We refer to this process as 4+ restoration system of travertine floor because it involves 4 major steps and sometimes few extra ones depending on extra requirements.
As you can see travertine tile floor displays major signs of wear and tear, scratches, dullness, etch marks, and dirty grout which in some places is broken or missing.
We change different grit levels of diamond impregnated pads to remove scratches, etching, dullness, and all other imperfections. We pick up excess water with a wet vacuum system.
After many years of wear and tear the grout of this travertine floor became dirty. We inspect the grout thoroughly. We clean grout lines with the floor machine and by hand using alkaline cleaner. We fix broken and patch missing grout.
Naturally occurring travertine holes
Travertine consists primarily of calcium carbonate. Travertine is naturally formed with numerous holes in its structure. Those naturally occurring holes make travertine a pretty unique stone.
As needed, those travertine holes may be filled or left as is. Usually, travertine tiles are filled during the manufacturing process.
When stone specialists refinish travertine tile floors in almost every instance numerous naturally occurring holes will become exposed.
In this case travertine tile floor needs to be filled with grout throughout the whole surface. Unless there are only few large wholes which got exposed and the rest of the surface is in great shape, then those holes can be filled individually one by one.
In this project we had a case of several large holes being exposed after refinishing. We filled out all the travertine holes with special filler.
FACT: Did you know that the largest building that was ever built primarily of travertine is the Colosseum in Rome, Italy? Talk about longevity of this beautiful stone.
As we approach the final few steps of our project, we use diamond impregnated pads for fine polishing. The pads we use are made with billions of microscopic diamonds. They help us bring travertine floor to a desired gloss finish.
We apply a special natural stone sealer after the restoration process is complete to protect stone’s natural beauty and to prolong the life of travertine tile.
As a result, we have restored travertine tile floor with a beautiful sheen, clean and restored grout, and filled exposed travertine holes throughout all travertine surfaces. The customer is incredibly happy with the result. She mentioned that her floor wasn’t as beautiful even when it was initially installed.
