One of the more frequent questions we are asked is how do we maintain our travertine tile floors (or other surfaces). There is a great deal of misinformation on the Internet, that given at Floor Stores, Home Repair Box Stores, installers and even so-called stone restoration companies etc. A few tips for the day:
1) When cleaning your travertine tile floors vacuum (without the beater bar) or sweep first then damp mop (please damp mop – you’re not watering your lawn) with a mild stone soap (rated for natural stone). Do NOT use vinegar, bleach, ammonia or other harsh cleansers even if diluted with water! In fact, I have been advocating for awhile to use steamers, they use less water, clean very well and dry faster.
2) There are several ways to check your counters and grout. With a slightly damp sponge, squeeze out some water drops on your stone counters or floors. If the water beads up, your seal is holding, if the water is absorbed into your stone it’s time to re-seal. In the shower or tile counters if the water darkens the grout, it’s time to re-seal.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
We live about 100 miles from your area and haven’t been able to find anyone that will give us a logical answer to our problem. Hope you can help. We just had honed limestone tile installed on the floor and we are not happy with it. The tile looks like it is “dirty” or has a “haze” on it. We have been told that this is the honed natural look. The tile was imported from Turkey. We had a stone company come out and they said they could correct the problem by using “monkey pads” to remove some of the haze but it does not look any better. Is it typical for the honed limestone to have this permanent dirty or haze look on it? Your comments and advice are much appreciated.
Thank you for your question Linda,
As an initial matter, I do not see in the text of your question that this honed limestone was sealed. Even though it is a honed material it should still be sealed. We often times use a sealer that is a “color enhancer” and is a heavier material and so it will add a light sheen along with bringing out the hidden colors in the Stone. Now that being said there are so many Quarry’s out there producing hundreds of styles of Stone that I have no real visual understanding of what you might be seeing compared to the sample that you based your decision upon…follow me? Typically Limestone is a lighter, clear (free of veining or fissures) and sometimes an unfilled material. Now if this Stone was unfilled at the point of quarrying then they may have filled it at the yard and dirt or dust may have mingled with the hydraulic filler, ok? But this is hard to determine as I can’t see anything. What is the supplier telling you? Have you had anyone from the supplier out to lay eyes on this problem as they are the one’s who sold this material to you. So to me it falls onto their shoulders to have fully informed you as to certain expectations and any caution that should be taken during it’s installation that should also have been provided to the installer as well. By the way the use of “monkey pads” is typically used by companies that have little experience with natural stone and should not be allowed to touch such a valuable floor. It does bear mentioning that this problem could be the result of the installer leaving a good deal of grout haze on the tiles too which a sealer would not remedy. Lets start by having the sales rep come out and see what it’s doing and lend some on the spot recommendations specific to the Limestone that they sold to you ok? Then you can generate a plan of attack to address what you can plainly see. Ok Linda that’s it, I hope this helps you get started with your problem. Feel free to call us anytime…
We live outside Houston and have almost given up on real professionalism and support from the stone companies we have contacted in our area.
We were terribly under-informed and somehow misled, which caused the horrible situation we are now facing. This is what happened: travertine tiled floor has been wet grinded and polished by a stone company here. They did not wait for the moisture to escape from the stone and sealed with a mortal overdose of water based sealer – stonetech-bulletproof, that we could not clean from the surface – 3500 sq feet area. WE WERE GETTING A STICKY FLOOR AND white DUST. One of the stone guys who says he is a professional recommended stripping the floor and sealing over again just with one coat. We did that hoping for dust to disappear. But after a day or so it came back this time without sticky effect. We stripped entire floor again and told that tiles are soaked with sealers and should be left alone. We did that using commercial cleaning machine that sucked and cleaned entire floor again and happily after two days we saw white dust again. What is happening? How can we get rid of white dust…I thought efflorescence would be sort of solid substance…not dust???
Steve,
Without pictures that is a tough one..
I really don’t know.
What I do know is that polished travertine does not need to be sealed – ever. But hey, maybe it’s only me… I have this thing that I believe in science instead of believing some sales pitch. The grout will benefit from sealing now.
Now, what’s the reason of your white powdering?
With all the chemical mess this professional stone company made on your floor only a wizard could tell. Sorry.
I truly wish I could help you, even by suggesting we resurface the floors, clean your travertine, or even put some more magical sealer on it, but I wouldn’t know where to start with this mess and without consulting with you more.
But hey, I’m sure that the good folks that sold the stone to you or some other stone company that took a half day seminar in stone will have an answer for you. Maybe the experts at the company making the impregnator sealer will be able to help you.
(Just don’t hold you breath for too long a time…)
We truly believe in “education before any sale”
Thanks for making my floor new again…