“Beautiful!” is what people want to hear after the installation of onyx. It brings glow and a sense of mystery. Onyx is the stone of fantasy. Its sparkly translucence belies the reality that its solid rock. It looks to be a gemstone, with wavy bands of amber, ivory, and white fused in a fluid design. While the backlit reflects an ethereal and smooth light. Indeed, it is a gorgeous natural stone. Nothing in this world is a big artist than our very own earth, which produces and creates such varieties of materials we can bring into our houses.
Like marble, onyx has a porous and smooth surface. It has a quite low thickness, the same as the marbles. This makes it softer and suppler than other natural stone floor covering. “Onyx– A Mystifying Natural Stone”
It comes in a range of mostly earth-tone colors and can be finished in several ways like polished or honed to a high shine.
While it is most often seen in bathrooms and kitchens, onyx is also showing up with increasing frequency in living areas. It can also be twisted into intricate mosaic inlays for tabletops surrounds, fireplace, and floor medallions. Onyx is an adaptable stone, but it is also one of outstanding beauty. Because of natural material, no two pieces of onyx are precisely alike, and with shades ranging from light gold to deep red, onyx tiles can fit into almost any color design.
The variations in pattern and color can achieve through backlighting, which uses onyx’s natural thinness to bring a warm, luxurious shine to almost any room. Onyx is not for the pale of the heart when it comes to slabs. As it is a calcium-made stone, it has a smoother surface that needs constant care to keep it perfect and free of visible damages. Its transparency, combined with its generous offering of colors and shades like white, red, green, brown, and black, is what makes each onyx piece a visual masterpiece.
Let’s see what the features of this delicate natural stone are.
Table of Contents
Translucence of onyx
It is a translucent beautiful natural stone. If you take a piece of onyx and keep it against any light source, you can observe different shapes and shadows through the stone. Due to this characteristic, your setting material may show through or may affect the hue of the stone. To avoid such problems, you must only use thin and white mortar. The white mortar will not affect the natural shade of the onyx during or after the installation procedure, and apart from that, it will also help to save its translucency. It will help to avoid the shadows generated by the grooves after the installation of the onyx.
Variability of onyx
You can’t get a professional to see two same pieces of onyx tiles. It mostly varies from piece to piece and even within a single piece. Even within a single lot, you’ll see onyx has a variety of patterns and shades. To ensure an interesting layout of the tiles and prevent the shades from clumping or grouping, do a dry design of the tiles before installing them. When you desire to install them, mix all the pieces thoroughly so that the variation correctly looks in all the parts after the installation.
Fragility of onyx
Due to its fragility characteristic, onyx is usually created and installed with mesh, fiberglass, or resin backing to help give it durability as a tile. Such a backing makes the cutting procedure of this natural stone quite tough. To avoid such a problem, use a wet saw with a diamond blade to cut down the onyx. Don’t place it over a rough substrate during the cutting procedure because it will break into pieces due to its fragility feature. Make the substrate even and leveled. A 5/8-inch cement backer board is suggested beneath onyx tiles in floor installation, while a 1/4-inch cement backer board is advised beneath a wall tile installation.
Sealing of onyx
Onyx is very porous. It is vulnerable to scratches and stains and also absorbs liquids. To secure the stone, seal it well with a saturated sealer meant for porous stones before grouting it. The sealer will aid as a grout release to make clean up more comfortable, while it helps to secure the stone from future staining. When onyx is well sealed, water must bead upon its surface as it does on a waxed car. When the stone stops doing this, it should be resealed with another coat of impregnating sealer.
Looks and Maintenance of Onyx:
1. Onyx slabs are generally pastel or light in color. Just like granite, onyx comes in many different shades. Onyx is also available in impartial tones, such as cream and beige.
2. Onyx also has unique patterns and variations to it. It can have little specks in it, much like you would see in quartz. It can have swirled in as you find in granite, or it can have veins in it as you see in marble.
3. Each slab of onyx has a perfect look to it that makes it unusual and striking. If you want a gorgeous and unique countertop, onyx may be ideal for you.
4. Onyx countertops can be wiped down with soap and warm water when they are dirty, or they begin to look dusty. After wiping them down with soapy water, wipe it with a damp, cool cloth to remove soap remains.
5. Other stone slabs, including marble and granite, need to be cleaned with stone cleaners. These cleaners can be expensive. Since you can clean onyx with a mild soap, it makes cleaning reasonably priced and effortless.
Onyx is Beautiful:-
Though onyx is luxurious and somewhat unreasonable, there is no denying the pure beauty of the stone. It comes in a number of colors, and the “veining” adds complementary colors to make these slabs look like works of art. The light hits it, and it glows, brightening up the place.
For an even more appealing look, try backlit onyx, which has a magnificent shine that you can’t get any other method. It all comes down to what type of statement you want to make about your home. You can go with other trendy and more durable stones that give your house a lavish uplift with minimum work. Or you can stand out from the rush through utter willpower and continuous self-improvement.
RK Marbles India– Onyx- A Mystifying Natural Stone
Also, read our blogs- What you’ll choose Marble Tiles or Granite Tiles?
Granite vs Quartz: What will be a good choice
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