Pitted Travertine

Travertine Tiled Floor Before After Renovation Brixworth

Travertine Floor Tiles Repaired and Polished in Old Near Brixworth

Polished Travertine is a popular tile which can look stunning, however without the correct maintenance regime in place it can soon turn dull and flat as my customer in the small village of Old near Brixworth discovered. In this case they had 40m2 of Travertine tiling installed in the living room and breakfast room which in particular had become dull, sticky, and hard to clean. On top of that a couple of holes had appeared in the main kitchen walkway areas which was causing concern.

Polished Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Brixworth

I visited the property to carry out a site survey and conduct a test clean on the stained areas. My customer was relieved to see how well the grout and staining responded to the cleaning and we moved on to discuss how to repairs the holes. We see this a lot with Travertine where natural holes or pitting are usually filed with a resin before being sold but the problem can be exacerbated with the use of acidic cleaning products. Holes also trap dirt which can accumulates quickly as dirt is washed into the holes during cleaning detracting from the appearance of the stone.

Polished Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Brixworth

To resolve I planned on filling the holes with a resin and then re-polishing the floor to make it blend in. A quote was issued via e mail which was accepted, and a date booked in the diary for work to be carried.

Cleaning and Restoring Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

On the day I arrived the customer had prepared the work area by removing all small items of furniture. My first step was to brush and vacuum the area to remove any loose debris. I then sprayed the floor with a dilution of Tile doctor Pro-Clean focusing on the heavily soiled areas and grout lines throughout the breakfast area and then left to soak in for ten minutes. After scrubbing the grout with a grout brush the area was rinsed with a small amount of water and the area dried using a wet vacuum. This process was then repeated in the kitchen.

Tile Doctor has found the best way to renovate polished stone is to use a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads to hone the stone and build back the polish. Usually this involved applying a set of for or five pads of different grits depending on the severity of soiling and any surface scratches. I started with the coarsest grit and worked through in sequence to the finer grits to achieve a polished finish. Water is used to lubricate the process and the floor is rinsed and extracted between pads.

Once this process was completed, I dried the damaged tiles with a heat gun so I could fill them. I mixed a resin that closely matched the white and brown colours of the Travertine and filled in the holes, smoothing, and polishing with handheld diamond blocks to achieve a smooth finish.

Polished Travertine Kitchen Floor After Renovation Brixworth

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

When we returned the next day, the floor had dried, and I was able to give the floor a final polish with a very fine 3000-grit burnishing pad applied with a little water sprayed onto the tile. Finally, the floor was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which provides excellent protection without changing the colour of the stone to provide a natural look.

Polished Travertine Kitchen Floor After Renovation Brixworth

Last step was to provide some advice on how to maintain the floor going forward for which I recommend Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is designed for cleaning polished stone floors. The client was over the moon with the outcome and surprised at the improvement, they also left the following review for me which is always a nice surprise.

Fantastic work, my floor looks wonderful it didn’t look this good when it was laid thirteen years ago, I will definitely look after the travertine now and have the floor cleaned and resealed every year.

 

Professional Restoration of a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor in Northamptonshire

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Pitted Travertine Floor Tiles Before After Renovation Weston Favell

Pitted Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles Filled and Polished in Weston Favell

Travertine floor tiles are very appealing and very hardwearing, but without the protection of a sealer to stop dirt becoming ingrained in the pores of the stone their appearance will degrade. Fortunately, this can be remedied as demonstrated in these pictures of a Travertine floor I recently polished at a house in Weston Favell, Northampton.

Travertine Tiled Floor Weston Favell Before Polishing

This owner of the property had called me out as their kitchen floor was looking very sorry for itself and he was concerned that a lot of holes were appearing which was making cleaning the floor difficult as dirt was getting trapped in the holes. I went over and carried out a test clean on two separate tiles in the kitchen and the customer was amazed at how clean they came up and especially the grout.

Travertine Tiled Floor Weston Favell Before Polishing

The kitchen was stunning, but unfortunately the state of the Travertine tiled floor was bringing down its overall appearance. Impressed with the test clean they were keen to get the whole floor renovated so we agreed a price and I scheduled the work in for the following month.

Cleaning and Restoring Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

I returned on the agreed data and made a start by protecting the kitchen units by removing the plinths and covering base units and the appliances with a protective film. We then commenced the cleaning process to remove surface dirt by cleaning with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean paying special attention to the grout lines. The holes in the Travertine were filled with a stone resin, mixing it to closely match the colours of the stone.

The resin was allowed to dry before starting to re-polish the Travertine using a set of Tile Doctor Diamond encrusted burnishing pads. These pads are applied individually to each tile in sequence starting with a coarse 400-grit pad before moving onto the 800-grit and finishing with the fine 1500 grit pad. A little water is used to lubricate the process along the way and the floor is rinsed in between each pad with the resulting residue extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum. The process takes some time, but it really brings up the polished appearance of the stone and the results are well worth the effort. After a final rinse the floor was inspected and then left to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

When we returned the next day, the floor had dried, and we were able to give the floor a final polish with a very fine 3000-grit burnishing pad applied with a little water sprayed onto the tile. Finally, the floor was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which provides excellent protection without changing the colour of the stone to provide a natural look.

