[airics]

A couple of questions.... i have alot of Travertine tile in my home (approx 850 sf on 1st floor/ 600ish on 2nd / and then about 100 on 3rd).. The travertine on the first floor is extremely dull and has ALOT of pits in the natural stone... I had a company come out and give me an estimate to clean, polish, repair, and then crystalize the 1st floor travertine.. the guy swears its going to look like marble.. .cost $1450, 2 day job... problem is that i don't trust repair people in Vegas.. when i bought the house 2yrs ago, i spent $800 on the 1st floor to have it cleaned and repaired... a week later, it was dull again.... 6mos later all the pits that were repaired became pits again...

I think for around 3500., i could have the tile ripped up and replaced (not with travertine.. heck no.. never again)

what would you do...?

[Exaday]

I have a lot in my house as well. That's curious that yours is dulling so quickly. What are you using to clean it?

I got that shark steam cleaner for mine and it really works well.

Anyhow, "The professionals" are hardly rocket scientist or anything. I would teach myself how to do it. You're at least as smart as the pro's so you could likely do just as good a job. In fact I think I tend to do a better job because I care more about it than some guy working for a company.

I used this website to teach me some things.

How to Polish Travertine Tile | DoItYourself.com

All the tools can be rented at home depot.

[airics]

i tried the shark also (vacuum & steamer combined) and did not like the results... is yours shiny like marble? would love to see a pic.

[Exaday]

Originally Posted by airics

i tried the shark also (vacuum & steamer combined) and did not like the results... is yours shiny like marble? would love to see a pic.

No mine is not that shiny.

It is my understanding that Travertine being more porous and soft does not get as shiny as marble and holds a shine for a shorter period.

It is my understanding that travertine can never be as shiny as marble.

Also the way the stone was finished matters a great deal in how shiny it could be. You can refinish stone but meh.

short answer:
It will only get as shiny as the finished surface will allow, but never as shiny as marble.

[olecapt]

We have limestone floors in our wear areas..about 1000SF. Ours however are a matt finish. We need to have them cleaned up and resealed about every three years at cost of about $600. They restore almost perfectly...in fact a lot of the work is renewing the grouting which holds up less well than the stone.

We have a pretty good cleaner fixer if you want another quote.

[SHEPNYC]

We have travertine and we were told never to crystallize, it ruins the stone.

We had ours honed, polished and sealed and it shines like marble.

Travertine treatment and maintenance - Feature Articles - Stone World


A further maintenance treatment is crystallization, using a special crystallizing product.

This treatment is used in cases in which the mirror finish of the travertine is moderately damaged and the user wishes to avoid waxing or repolishing it. Crystallization attacks the already damaged surface to a greater or lesser degree according to the acid used in the crystallizing agent, followed by a partial repolishing with a wire wool disk added to the weight of the professional polisher. When the damage is significant, however, we recommend repolishing the floor mechanically in the traditional manner.

There is also special maintenance, which falls outside of the normal routine care schedule. Two of these operations have already been mentioned, crystallization and dewaxing. There is also a third procedure: stain removal.

A polished travertine surface can be stained in a variety of ways, especially if not treated. Note that in many instances -- as with marble and polished limestone in general -- these defects will not be penetrating stains, but rather surface opacity, which looks like a stain at first glance. This can happen when an acidic liquid is spilled onto the limestone surface: coffee, wine, ketchup, tea, beer, soft drinks, lemon juice, etc. In general, this covers the majority of food stains.

In such cases, there is an aggressive chemical reaction with the surface; the staining agent dissolves the salt constituting the mirror surface and renders it opaque. Normal protective agents can slow down and hold back this reaction, but they cannot fully prevent it. Only by creating a significant surface layer can the material be protected against stains of this type, but such a protective layer would destroy the natural aspect of the surface, and this is not generally an attractive option. A surface which has been damaged in this way can be partially restored with crystallization or using a polish. Other typical stains are those due to grease or oil, which can be completely removed using a stain remover spray or with poultice.

[4boyz4jim]

While I understand that travertine is beautiful, but it can be a pain in the butt for all the reasons mentioned here.
I have done ceramic tile, with a pattern of travertine, aka travertine knock off... and my floors are no problem.
although with some of the sealants that have been mentioned here, be sure to ask about the slippery factor when complete.

[Exaday]

Interesting since polished honed stone can not be sealed :P

I do mine myself and it looks fine. To be fair though I am a finisher. I do the high end stuff; bars, hotel rooms, that sort of thing. Cosmo was my last project. I only do the wood though.

A professional could do a better job then me but they charge too much. I use a hand polisher for tight corner btw.

I have close to 2000 sq feet of the stone.

[Exaday]

I will also add that because this is such a down time for the construction industry, there are lot's of tradesmen doing side work at near or even below cost. Craigslist or whatever other sites are out there will likely have some people looking for work. Or even the classifieds would I suppose.

[dynimagelv]

AIR....drop a word to one of the Engineers....most of them do side jobs at a good rate.