns add a touch of unique class, since they are not common.

In caring for your cultured marble, it's important not to use any cleaning products that are abrasive. Cleaners such as Comet and Borax will leave scratches in the finish. Also, scrub pads such as Brillo or those green Scotch scratch pads will mar the surface. If you have hard water, cleaners like CLR will eat the finish and silicone that seals the cracks between the pieces and walls, so make sure to ask the installers or a representative from the company for care instructions.

If you make a mistake, and use an abrasive cleaner, the scratches can probably be buffed out, but not always, so it's important to make sure you follow care instructions carefully. The best cleaners to use on cultured marble are Windex and non-chlorine based sprays along with a soft cloth like an old towel or washcloth.

When you set up an appointment to have cultured marble in your bathroom, it's best to be there when it's done. Many times the homeowner isn't there, and then they have to call the installers later on for care instructions, and to address any concerns they have with how the installation looks cosmetically.

More often than not, when cultured marble appears to be installed crooked, it isn't an installation issue; the house itself is not level. So it is important to find out if your bathroom is level before purchasing cultured marble. Installers can place shims under the marble to make it appear level to the eye, but it's very time consuming, and the job may not be completed in one day if more cutting and leveling have to be done.

Cost will vary from company to company and also depends on how much cultured marble work is done, and how large the pieces are. As with any home improvement, it's best to plan ahead, and make sure when you order it's what you really want. Once the cultured marble is made and delivered, it's a done deal. Deciding to switch colors isn't covered by warranty, so you will have to buy new pieces if your color scheme changes. In event you like to change towel and accessory colors often, it's wise to use neutral colored cultured marble. There are quite a few choices in neutral colors as well as patterns. Not all cultured marble looks like veined marble, so the possibilities are endless.

Most states do have cultured marble manufacturing companies, and it can also be ordered over the internet. The only problem with having cultured marble ordered on the internet is that it has to be installed by a professional. Installation is not something that can be done without experience. If not installed properly, cultured marble will pull away from the walls. When it separates from the wall, there is the risk of it falling on someone, buckling, or mold collecting behind the pieces. Also, special tools are needed, and there is a technique to setting cultured marble that gives it the ability to last 10 - 15 years.

Check your phone book and internet for cultured marble production and installation companies. Most companies will travel state-wide, and will work around your schedule. If there is a cultured marble company in your area, most of them have showrooms and you can get an idea of what you want by looking at finished products set up much like they would be in your home.

As with any home improvement, make sure you keep your receipts for tax purposes, and have the cultured marble improvements filed on your homeowners insurance when the work is completed.