Marble Condo Tub Surround, San Mateo, August, 2020

Better ingredients, better results. This San Mateo condo owner had sourced about 70 square feet of 6″ x 12″ polished marble, to be installed around the tub in a subway, or brick, pattern. They also had a diagonal mesh mosaic they wanted to run floor to ceiling across the entire rest of the bathroom.

Why we tiled the surround but not the whole room

We broke the job up. The marble went around the tub, and we declined to install the mosaic on the rest of the walls, because of its pattern. The mosaic was laid on a diagonal. In an inside corner, one wall’s tile runs to the corner and the tile on the perpendicular wall is set over its edge. With rectangular tile, the lines meet cleanly. With a diagonal pattern, they can’t line up unless every corner piece is cut new, and even then it rarely reads right.

There was a happy upshot. It’s a small bathroom, and tile on every surface would have been too busy. Instead, we recommended painting the walls a very light gray, keyed to the hue of the textured vinyl floor, with bright white gloss trim. Small spaces do better lighter, and a single material in one strong place, the marble around the tub, makes a stronger statement than tile everywhere.

Setting marble

The marble was set in an acrylic, polymer-modified mortar for the best adhesion, with each tile back cleaned first. Marble is heavy and unforgiving, and a subway pattern makes any stray joint obvious, so every course has to stay true.

A note on sealing: polished marble like this doesn’t strictly need to be sealed, though it can be. The polish makes the surface dense, so sealers don’t penetrate very far. Honed or tumbled stone is a different story. The tub itself was to be resurfaced afterward by another contractor.

Getting it done

Not every job is a great experience. This one was bid tight, lower than we’d usually take, and we took it because we had the time. There were other challenges along the way. We’re not trying to make the most money we can on every job, but cost only becomes the deciding factor when it’s the only factor, and that shows up in how a project goes.

We got it done anyway, and the end result looks good: polished marble, clean lines, and a small bath that feels calmer for having less tile in it. That’s called professionalism.

Planning a tub surround? See what we install, or send photos for an estimate.