Quartz Around the House: 5 Uses You Never Thought Of
For thousands of years, stone has been valued for the strong visual statement it makes. The Ancient Greeks, Classical Romans, Renaissance and Enlightenment Europeans, all valued stone for its implications of sophistication and class. Unlike natural stone, engineered stone such as quartz is not susceptible to degradation from water and cleaning products.
The porosity of natural stone and the trails of capillaries within the stone, allow for water and contaminants to travel within. These stones require the application of sealers every couple of years and care must be taken to not cause damage by using certain cleaning products. Quartz, on the other hand, is not porous, does not require sealers, and performs well in wet environments. Thus for years, quartz has been embraced as a countertop material, but few people know that quartz has several other uses around the house.
Quartz happens to have many of the advantages of natural stone without the drawbacks. Because Marble.com’s engineered stone quartz is made of ground-up quartz minerals, it has the hardness of natural stone like granite. However, because quartz is made using resins and polymers, it has slight flexibility that makes it less prone to cracking and is also resistant to scratching. The resins used to create quartz engineered stone act as a sealer allowing it to function well in wet environments and also allowing for the safe use of cleaning products.
These qualities make quartz well suited for many different uses around the house. Here are five uses of quartz you might never have thought of.
1.Flooring
Any flooring material will need to be able to stand up to a great deal of abuse. Over the years a floor will see lots of foot traffic, it should be something that can stand up to fading and wearing. Foot traffic also means that your floors will be exposed to types of contaminants that no other surface in your house will. Quartz is well-suited for this as it is resilient and easy to clean. As a type of engineered stone, quartz has the strength and flexibility to handle the abuse that comes from foot traffic. On top of being resistant to scratching, quartz flooring can be cleaned without having to be concerned about damage from cleaning products. The variety of color options makes it easy to find a material that suits the design of your home.
- Backsplashes
The durability of quartz and the ease with which it can be cleaned make it well-suited for use in the kitchen, and its impermeability makes it ideal for an environment where it is certain to get wet on a regular basis. In addition to resisting water, quartz is heat resistant, it can handle any splatter that might occur while cooking. Being in such proximity to the stovetop means that a quartz backsplash will be regularly exposed to grease and oil. It’s imperative that you are able to use cleaning products with confidence. One of the drawbacks to natural stone is that even when sealed, you must be careful about how you use cleaning products on these surfaces. This caution is not a concern with engineered stone, they can stand up to the alcohol and the acidity of many cleaning products.
- Walls
Aesthetically speaking quartz can add a beautiful look to the walls of your home. With natural stone, you are limited to the colors and the patterns that exist in nature. The process by which quartz surfaces are created allows for many colors and patterns. Without the addition of pigments, engineered quartz stone would not have much visual appeal. The addition of pigments to the ground quartz and resin gives manufacturers the chance to not only give the stone visual appeal but to create designs and colors. Engineered quartz stone can be designed to look like marble or granite, and can be given any color imaginable. Thus you have even greater design options with using quartz on the walls of your home than with natural stone.
- Fireplaces
Stone can make a great accent around the fireplace. As with other locations in the house, the variety of colors and designs ensures that you can find the perfect choice. The durability of quartz makes it especially well-suited for use as a fireplace surround. Not only is it durable and scratch-resistant, but the heat resistance that makes it good for kitchen use carries over to the fireplace as well. Quartz is more durable than natural stone, so if you have your heart set on using stone in your fireplace surround, than an engineered product like quartz is an excellent option.
- Shower and bath
Of all the uncommon places where quartz is well-suited, as a bath surround and in the walls of showers are two of the greatest. The thing that sets quartz apart from natural stone the most is its suitability for wet environments. Natural stone was not used regularly in bathrooms before the advent of effective sealers. Even with these sealers, natural stone requires special care in the bathroom and you must be careful with the use of cleaning products. Engineered quartz, on the other hand, has no problem in a wet environment. It is completely impervious to water, requires no sealer, and is not sensitive to the chemicals found in cleaning products. It has all the aesthetic benefits of stone, but has even more color and design options, and stands up to the environment better.
Engineered quartz stone is the best of both worlds. It has the strength and hardness of natural stone, but is not brittle, doesn’t crack, nor does it scratch. It has the beautiful appearance of natural stone but is not limited by what can be found in nature. It was first popularized as an alternative to stone countertops like marble and granite, but people are learning that it performs just as well throughout other parts of the house. It is the perfect accent to any part of the home that is affected by heat, exposed to water, or subject to wear and tear from foot traffic.
