We were called out to a property in Paddock Wood to look at renovating a large Travertine tiled floor. Travertine floors, if finished correctly, can look as good as its Marble counterpart however with it being a being a much softer material you will find the factory finish dulls rapidly.
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The polish had certainly worn off in this case and the floor also had many unsightly cracks that needed rectifying. There can be many reasons for cracking including poorly laid tiles and, on this occasion, I suspect it due to the constant expansion and contraction of the based due to under floor heating.
It had been a while since the floor had been professionally maintained and it was now looking very tired and unloved, after all as we say your floor is as much a piece of furniture as your beloved chesterfield sofa! After taking all the problems into account I worked out a thorough restoration plan and provided a quote for doing the work. Happy to accept a date was scheduled to do the work.
Deep Cleaning and Polishing Travertine Tile
The first step was to give the Travertine and adjacent grout a good scrub with Tile Doctor Remove and Go. The product is diluted with water, sprayed on the tile, let to soak in for ten minutes and then scrubbed in with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine. To remove the soiled solution and get an extra deep clean I use a high-pressure system that if built into my van. It applies water to the floor at high pressure and extracts the soil to a waste tank in the van which has the added advantage of leaving it reasonably dry.
To restore the appearance to stone floors such a Travertine and Limestone they have to be cut back and polished with diamond encrusted burnishing pads of various grits. It’s a similar process that you use on wood where you start with coarse sandpaper first and moving on to a finer grade towards the end.
Tile Doctor have developed several burnishing pads for this which start with a coarse red 400-grit pad applied with a little water to help lubricate. The coarse pad cleans the tiles and removes any topical sealers, scratches, and deeply ingrained dirt. Next comes the white then yellow pad which are a finer grade again applied using nothing but a little water. I use the high-pressure extraction system mentioned earlier after each pad to remove the soil that is generated. The last pad is a 3000-grit green polishing pad, and this really brings up the surface shine, this pad is applied using a little water sprayed onto the tile.
Filling Cracks in Travertine Tile
To deal with the cracks I use an epoxy resin putty which can be colour matched to the floor tile. I use a special colour matching card for this that gives you the exact formula you need to recreate the required colour and tone.
After removing any loose particles from the crack, the paint is then mixed in with the resin using the specified proportions and the crack filled with the resin. Using this system, I can get a very close colour match and once the floor has been finished the crack becomes unnoticeable.
Achieving a Durable Seal on Travertine Tiles
The next step was to further polish the floor using a white pad and Tile Doctor Shine Powder crystals. The crystals add a deep shine and durable protective surface. We use a rotary buffer as before to do this but run I over the floor at a slow speed.
Last step was to seal the Travertine by applying a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is an impregnating sealer that seeps into the stone occupying the pores and thereby protecting it from ingrained dirt from within. Ultra-Seal is a colourless sealer that is almost invisible leaving the stone in its most natural state.
Finally, I ran over the floor using a fresh white buffing pad to remove any excess sealer and buff the polish up on the stone.
With clean grout lines, invisible cracks, and deep polish the floor transformation was complete. My client was overwhelmed with the result and his and many other satisfied clients have left their reviews of our work and can be seen here https://south-kent.tiledoctor.biz/customer-testimonials/
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For the aftercare of a polished stone floor, I recommended Tile Doctor Stone Soap, its designed for cleaning polished stone tiles and will help maintain the patina and existing sealer. Additionally, it’s PH Neutral formula is environmentally friendly containing no acids, alkalis, or bleaches.
Source: Travertine Renovation and Polishing Service in Paddock Wood, Kent
Covering South Kent including Paddock Wood, Michael Conlon is your local Stone, Grout and Tile renovation expert. Michael is also 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.