Travertine Polishing

Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovation Wilmslow

Dull Travertine Floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Wilmslow

This client from Wilmslow contacted me regarding their Travertine floor tiles, requesting a deep clean and seal with particular focus on the grout which was very dirty. Sometimes it’s possible to give a quote over the phone with the pictures emailed over but in most cases I’m in the local area anyway so it’s not a problem to pop in, survey the floor and work out an accurate quote.

Travertine Floor Before Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

They had explained on the phone the grout was the biggest problem and I could see it had darkened a lot. The top layer of cementous grout is will trap dirt unless sealed along with the tiles, in fact what tends to happen is the dirt from the tiles is washed into the grout lines during cleaning. The Travertine tiles had lost a lot of their character and generally looked flat and in need of a good clean and polish.

Travertine Floor Before Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

Having taken a good look at the floor I was confident I could achieve a good finish, so I carried out a quick test clean on a small part of the floor to show what was possible. They were delighted with the test result and could now see the potential of the floor. Happy with the quote which included Grout cleaning and stone polishing a date was agreed for my return.

Cleaning and Polishing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

To start I focused on cleaning the grout lines using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean scrubbed into the grout recess by hand to ensure it was as clean as could be. I couldn’t guarantee the grout would come up as well as it did, especially in the kitchen where it can be exposed to deep seated staining, so I had given the client the additional option of using a Grout Colourant. Fortunately, this wasn’t needed and after rinsing off the soil I could see it had responded well to treatment.

To renovate the large Travertine floor, I used a set of Tile Doctor Diamond Encrusted Burnishing Pads. I used the same process on a marble floor I renovated previously in Prestbury. Basically, the pads are applied to the floor using a rotary buffer in sequence from coarse 400-grit through to a fine 1500-grit.

Travertine Floor During Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

The pads are fitted to a rotary machine and run over the floor until each tile has been burnished using only water to help lubricate. The first pad cleans up the stone and removes old sealers, this is then followed with the finer 800-grit, 1500-grit and finally a 3000-grit pad. Apart from the 3000-grit, each pad is applied with water and the floor is rinsed and the soil extracted afterwards with a wet vacuum. By now the floors appearance was already looking so much cleaner.

Travertine Floor During Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

The Travertine and grout need to be dry before the next stage of sealing so once I was done polishing, I left the floor to dry off overnight with assistance from a couple of floor fans.

Travertine Floor During Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

I came back the next day to seal the floor using Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal but before starting the tiles were checked for moisture using a damp meter. The readings were fine, so I started applying the first of two coats of sealer leaving the first to dry before applying the next. Ultra-Seal is natural look impregnating sealant that protects the floor by soaking into the stone and grout occupying the pores and preventing dirt from residing there. The floor came up a treat, with a lovely sheen and really transformed the kitchen.

Travertine Floor After Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

My client was equally happy with their now clean and polished Travertine floor and even commented that they thought it “looked like new floor”.

Travertine Floor After Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

For aftercare cleaning I left them with a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which will help keep the floor clean whilst maintaining the polished patina. Maintenance is key to keeping the floor looking this good.

Travertine Floor After Clean Polish and Seal in Wilmslow

 

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Travertine Floor Tiles Before After Polishing Mottram St Andrew

Large Pitted Travertine Floor Filled and Polished in Mottram St Andrew

This customer lives in the small yet sought after village of Mottram St Andrew near Alderley Edge in East Cheshire. I was asked to do something about the Travertine tiled floors which had become an eye sore due to many black holes and pits that where appearing. This is not an unusual problem for Travertine, it’s a very porous and Acid Sensitive stone so it’s not a good idea to use powerful acidic cleaning products which are quite common in supermarkets. They reduce the life of the sealer and can actually eat into the travertine. Pitting is also a common with this type of stone and easily traps dirt, so we always recommend having the pits filled.

Travertine Floor Before Polishing Mottram St Andrew

I visited the property to survey the floor and re-assured the owner the problems could be resolved, and the floors appearance restored. The floor was installed throughout much of the ground floor and as I suspected the previous sealer had worn down with use and now dirt was becoming ingrained in the pits and pores of the stone making it impossible to keep clean.

Travertine Floor Before Polishing Mottram St Andrew

Cleaning and Burnishing a Large Travertine Floor in Mottram St Andrew

To restore the appearance of the Travertine the tiles would need to be polished using a set of Burnishing Pads that would cut through the dirt and polish the stone. Before starting however, I made sure any exposed woodwork was protected which included removing the kickboards from underneath the kitchen units.

The first pad was a coarse 400 grit which fits onto a rotary machine and is applied to the Travertine tiles with water spread which acts as a lubrication. The pads literally scratch off the dirt and the resultant slurry is then removed with a wet vacuum. The floor is then washed, and the process was repeated with the next two pads which are 800 and 1500 grit, again using water to lubricate (although less than the 400-grit) and rinsing and extracting in between the application of each pad. These higher grit pads are much finer and slowly restore the finish of the stone.

There was a lot of surface area to cover so this process took up the whole of the first day and the floor was then left to dry off overnight.

Polishing and Sealing a large Travertine Floor in Mottram St Andrew

When I came back the next morning, I finished off the burnishing process using the last floor pad in the Burnishing set which is applied dry to the floor with a few squirts of water. This final pad is 3000 grit which is super fine and builds up a high gloss shine on the Travertine, it also leaves the floor dry and ready to be sealed.

Travertine Floor After Polishing Mottram St Andrew

I then sealed the floor using a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the Travertine occupying the pores and preventing dirt from becoming ingrained into the stone. Colour Grow also enhances the natural colours in the stone and in this case, it did a great job of bringing out the brown shades in the Travertine.

Travertine Floor After Polishing Mottram St Andrew Travertine Floor After Polishing Mottram St Andrew

The next step was to fill the holes in the Travertine throughout using appropriate colours of stone filler. The filler is left to dry and harden before the excess is polished off using a white buffing pad. Once done the floor is vacuumed to remove dust before applying another coat of Colour Grow sealer which was allowed to dry before giving the floor a final polish with a new 3000-grit burnishing pad to achieve a deep shine. Given the size of the floor I was able to work in sections, polishing, sealing, filling etc, moving onto the next section as the sealer dried.

Travertine Floor After Polishing Mottram St Andrew

The process made a huge difference to the floor which now looks much lighter and is not spoilt by the dark patches brought about by the pitting.

 

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