The photographs below are of a scratched Travertine table at a property in the Morley area of Leeds that I was asked to look at. The tabletop had been cleaned but not with the correct neutral cleaners and had some wear and scratches. The result was over time the tabletop lost its shine, and its owner now wondered if it could be cleaned and polished to restore its appearance.
I was confident that the burnishing pads that we use to polish Travertine floors would work equally well on a stone table and fortunately Tile Doctor provides six-inch version of the pads for this situation.
Cleaning a Travertine Table
Before starting I laid down a protective sheet on the floor and created a boundary around the tabletop with protective tape. Water is used in the burnishing process, and I wanted to prevent this from escaping onto the walls and floor.
I tackled the scratches first by applying a coarse 400-grit burnishing pad attached to a hand-held buffer. Water is used to help lubricate the process and once the pad had been applied to the whole table the soiling generated was sponged off the surface. I then inspected the scratches and where needed polished them out further using coarser hand-held burnishing blocks.
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Next, I started the process of rebuilding the polish on the table by applying the finer six-inch burnishing pads in sequence starting with 800 then 1500-grit. Each pad was applied with water and then the soiling sponged off afterwards as before. To finish the polishing a very fine 3000-grit pad was applied using a little water to achieve a spray burnish.
Sealing a Travertine Table
This last pad leaves the Travertine dry so it wasn’t long before I could move onto the last step and applying a protective sealer to the table. Having walked through the different sealers and finishes with the client earlier we had chosen Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal to seal the table which is an impregnator that doesn’t alter the appearance of the stone and leaves a very natural finish.
Impregnating sealers work by soaking into the pores of the table preventing dirt from residing there and thereby protecting it from within. This ensures dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.
Once the sealer had dried the work was complete and the beautiful, polished appearance of the Travertine table had been restored. My client was very pleased with the result and left the following feedback:
For the aftercare of sealed and polished stone table and countertops we recommend the use of Tile Doctor Stone Patina Spray. This is a specially designed spray and buff cleaner that helps maintains the patina on the stone without impacting the sealer.
Source: Travertine Table top Polishing Service near Morley Leeds
Serving Leeds and the surrounding area Chris Allen is your local Tile, Stone and Grout maintenance expert. Additionally he is an agent of Tile Doctor, the largest professional Tile, Stone and Grout restorative cleaning network in the UK. Tile Doctor has developed products and techniques to handle a multitude of issues surrounding tile, stone and grout, interior, exterior, domestic or commercial.