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This past October I had some travertine tiling done on my outdoor concrete deck that's located on the 3rd floor of my condo.
The tiles are now showing major cracks in them.
There's been very little human activity on the deck (i.e no one's been on it regularly) and there are no heavy objects sitting on the tile.
I'm new to the world of tiling but this does not seem to be at all normal. I'm not sure what to do -- get a second opinion from another expert, contact the original tiler to complain, etc.
Any recommendations / thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Travertine tiles are not generally recommended for outdoor use -- because of its porosity, if not properly sealed it can pull moisture from even the air. That change in moisture, along with temperature cycles, can cause failure.
Was a mortar base used? What is the climate? Is there solar exposure, where it heats up during the day and cools at night? Seems like a bad idea on many levels...
"Take care if using travertine tiles in this way not to use tiles measuring 3/8-inch thickness or thinner. Thinner tiles will need a mortar bed for proper installation and may crack outdoors."
Travertine is a high maintenance material. Your installer should have put a stone sealant on it and use proper mortar.We had travertine installed in our former home's master bath and the installer told us all of what's involved. Personally, I'm not sure if I want to deal with that again.
While travertine TILE is problematic, a properly done full travertine floor is about the most durable floor possible. The Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables FL was made with travertine flooring that extended out into the sidewalk. That stuff was bulletproof. In addition to millions of people over the years, it stood up to supply carts and equipment dollies and metal wheel casters and a host of other insults. Once every few years is got a diamond polishing and a treatment of non-skid, but I never saw any damage or cracking in it.
Most common travertine tile that is used for residential use (interior) is usually about 10mm in thickness. Exterior, large format or paver tiles (for high traffic areas) are usually 20-30mm in thickness. Exterior building cladding is 30mm thick.
There are two different ways to cut travertine- one makes for a substantially stronger tile; however thickness will be the overall winner in an exterior application.
Some additional info based on questions you all asked:
1) Climate. I'm located in San Francisco, so the climate isn't particularly extreme at all for heat / cold. Also, the tiles were also installed in October, which is a cooler month. We've had pretty consistent temps in the mid 50s-60s for the past few months, with a few cold nights.
The tile is located on a roof deck, though, so it does get sun exposure / light exposure during the day.
2) Tile thickness. I'm not sure precisely, but based on the sample tile I have from the installer, the thickness looks to be about 1/2 inch. The bar code on the back of the sample says "Tavas Travertine - made in Turkey".
3) The installer did lay down a membrane on the deck concrete prior to installing the tiles (I saw it during the process). However, I don't believe he used any sealants on the tiles once they were installed.
Pretty clearly this was 10mm type interior travertine tile.
While SF is not Buffalo there is certainly more than enough moisture in the air to result in a porous stone being stressed, coupled with the variation from nighttime to daytime temperature that pretty well doomed this product in this installation.
Even if a proper isolation membrane was used, with the correct curing time before grouting and proper bonding / substrate, an experienced tile-setter / stone mason should have told the home owner that the stone supplied was not a good choice for exterior use. Failure to seal it only hastened the failure...
You MUST seal natural stone due to porosity! We have slate and the previous homeowner didn't seal it. Now we have a permanent stain on one tile and chafing with others. Suffice to say we sealed it now.
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