How to Care for Travertine Tile

Travertine tile is a beautiful choice for kitchen and bathroom tile, and it can be used anywhere else in a house. Travertine is a natural stone available in a wide range of patterns and colors. There is a travertine variety to go with most any indoor color scheme, but this type of flooring does require some special care to keep it from sustaining damage.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tile sealant
• Epoxy resin or grout

1. Ask the tile installer if they routinely seal the tile they install. Seal your travertine as soon as it is installed if the installer does not. Buy any commercially available tile sealant and follow the manufacturer's directions.

2. Reseal the tile any time a tile begins to show wear. Once a year will usually suffice, unless the travertine is in a high-traffic area.

3. Notice any swirls that appear in the surface of the tile. Reseal uneven tile sealer, if this is what is causing the swirls. Have the surface of swirled tiles honed if poorly cut areas are causing the swirls.

4. Coat tiles affected with swirls with a pigmented epoxy that matches the tile color. Use a pigmented tile filler if the swirls are harder to fix.

5. Watch for holes appearing in your travertine, since all travertine tiles start with holes that are filled in before they are delivered. Refill each hole as it reappears. Fill each hole with an epoxy resin, a tile filler or grout before it gets larger, which will make the hole more difficult to fix. Match the color of the filler to make the holes less obvious.

6. Seal the filled areas.

[ashley1]

on 7/31/2008 hi. i have travertine on my kitchen floor and window sills.after it was layed it was sealed well. i put a washing up liquid bottle on the window sill and it has left a stain. i bought a bottle of Fila stone stain remover but it hasn't had any effect. any suggestions?