How tumbled marble is manufactured?

Tumbled marble is manufactured from many different materials such as travertine, limestone, marble, and granite.

The first step in the process is cutting the stone into the dimensional size required.
The stone is then placed into a kind of cement mixer. In the mixer is also placed course sand and sometimes small pieces of metal abrasives.

The whole mix is then rotated for a predetermined amount of time depending on the hardness or softness of the material.
The course sand and the abrasives working against the stone distresses the edges and the surface of the material and gives it that old weathered look hence the term “tumbled marble”.
More dense material is tumbled for a longer period than a softer material to achieve the same ancient stone look.

If you have ever priced tumbled marble you will notice that larger pieces such as 12″ x 12″ are a bit higher in cost.
This is because the breakage factor is much higher with a bigger piece, 4” x 4” tumbled marble stone is generally the least expensive because there is much less breakage in the manufacturing process.

A similar looking material is chiseled marble, this is the same as the tumbled marble except that the material comes out of the mixer earlier and the edges of the stone are hand chiseled.

A tumbled stone kitchen backsplash can be a great project for a do-it-yourselfer. It is basically the same process as installing ceramic tile except for the fact that you will need to use a spacer to separate the tiles from each other. This is needed because of the weight of the tumbled stone and it needs some support until the mastic adhesive or thin set cement dries.

The other big difference in installing tumbled stone is the grouting procedure. The grout cannot be applied over the whole surface of the tumbled stone unless you want to fill the little imperfections in the surface of the stone. This is generally not the look you want.
So the trick is to fill the grout joints without filling in the natural voids in the stone itself.

The answer is to use a grout bag. This is very similar to a pastry bag that is used to apply icing on a cake. A grout bag can be purchased at most home centers.
The grout is mixed a little bit loose and put into the grout bag and squeezed into the grout joints with out of messing up the rest of the tile.

After the grout joints are filled they are left to dry until they are semi hard to the touch.
The joints are then tooled with the round end of a toothbrush or whatever you can find that his smooth.
Then take a damp sponge and smooth the grout joints out little bit until they are all uniform.
Let the grout dry completely give it a final wash down with a sponge, let it dry for 48 hours and you are almost finished.

The last step is to seal the backsplash to protect it from everyday cooking splatters.
A couple coats of penetrating sealer can be used to protect your work.
If you would like to bring out the rich natural colors of the stone you can apply a enhancing penetrating sealer, these sealers are available at home centers and tile stores.