Travertine Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Travertine tiles carried out in Devon

Cleaning and Polishing Travertine tiles

Travertine is a natural material that has unique features and colouring that no other stone can offer. The distinctive look of Travertine creates some of the most distinguished floor tiles and has proved very popular with commercial and residential use. It can be used for floor tile, kitchen flooring, bathroom walls and floors, and it is often used externally. There are many varieties such as Tumbled and Polished and like all natural stone it needs to be sealed to prevent dirt becoming trapped in the pores. Unlike other stones however Travertine does suffer from pitting however these holes can be filled.

One of the main issues with polished Travertine is the polish starts to wear down with use and eventually becomes dull. Another issue we see is acid etching where strong unsuitable cleaning products used on the stone etch the surface and ruin its appearance. To resolve both these problems the stone needs to be re-polished with diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits to hone the stone and bring back that deep shine. If this sounds familiar you should talk to us about our annual maintenance program where we visit you once a year to clean, polish and seal your floor thus keeping it in top condition.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.

Travertine Tiled Patio Renovation Rousdon Devon

85m2 Travertine patio renovation in Rousdon, Devon

1 Comment / Sidmouth Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning /

A client from the village of Rousdon in Devon asked me to take a look at a large Travertine patio which was laid approximately five years ago and was now in a bad state. I contacted her and arranged a time to pop over and conduct a free survey of the patio which was approximately 85m2.

Travertine Patio Before Cleaning Rousdon Devon

Upon arrival I could see that garden furniture had been left on the patio and not moved for a long-time, this had resulted in rust stains from the metal and wooden furniture which had leached into the travertine causing staining. Normal cleaners and just jet washing would not be able to clear the stains.

Travertine Patio Before Cleaning Rousdon Devon

I performed a test with our Tile Doctor product – Patio and Driveway Cleaner which is a very strong cleaner designed to remove the toughest mildew, growth and staining on exterior stone and tiled patios and driveways. The test went well and the client was thrilled with the results and asked if I could achieve the same finish throughout the whole patio. I informed her I could, however, we would need to postpone the booking until spring at the earliest so that the weather and air has time to warm up so the products and sealer both do their jobs.
She was happy to take this advice and accepted my quotation.

Cleaning a Travertine Patio Tiled Floor

I returned in April on a warm, dry weekend to carry out the work as intended.

Work started with the generous application of around ten litres of Tile Doctor Patio and Driveway Cleaner which was left to dwell for approximately three hours, checking every 15 minutes on progress. After this time, I agitated the areas using a Viper rotary machine fitted with a stiff bristle brush to work the product into the stone and get into the pits and grout lines.

Immediately after the agitation process I used my pressurised water system to collect the slurry and remove any remaining moss and algae from the patio – this also neutralised the stone from any remaining products and removed much of the moisture from the stone so it could dry out quickly.

In the lasting afternoon sun, the patio dried out quickly with the assistance of floor fans to speed up the process.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Patio Floor

The following day I ran some moisture tests which confirmed the patio was dry and could accept a sealer. It’s not a good idea to apply a sealer to damp stone anyway but outside even more so as moisture can become trapped in the stone and then freeze over winter resulting in damage to the sealer.

All was well and I was able to complete the job with the application of three coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal. This kept to the brief from the client who had requested a completely natural stone finish.

Travertine Patio After Cleaning Rousdon Devon

Once completed the patio was transformed and my client was over the moon with its new appearance which is now ready for summer entertaining. To make sure the patio keeps it appearance they have requested I come back every year going forward to do a spring clean and top up the sealer. I offer an annual maintenance plan for customers with high maintenance floors/patios like this one so I’m more than happy to do that.

Travertine Patio After Cleaning Rousdon Devon

 

Professional Restoration of a Travertine Tiled Patio in Devon

85m2 Travertine patio renovation in Rousdon, Devon Read More »

Dirty Travertine Kitchen Tiles Burnished and Sealed in Exeter

Dirty Travertine Kitchen Tiles Burnished and Sealed in Exeter

1 Comment / Exeter Tile Cleaning Service, Exmouth Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History /

This Travertine kitchen floor in Exeter was mistakenly bought unfilled so there were deep holes on the surface of the stone that attracted grime and dirt in addition the floor had not been sealed to protect the stone and the whole floor was now in need of a deep clean and seal. The owners had installed the floor about five years before and were disappointed by the appearance from the onset. In fact, the floor had never lived up to their expectations and were close to ripping it up and starting again.

Unfilled Travertine Floor Exeter Before Burnishing
Travertine is a lovely stone and really adds to the appearance of any room however being a form of Limestone and acid sensitive it naturally suffers from pitting corrosion which leads to the creation of small holes in the stone. These small holes rapidly become ingrained with dirt and this ruins the appearance of the floor. Typically, Travertine tiles will be bought with the pitted holes pre-filled with a resin to avoid this problem.

After an initial visit to test the floor to identify the best products to use and a chat with the owners to talk through options, duration and processes involved a quote was produced along with standard T&Cs and the work was booked in to be completed shortly after.

Unfilled Travertine Floor Exeter Before Burnishing

Burnishing a Dirty Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

Burnishing is our tried and tested process for restoring polished stone such as Travertine, Limestone and Marble which has become stained and dirty. It involves the application of four diamond encrusted burnishing pads of varying grit levels from 100 to 1500.

The first pad, which is Coarse, was applied to the stone together with a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go, a strong stripper/degreaser to get into the pitting and lift the grime and completely strip away the top layer of dirt, exposing the clean layer underneath.

The floor is rinsed with water and the soil extracted before the application of the Medium, Fine, and eventually the Very Fine pad to build up the polished appearance of the stone.

As well as using the burnishing pad system, I also applied to the floor Tile Doctor Remove and Go, which removes any old sealer and penetrates the pitted holes to lift out and dissolve the ingrained dirt.

At the end of the first day the floor was thoroughly rinsed to remove the dirt and chemicals from the now clean floor and the majority of the pitting was filled with a suitable filler.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

The floor was left to dry off overnight with the assistance of underfloor heating and then the following day a 3,000 grit extra fine diamond pad was used to clear off any remaining residue and give the tiles a slight shine before moving onto the next step of sealing the tiles.

I sealed the floor using Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal, which is a natural look penetrating sealer that leaves a matt finish. The sealer will ensure the tiles are more resistant to staining and allow the floor to look as the customer originally wanted it to look for a lot longer.

Unfilled Travertine Floor Exeter After Burnishing
For after care I left the customer with a bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is a very easy to use, neutral pH cleaner for natural, sealed stone which not only cleans the tiles but continues to add to the natural patina so the more you use it the better the floor continues to look.

Unfilled Travertine Floor Exeter After Burnishing
 

Professional Restoration of a Dirty and Un-Filled Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor in Exeter

Dirty Travertine Kitchen Tiles Burnished and Sealed in Exeter Read More »

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