I pulled up carpet and tack strips from living room of my ground floor concrete slab. The floor plan has my front door opening into the LR directly across from a fireplace, which sits diagonally in the corner so it's the first thing one sees upon entering the house. There are a pair of 2 steps down to the remainder of the ground floor (kitchen, dining room, den, laundry/mud room with 1/2 bath). I have enough 18x18" porcelain tile to cover the entire ground floor concrete slab over 1500 sq ft but I'm considering staining the concrete slab in the LR, instead of tiling.
The main features of the LR flooring:
1) Pair of 2 steps (There are two of these or 4 steps total) down to remainder of ground floor.
2) Fireplace
3) 4" marble baseboards on the plaster walls.
4) Brick walls
Some of my considerations:
If I tile the LR
1) Removing 4" marble baseboards from the plaster walls without damaging both the marble and/or the plaster walls.
2) Leaving the marble baseboards, I'd have to butt the tile up against them, using quarter rounds to fill the gap.
3) Some tile will butt up against two areas of brick wall, where, I'd get gaps/holes in the mortar lines.
If I stain the LR,
1) I would most likely have much more prep work.
2) It would enable me to use tile that I saved for a master bathroom & master shower, instead.
3) I could keep the marble baseboards without using quarter rounds.
But of course, I don't know, what I don't know so perhaps those with experience staining and tiling can share their thoughts, pros and cons, costs, difficulty of project, regrets, concerns, what to be aware of, etc... on tiling vs staining the LR?
The main features of the LR flooring:
1) Pair of 2 steps (There are two of these or 4 steps total) down to remainder of ground floor.
2) Fireplace
3) 4" marble baseboards on the plaster walls.
4) Brick walls
Some of my considerations:
If I tile the LR
1) Removing 4" marble baseboards from the plaster walls without damaging both the marble and/or the plaster walls.
2) Leaving the marble baseboards, I'd have to butt the tile up against them, using quarter rounds to fill the gap.
3) Some tile will butt up against two areas of brick wall, where, I'd get gaps/holes in the mortar lines.
If I stain the LR,
1) I would most likely have much more prep work.
2) It would enable me to use tile that I saved for a master bathroom & master shower, instead.
3) I could keep the marble baseboards without using quarter rounds.
But of course, I don't know, what I don't know so perhaps those with experience staining and tiling can share their thoughts, pros and cons, costs, difficulty of project, regrets, concerns, what to be aware of, etc... on tiling vs staining the LR?