Soapstone Tile

To order our Mariana Soapstone™ tile, please contact our friends at:

Soapstone makes a wonderful floor. It has a silky texture, and it holds warmth when other stones would feel cold. Its density and heat retention make it an excellent choice for hearth-pads, bathrooms, and sun-rooms, or anywhere with underfloor heating systems. Its also great in technical applications like laboratories, where its resistance to acids and alkalis are critical. Plus, Soapstone is unique among natural stones in that it can be refinished in place easily, using ordinary sandpaper.

Won't soapstone tiles, being soft, scratch easily?: All soapstone will scratch with a piece of metal or glass. That's why we supply the tile with a very low hone, almost a brushed texture. With this low finish, small scratches from everyday use will be hidden, and it also brings up the silky feel of the stone. It also makes it easy to match the finish if you want to sand down the tile after installation to remove any lippage. But small scratches and dings are common with soapstone floors, and if thats an issue for you, you don't want a soapstone floor. Soapstone is like hardwood - part of the appeal is that it wears gently, and it has a warmer look and feel then polished granite or marble. If you scratch the floor badly, you can always sand the scratch away with a piece of sandpaper. That's in contrast to slate, where any scratches are permanent. If you spill paint on your floor, or Junior runs amuck with permanent markers - you can sand the whole thing off and start again. Soapstone is a very forgiving surface.
How do I seal my soapstone floor?: You don't. Soapstone is not porous, and unlike limestone or marble, its non-reactive chemically. That's why Soapstone has traditionally been used for laboratory work-tops and flooring. So using an impregnating stone sealer is a waste of time and money. It's very hard to stain soapstone. Don't worry if Fido has an accident, or you use the wrong floor cleaner. It's not going to hurt Mariana Soapstone. Over time, a Mariana Soapstone floor will naturally darken to medium gray color, and the veining in the stone will become more apparent. You can accelerate this process by using mineral oil, floor wax, or a stone color enhancer. But again, you are not sealing the stone, you are just enhancing the color and veining.
How do I install Soapstone tiles?: Just like any other natural stone. Thin-set, mud-bed, epoxy, whatever your installation requires. Again, this is a non-porous, chemically inert stone, so you don't have the restrictions that you have with other stones.
What's so special about Soapstone and heat?: Mariana Soapstone is very dense, and its unique mineral composition means it won't crack when its subject to rapid and large changes in temperature. Our soapstone is actually used as the lining of wood-stoves and fireplaces. So Mariana Soapstone tiles are an excellent choice as a fireplace surround or a wood-stove hearth pad, or with under-floor heating systems or a passive solar room. You should bear in mind that Soapstone is an excellent transmitter of heat, so be sure that you have the insulation beneath it that your local building codes require.
Can I use Soapstone for a shower?: Yes, you can. Properly installed, Soapstone can handle steam and water without problems.
Can I use Soapstone outside?: Absolutely. Soapstone can handle snow, ice, salt, acid rain, whatever the weather brings. It won't crack with big changes in temperature. There's quite a lot of iron minerals in soapstone, so over time, it will develop an orange/red/brown patina, especially on the veins. If you're planning on using it as a pool deck, though, remember that soapstone stores heat extremely well, so if you live in a hot climate, youll need flip-flops!
How do I order Soapstone Tiles?: There are two standard sizes: 12 × 12 × ½ inch and 16 × 16 × ½ inch. They are packed in cardboard boxes of 5 tiles, and then in crates of 100 square feet. For a referral to a stocking distributor near you, please contact us. For larger projects, we can offer custom sizes and direct delivery to the jobsite from overseas.