Is Marble Good for Stairs?

by Julia
Last updated March 2, 2023

If your projects include a multistory building or houses, you will need good material for the staircase to ensure stability and the safety of the users.

For this part of the structure, marble is the best material for the stairs. It’s given that a marble staircase will be elegant, but practicality-wise, it offers sturdiness. Other benefits are also present, such as turning the property into a high value.

In this article, we will tackle 7 advantages of using marble for the stairs, as well as the marble grade’s classification to help you pick the right one.

7 Advantages of Marble Staircases

This section contains a list of the pros of a marble staircase with explanations. The main points pertaining to marble are the following:

beautiful and divine;
long and lasting;
high value;
environmentally friendly;
thermal insulator;
non-allergenic, and;
easily cleaned.

1. Beautiful and Divine

Marble was once a symbol of prestige and wealth during earlier periods of civilization. If a family has marble as the material for constructing any part of their home, then they are affluent.

Public places such as churches or town halls were also rich in the said stone. In fact, many of them had (and still have) marble staircases that are strikingly beautiful, no matter how old.

An example of this is the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice Italy, designed by Mauro Cudossi in 1498.

Photo from seevenice.it (A tour guide in Venice)

Even though it’s the 2020s, we may still construct an intricate marble staircase with columns and adornments. But if we want a simple and plain version, we can use marble only on the steps or risers.

White Marble Stairs

A marble staircase will certainly transform the look of our places into something expensive and pleasing to the senses.

2. Long and Lasting

While the marble staircase passes the standards for design aesthetics, will it be safe to use or will it compromise the quality of the property, construction-wise?

Marble stairs are not only beautiful, but they will contribute to the stability and durability of the entire structure. This is because of the stone itself, which is made from limestone due to the extreme heat and pressure of metamorphism.

Having said that, marble stairs are more than hard enough to resist load and pressure. They are also not affected by heat, and while the stone is porous, water won’t damage the material easily.

That is why the marble building compositions during the early civilizations—such as in the European Renaissance—are antique, but still elegant and strong.

3. High Value

Did you know that incorporating marble in our homes will increase their value over time? And in what better way can we incorporate the stone while also making use of it? Building marble stairs.

You will never know how long you’ll stay in a place; you might be a property investor who focuses on increasing the market value of the property or someone who wishes to move to a different location where you will have to leave your home and sell it.

Having a marble staircase is one of the ways to increase home equity, with marble being a naturally expensive material.

While properties with other natural stones such as granite can also increase home value, marble is more precious hence the value will be higher.

4. Environment Friendly

It may be surprising to know, but quarrying marble for the stairs is greener compared with manufacturing them, either with artificial marble or other materials.

This is because manufacturing marble for the staircase will neither emit too much carbon nor other greenhouse gases that harm our environment and the ozone layer (which is one of the causes of global warming).

With other manufactured products like artificial marble, the factory will have to use more carbon with the equipment. More materials will also be necessary such as the amount of clean water.

With Sinodec, we make sure to utilize our resources carefully so nothing will be wasted. For example, a marble mosaic has small pieces of stones. Instead of cutting from a marble slab, we use surplus materials to save both cost and energy and to promote sustainability.

5. Thermal Insulation

One of the best and most practical reasons why we use marble for floors and walls is its excellent thermal insulation. What does this mean?

It means our marble staircase will remain at a normal temperature (not too hot or cold), even when there are temperature changes inside the room or outdoors.

This is contrary to other materials such as metal, which absorbs the temperature of the objects that they come in contact with.

With marble stairs, we can save electricity and lessen our bills. We no longer need extra heat or cooling from our appliances, solely for our feet to be comfortable in using the stairs.

6. Non-allergenic

For those with allergies to dust, pollen, or other allergens, marble should be the material for your staircases.

Unlike carpeted stairs that collect the things that we mentioned above, marble can’t catch allergens because of its natural characteristics. It’s smooth and doesn’t have any intricate corners that can trap dust.

Marble stairs are also safe because they are non-toxic and you will be free from health hazards. Unlike with cultured marble, there is a risk if the quality is not good, because it uses polyester resins that may have a trace of cobalt.

Cobalt is a toxicant that can cause cancer (carcinogen) and disrupt reproductive systems (reproductive).

7. Easy Cleaning

With all of these top-tier characteristics of marble stairs, we still have to give our share of effort by cleaning and maintaining them.

But don’t worry; it’s easy to keep marble stairs clean and shiny. All we have to do is these 3 things:

sweep and dry mop the stairs every day or every other day using a soft broom or microfiber mop to remove dirt and dust

deep clean the stairs once a month with warm water, marble cleaners or pH 7 neutral dish soap, and microfiber materials such as cloth and mop

We wrote a care guide for keeping marble floors shiny, and we can use this for our marble staircase too. Our best tip is to avoid overcleaning and using harsh chemicals on the stairs to preserve the marble’s quality.

Marble Grade Classification for the Staircase

In this section, we will briefly go through the different grades of marble as set by the Marble Institute of America. This is to help us choose a marble stone with excellent quality, which is important for building a stable staircase.

We also wrote a guide on how to determine the quality of natural marble during product quality inspections that you can check here.

1. Class A – This marble is not as aesthetically pleasing because its colors are subtle and the veins are faint. There are also few to zero geological flaws.

2. Class B – The color and veins are still quite faint, and there are a few imperfections like fissures or pitting. There may also be dry veins that we can fix by doing light filling.

3. Class C – This marble has more defined flaws, lines of separation, and voids that we will have to fill using natural marble chips.

4. Class D – This will have the most natural flaws that we will have to repair during the fabrication as well. Class D marble has the most beautiful colors.

It’s normal for marble stones fresh from the quarry to undergo fabrication because of minor flaws gained during the quarrying process. What’s important to look at is the finished quality.

If your chosen factory shows you a marble slab with numerous and huge cracks at the back face of the stone (even after the fabrication), then tell them to give you a better quality. We want our marble stairs to be in the best state, so pay attention and inspect the material.

Conclusion

Marble is the best material for stairs, as it is both beautiful and durable. When constructing a multistory building, it’s essential to think about the stability of the material, especially for a staircase that will carry human weight.

With marble, we can get many benefits for our homes such as the following: