Travertine Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Travertine tiles carried out in Bedfordshire

Cleaning and Polishing Travertine tiles

Travertine is a natural material that has unique features and colouring that no other stone can offer. The distinctive look of Travertine creates some of the most distinguished floor tiles and has proved very popular with commercial and residential use. It can be used for floor tile, kitchen flooring, bathroom walls and floors, and it is often used externally. There are many varieties such as Tumbled and Polished and like all natural stone it needs to be sealed to prevent dirt becoming trapped in the pores. Unlike other stones however Travertine does suffer from pitting however these holes can be filled.

One of the main issues with polished Travertine is the polish starts to wear down with use and eventually becomes dull. Another issue we see is acid etching where strong unsuitable cleaning products used on the stone etch the surface and ruin its appearance. To resolve both these problems the stone needs to be re-polished with diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits to hone the stone and bring back that deep shine. If this sounds familiar you should talk to us about our annual maintenance program where we visit you once a year to clean, polish and seal your floor thus keeping it in top condition.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.


Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Before After Cleaning Clophill Village

Badly Stained and Pitted Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Clophill

Travertine floor tiles are very appealing but without the protection of a sealer they will soon suffer, fortunately this can be remedied as demonstrated in these pictures of a Tumbled Travertine floor at a house in the Village of Clophill in the Flit River Valley South of Bedford.

This customer had called me out as her ten year old floor was looking very sorry for itself and she was concerned that a lot of holes were appearing which was making cleaning of the floor difficult as dirt was getting trapped in the holes. I went over and carried out a test clean on two separate tiles in the kitchen and the customer was amazed at how clean they came up and especially the grout. An appointment was made for the next month and work commenced.

Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Clophill Village

Cleaning a stained Tumbled Travertine tiled floor

The first thing we do is to protect the lovely Oak kitchen units by removing plinths, covering base units and appliances with a protective film. We then commenced work by burnishing the stone with a set of Tile Doctor Diamond encrusted burnishing pads. The pads are applied individually to each tile in sequence starting with a coarse pad and finishing with the fine pad which brings up the polish. A little waster is used to lubricate the process along the way and the floor is rinsed in-between each pad with the resulting residue extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum. The process takes quite some time but the results are well worth the effort.

Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Clophill Village Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Clophill Village

Once this was done our attention was turned to the grout which being recessed is difficult to reach by with pads. So for the grout a medium dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean is applied to the grout lines and scrubbed in with stiff brushes by hand.

The floor was rinsed again and fans were used to assist drying before filling the holes with the same filler the customer had used previously to match the colour of the stone as much as possible.

Sealing a Travertine tiled floor

When we returned the next day the floor had dried and we were able to give the floor a final polish with a very fine burnishing pad. The floor was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which provides excellent protection without changing the colour of the stone to provide a natural look.

Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Clophill Village
My customer was delighted with the results and kindly left the following testimonial on the Tile Doctor Feedback system.

“We had several rooms of very dirty travertine tiles that were deep cleaned, filled and re sealed. The floor now looks amazing. Fantastic job by a professional and friendly team.”

Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Clophill Village Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Clophill Village

 

Stained and Pitted Travertine Kitchen Floor Restoration in Bedfordshire

Badly Stained and Pitted Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Clophill Read More »

Travertine Tiles Before After Cleaning at Cranfield University

Deep Cleaning Dirty Travertine Tiles at Cranfield University Hotel

This rather dirty Travertine tiled floor is located in the reception area of the hotel and conference centre of the Cranfield University, apparently the tiles had been laid ten years prior and had not been properly cleaned and resealed since.

Cleaning Tumbled Travertine Tiles

Before starting we covered all the area around the floor with masking tape and plastic sheeting to protect it from any splashing which can happen when you’re using high speed floor machines.

The tiles were in need of a good deep clean so a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied to the floor and left to soak into the tile for twenty minutes before being scrubbed in with a using a rotary machine fitted with a scrubbing pad. The soiled solution was rinsed off using clean water and extracted using a wet vacuum repeating the process until you could see the improvement in the floor. A stiff hand brush was also used along the grout lines with more Pro-Clean to get them clean.

Travertine Tiles Before Cleaning at Cranfield University Travertine Tiles After Cleaning at Cranfield University

Burnishing Travertine Tiles

To restore the shine back to the travertine we used a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads starting with a coarse pad and a little water fitted to a heavy rotary machine, the coarse pad strips off any remaining dirt and seal from the floor, the resulting slurry was then removed using a wet vacuum.

Once finished with the course pad we moved on to the medium and fine pads again with a little water until the floor was polished. The final “Very Fine” pad brings up the polish on the floor and buffs it to a nice shine.

Sealing Travertine Tiles

Last step was to seal the tiles which would prevent any dirt getting trapped in the pores making it easy to clean and ensuring it keeps it appearance for longer. For this we used two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which as well as sealing the tiles works to bring out the natural colours in the stone.

The customer was very happy with the results and commented that they thought the transformation was amazing.

Cleaning Dirty Tumbled Travertine Tiles in Middlesex

Deep Cleaning Dirty Travertine Tiles at Cranfield University Hotel Read More »

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Bedfordshire Tile Doctor

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