








Travertineis a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties.
The structure of travertine can be likened to that of a honeycomb, where small pockets or cavities exist within the stone; these are exposed as holes in the surface when it's cut into tiles.
Travertine has been used in the construction of buildings since before the Roman times. Until fairly recently most travertine originated from Italy, from quarries in Tivoli and Guidonia Montecelio; the old Bernini quarry here has major historical importance, as it's where the building materials were quarried for the colonnade of St Peter's Square in Rome.
Travertine finishes
Today, travertine is mainly used in the production of tiles. As the cut tiles have holes in them, there are numerous travertine finishes available:
Honed - this is a matt finish where the holes are left exposed and filled with grout during installation.
Honed and filled - where the holes are filled at the factory, usually with a cement-based product. The filling is typically the same colour of the tiles to give a more blended look, but can often be white which stands out a bit more.
Polished – usually polished travertine comes pre-filled. More basic polished travertine has cement-based filler which will give the surface a patchy appearance as the filler won't be polished. More expensive polished travertine has epoxy-based filler that is smooth and shiny and doesn't stand out as much as cement-based, and overall provides a much better appearance.
First to deep clean, remove acid stains and polish tiles you will need:
Travertine needs to be sealed with impregnating sealer -It's matt sealer which will penetrate in the surface and allows it to breathe. Impregnating sealer Performs well in wet areas including bathrooms, wetrooms and swimming pool surrounds. It's also suitable on floors that have no damp proof course.
When the Travertine Tiles are fully dry apply colour enhancing impregnating sealer to enhance the natural colours of darker Travertine's. If however you are sealing a lighter shade of travertine and you not wish to darken the stone, apply a clear impregnating sealer which gives no visual effect to the stone.
It's best if you apply 2-3 coats if tiles have never been sealed before and 1-2 coats if they have been sealed previously.
Also make sure to wipe off any sealer that didn't absorb into the stone surface
For regular cleaning use a sealer friendly non acidic cleaning product that's meant for natural stone surfaces. Make sure you don't use anything strong on the floor as after the burnishing it's fairly easy to clean the floor.
Tags: Travertine , Limestone , Cleaning , Honing , Burnishing , Polishing, Cleaning, Manchester, Floor Cleaners