Travertine Tiled Floor Weston Favell After Polishing

The client was over the moon with the outcome and surprised at the improvement. They were left with a floor that would be easy to clean and maintain.

 

Professional Restoration of a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor in Northamptonshire

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Pitted Travertine Before and After Filled Polished Rushden

Pitted Travertine Floor Tiles Filled and Polished in Rushden

Not only do we carry out the deep cleaning and restoration of all types of natural stone, we can also carry out repairs such as the filling of holes in stone, whether it be limestone, marble or as in this case Travertine. Travertine in particular is prone to a natural process of erosion know as pitting, this results in holes developing that easily fill up with dirt and muck over time and can be a real problem to maintain.

Pitted Travertine Before Filled Polished Rushden
This customer in Rushden called me in, as he felt the floor hadn’t been properly maintained since it had been installed twelve years prior and he was becoming concerned about the number of holes and pits that were appearing in the high traffic areas. The Travertine tiles had been laid in the hallway, kitchen and upstairs bathroom of the property but the problem was most apparent in the Kitchen.

Pitted Travertine Before Filled Polished Rushden

Burnishing and Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Floor

To get the floors clean and restore the polished appearance of the Travertine I decided to apply a set of Tile Doctor diamond encrusted burnishing pads. The process involves the application of four different pads applied in sequence from coarse to very fine, rinsing in-between each pad to remove dirt. As the floor had been installed in the Kitchen and the Hallway it made sense to split the work into two parts and work on each area separately.

The first pad is a coarse 400 grit pad that is attached to a rotary machine running at slow speed and with only water for lubrication. The pad is applied to the stone to removes minor scratches, sealers and dirt. It’s run over the entire floor and afterwards the floor is rinsed with water which is then extracted with the soil using a wet-vacuum.

I then repeated this same procedure with the second pad, which is a Medium 800 grit pad used to remove dirt from minor scratches and holes in the stone. After rinsing again, I went onto the third burnishing pad in the sequence which is a Fine 1500 grit pad that starts to rebuild the polish on the Travertine. I gave the floor another rinse and used the wet vacuum again to extract the water and soil from the floor. The last 3,000 grit super fine pad was then applied with a small amount of water sprayed onto the floor, this last pad really builds a nice shine on the stone.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

Once the burnishing process was completed the floor was left to dry off fully overnight and I came back the next day to continue with the work. I took a few moisture readings to confirm the floor was dry and then applied a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow to seal the tiles. Colour Grow is a colour enhancing sealer that impregnates into the pores of the stone protecting it from within and improving the natural colours of the stone in the process. I particularly like to use it on Travertine as it really does bring out the brown shades in the stone.

Filling Holes in a Travertine Tiled Floor

Once the first coat of sealant had dried I started the work to fill the holes throughout the installation using appropriate colours of stone filler resin. I purposely delayed doing this until the first coat of sealer was in place in order to prevent excess resin from being absorbed into the tile and causing unwanted staining. There were quite a few holes to fill so it took a while to complete, the filler also needs several hours to dry and harden even when assisted with a fan. Excess filler is then polished off using a 17” rotary scrubbing machine fitted with a white polishing pad and any dust is carefully vacuumed up before applying a second coat of sealer. The floor was then allowed to dry before a final polish with a new 3000 grit pad to achieve a high sine finish.

Once the cleaning process was complete and the first coat of sealant had dried I then commenced the repair work by filling all holes throughout using appropriate colours of stone filler resin, the first coat of sealant is to stop the excess resin from being absorbed into the tile and causing staining, the filler is allowed to dry and harden for several hours assisted with a fan on site. Excess filler is then polished off using a 17” rotary scrubbing machine and a white buffing pad. Any dust is carefully vacuumed up before applying a second coat of sealant. This is then allowed to dry before a final polish with a new 3000 grit burnishing pad to achieve a deep sine finish.

Pitted Travertine After Filled Polished Rushden
I’m not sure the photographs really show off the transformation that I had managed to achieve, however my customer was certainly happy and left me the following glowing review via the Tile Doctor feedback system.

My hall and kitchen floor has been down for 12 years and has been a high traffic area. The Tile Doctor has literally made it look like new again. Holes filled, smooth, shiny and new again! My fully tiled bathroom has also been rejuvenated, wall tiles, shower tiles and floor tiles. The water now beads on the tiles like a freshly waxed car, and the walk-in shower has been perfectly resealed. Money very well spent.
Thank you so much! Mr.J. White, Rushden

Pitted Travertine After Filled Polished Rushden
It’s always nice to get feedback like that, it really does make your efforts feel appreciated.

Professional Travertine Tiled Floor Restoration in Northamptonshire

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