The most expensive houses and condos use marble flooring, not tiles, which is considered lower in class.

Tiles are the average finishing material - practical, durable, affordable, and maintenance free.
Nowadays, 2'x2' polished porcelain tiles with marble grain is common - to imitate the marble effect. Then, there are tiles with wood grain finish, to imitate timber.

Marble needs care since it is easily scratched and stained. Being natural, no two pieces are the same.
It feels good to step on marble surface especially in our tropical climate. Tiles does have the 'sticky' feel, being non-porous. Marble breathes and absorbs moisture.

Comparing marble and tile is like comparing natural timber floor finish and engineered wood planks eg. Inovar. The feel is very different.

Ipoh Pink marble (some call it 'pig lung marble' in cantonese) tend to have a lot of fissures/fine cracks. Matching marble slabs is one big hassle as the colour and grain can be very incosistent.

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Jul 16 2012, 05:42 PM

It was all lumped in by my wet works contractor. He charged me RM6000 for all tiling works downstairs including one small bathroom, dry and wet kitchen floors and full height walls, and all living room, dining area and small store room floor. 890 sq ft floor area and 828 sq ft of wall area. I also have no idea if that's expensive or cheap.

Overall, my contractor's price was 24% cheaper than the other quotation I got, plus my other family members have used him before and he's always the reliable guy. Indeed, he was very reliable and still comes around to help me drill holes in the wall and help clear a bird's nest in my roof when I called him. I've already paid him in full in April, yet he still comes around to help.

Ceramic tiles will be sticky but polished porcelain tiles will not.

Comparing marble and tile is like comparing natural timber floor finish and laminated flooring.

precisely. i can understand why the installer quoted me $2 more psf for broken marble and keep on persuading me to lay the 1x2 marble. at the end, the labour is much much more than material, almost 4 times.

shall make the final decision this week.

engineered boards = laminated flooring

Between 1'x2' marble and 2'x2' polished tiles, I would prefer the latter for looks la. Of course, the 'feel' is another matter. 1'x2' marble is great for rooms though(I use 1'x2' Ipoh Pink for a bedroom), but bit small for living area.
Ipoh White is easier colour to match with than Pink.

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Jul 17 2012, 03:51 PM

Dear Bro,


If you dont mind can you post the photo of your living room and the other room.

TQ

it looks cheaper because i sourced marble, tiler and polisher seperately.
will certainly give u the contact nomber after the work finish and only if i m satisfied.

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Added on July 18, 2012, 3:05 pmwill post it later.

This post has been edited by orientaliew: Jul 18 2012, 03:05 PM

this is the living and dining area to be laid marble (2X2 or broken).

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Added on July 24, 2012, 4:55 pmi think can get creama mafil granite at arround $16/sft, not including transportation and installation of course. Ipoh Pink can get $9 for the lower grade, but for those which is "cleaner", without "water line" or less patchy, price can be tripled!

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Added on July 24, 2012, 5:01 pmi went to ES Marble too, they dont have much stone of Ipoh Pink, the remaining stock is really not good, alot of grains and pricy too. try go further down the main road towards Cameron, there is a factory on your right which specialised in Ipoh marble, you may choose from so many different local marble.

This post has been edited by orientaliew: Jul 24 2012, 05:01 PM


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Go for marble... price and perception aside; one main thing you'll notice is that when you walk into a home with a marble floor, the house definitely feels more cooling.

Added benefit is that valuators take into account marble flooring when deriving value for a residential home.

Engineering boards are REAL timber verneers on a backing. Laminated boards are timber PRINTS on backing. They are NOT the same.

Engineering boards are actually better than solid wood due to less movement. Some are even more expensive than solid timber . But because the veneer is thin (2-5mm) you can't sand it that many times.

some r expensive than solid timber for same species normally engineering board cheaper lar

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Added on July 25, 2012, 11:15 am

This post has been edited by orientaliew: Jul 25 2012, 11:15 AM

Bro,

I m going to ipoh this weekend. Can i have the marble factory name that you mention from the main road towards cameron.

Is the price reasonable ? How much per square feet for good ipoh pink marble ?

TQ

the company is SMT Stone World sdn bhd. its manufacturing and trading of all kinds of marble product and furniture. difficult to tell cheap all not because there are wide choices. for 2x2, the price range from $6 to $18 sft i think.
may be we can combine our order to get better price, any other forummers interested?

need some advice on what color can i match with greenish marble flooring (those old fashion type) - having a headache thinkin of what paint and furniture color to match with.

greenish marble is quite expensive, but difficult to match colour. paint wise i would say light yellow or light green. better use furniture with nice wood grain.

thank you for your suggestion! wood grain furniture? what about modern type of furniture like those from ikea?

You know when your house is ready.

within 3-6 months time. but it's time to start researching now. what paint and furniture color, no? i can't wait till the house is ready to be moved in only i plan right?

Depends on the shade of green of your floor. ICI has a colour if i'm not mistaken which is cream with a touch of green. It looks more white than green but the green hue would not make it stand out too much from your floor.

You can then use white, black or walnut wood type colour for furniture. But honestly, colour is a very personal thing so go with your gut feel as what i suggest is more inline with my taste.