Lippage is the trade word for an edge where one tile sits higher than the next. You feel it when you walk barefoot, your toes catch it, and you see it most when evening light comes in low across a polished floor and every raised edge throws a little shadow.
How much is normal?
Stone tiles and slabs are never perfectly flat, and no floor is laid with zero lippage. Stone industry guidance generally treats a difference of around 1 mm or a little more between neighbouring tiles as acceptable for natural stone with narrow joints, with larger allowances where joints are wider or the stone is textured. If you can catch your toe or your fingernail clearly on an edge, or if edges throw shadows in normal room light, it is more than it should be.
What causes it
- A floor that was not levelled before laying.
- Tiles that are not uniform in thickness, laid without adjusting the bed.
- No leveling clips or straightedge used on large-format tiles.
- Low-angle lighting making minor lippage look worse.
- Hollow tiles settling over time.
How it is fixed
On marble and other polishable stone: grind and polish
The best fix on marble is a floor grind (part of ragrai). Diamond pads grind the whole floor flat so the edges disappear, and the floor is then honed and polished up through finer grits. Done properly, it leaves a floor that looks like one continuous surface. It is noisy, wet work, usually done room by room, and the result is far better than the original install.
On granite
Granite can also be ground flat, but it is much harder and slower, so the cost is higher. Small areas are often fixed by relaying the worst tiles instead.
On porcelain or loose tiles
Porcelain cannot be ground and re-polished like stone. The fix is to lift and relay the high tiles.
Preventing it on a new floor
- Level and cure the subfloor first.
- Use leveling clip systems for large tiles.
- Check with a long straightedge as the work goes on, not after.
- Plan on a final grind and polish for marble floors; it removes minor lippage and gives the best finish.
Check a new floor at dusk with the lights off and a torch held flat on the floor, shining across it. Raised edges throw clear shadows. Do this before the installer leaves.
Want a floor ground flat and re-polished? WhatsApp +92 320 9900948 with photos taken in low, raking light.