Travertine Dream

Its been a while since we have done a question of the week but I received an email today that I am sure will be on the minds of many more people. With the blessings of the sender, here is the question and my response to her:

Question:

I purchased a house with beautiful travertine floors. How do I get them back to a shinny luster finish?

Answer:

Was the travertine originally polished or honed? Traditionally most travertine will come with a honed finish which leaves it with a matte finish. Is the problem that the tiles no longer look polished or that they are just kind of grungy and dirty? In either case you have a couple of options. There are people out there that can provide you with a refinishing service. Essentially they can come in with a fancy machine and rework the surface of the tile. This can tend to be a pretty expensive option. Alternately, you can also give the tiles a good washing, being sure to use cleansers designed for the stone, and then reseal it. You can find sealers in a variety of finishes from matte to high gloss. My suggestion would be to get a couple of sample pieces similar to your floor and a couple of different sealers so you can see the different effects the finishes have. Quite often a good cleaning and a reseal will do the trick for you.

When dealing with natural stones, just make sure to use products designed for the stone. Travertine for example is an alkali stone, and will react with acidic products possibly leaving etch marks and discoloration in the stone.

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I have had a bunch of inquiries lately about chiseling the edges of travertine by the installer. Why would you want to do this you might ask? Well sometimes during installation, you are going to have to make cuts leaving you with one or two edges that are no longer chiseled. Some people want to have that chiseled edge consistent, even into the walls, or cabinets or wherever. Can it be done? Sure it can, but very carefully and with some practice. I wouldn’t recommend taking the piece you are about to install and start hacking away at it, but try this. Grab an angle grinder (be sure to have the appropriate disk) and take some cut ends to practice on. The angle from which you attack the tile, will be quite important if you want to match the look that came from the factory. Try different angles and different depths. With enough practice, it can be possible to match the chiseled edge pretty closely.

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So on the weekend we made an addition to the family. We picked up some sort of lab cross from the local SPCA and then proceeded to spend the weekend making sure she didn’t “relieve” herself in the house. So far so good, but what happens when she inevitably does? What will happen to the engineered hardwood? What will happen to travertine? The hardwood answer is for another blog and for now, she just doesn’t get to go in there unsupervised. For the travertine, I found an answer to what can happen and how to fix it if it does. This like from “Ask Maurizio” at marblecleaning.org answers some of the concerns.

Here is a picture for you of trouble waiting to happen.  

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I have found another fascinating website on the topic of dry stone walls. Click here to view it.

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