As others have mentioned what you have is "broken marble". Basically these are odd/leftover marble pieces which have been assembled together for the floor.

It is not expensive marble as compared to those which have been cut and polished into tiles. Anyway, it is still a kind of natural marble and it functions just fine as a floor. Yes it can be polished.

If it works fine and looks fine to you then keep it.

Of course there are still people who do marble floors.

Marble flooring is definitely more expensive than laying tiles. Firstly, the marble material is more expensive per square foot. Secondly the labour cost to lay marble is higher than tiles.

Marble and tiles both last long. For normal home use the wear and tear is minimal. You can still see marble, terrazo and tiles still functioning after 30 years+.

Of course the look may dull over time, but marble can be re-polished.



Most tiles cannot be re-polished. This is because the tile has 2 components - one is the main body or biscuit, which is the porcelain or ceramic; second is the top layer where they imprint the design. The top layer is quite thin and if you polish it will strip off the top layer exposing the body underneath.



The look is entirely up to you. If you feel that broken marble clash with your modern design concept, then either change the marble or change your design



As mentioned earlier marble is semi porous, this means that if you leave ANY liquid on it for long it will seep into the marble and possible leave stain.

Cool water/boiled water doesn't matter - it is still water. Worse is dark liquids like coffee, tea, etc... because the stain is more visible.

Anyway, the recommendation is to mop the floor. Don't wash it like pouring buckets and buckets of water on the marble - that is too much water. I think best you read up on how to care for and maintain marble.

If there is 10 year warranty please make sure the company gives you a written certificate to state that. And also read the fine print to find out exactly what the warranty covers and doesn't cover.

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Added on August 2, 2011, 5:18 pmThe warranty definitely won't cover your parquet floor or any damage to their wooden deluxe flooring due to your parquet being attacked by termites.

This post has been edited by jchong: Aug 2 2011, 05:18 PM

For any floor (tiles or wood) to be flat and smooth, the underlying surface must be flat and smooth also.

When your floor is constructed the first thing is the concrete slab and this will be a little bit uneven. To make it smooth and even a cement screed is applied on top. After that is your wooden or tile flooring.

When you remove your old parquet there might be bits of glue left, or the parquet might pull out bits of the screed. All this needs to be rectified before your new flooring is put on.