Travertine tidy up - Tile Advice

[surflaur]

Just spent all day at a customers house trying to spruce up her travertine floor.

The tiles were layed on a suspended floor which was apparently made sound but some of the tiles have hairline cracks in them. Some of the tiles have also had the filled part come out and as a result have gone black inside due to dirt. I had one spare tile so i replace the worst one.

I have stripped back the the floor with FILA Stone Stripper, which took me about 5 hours scrubbing and cleaning. I am going back Tomorrow to apply 2 or 3 coats of HG Matt impregnator and fill in the holes with some Mapei epoxy filler (jasmin).

I have never cleaned up a Travertine floor before, is this the right way to do it? Also how do I know if all the old sealant/wax has been removed?:huh2:

 

[TilingLogistics]

Hello I do not know what state the Travertine was in when you first saw it but the description of what you have done is a little vague.

From what I read and understand from your post you have used a stripper to presumably try and remove the existing sealer. The first question I have is how many M2 are we talking about? Next when you stripped the floor what did you clean it with and more importantly how did you clean it?

The last thing that needs to be done is to reseal the floor and it certainly should not be sealed until it is completely dry or you will cause all sorts of problems.

Let me have some more info and I will talk you through it

Kev

 

[aflemi]

Apologies for jumping on this, I posted this question below on 'General' earlier today then saw this sub sector and the question above is very relevant.
Perhaps someone else can also offer their opinion on my post below:

"I laid 40sqm of honed travertine 400mm sq in my kitchen about 15-18 months ago. I sealed them with 3 coats lithofin, 1 before grouting, 2 after.
There are some minor cracks, holes appearing but nothing drastic, I'll deal with them eventually, when I have time.
However, general stains have started to become more difficult to wipe off properly. After spending so much time laying the floor, I am anal about it being kept clean. The last straw was on Sat night the wife managed to spray lemonade EVERYWHERE.
We immediately wiped it all clean, but the splash marks from the lemonade are clearly visible, despite the fact we could not have acted quicker.
I am thinking I have not re-sealed the floor often enough i.e. never, which I am mad about, but I need to do something about the marks, before re-sealing. What product is best for removing general kitchen stains?

I would say to anyone considering travertine for a kitchen floor, it is the most impractical material I have ever come across, our kitchen is really lightly used but the maintainence required to keep it clean is way out of proportion... never again...."

Do I take it that I should strip any existing sealer off then clean with seperate product, then re-seal? The stains are all light domestic household, splashes of lemonade are worst, most are light, water drops etc as tea and coffee gets wiped up immediately...
Thanks for help..

 

[enduro]

You need to get a good stone cleaning product, either Aqua mix stone deep cleaner you will need to clean a couple of metres at a time, follow the instruction, let the cleaner dwell on the stone for about 15 mins and do not let it dry out, wet vac it up and continue until you have done the whole floor, then wash it with clean water to remove all of the cleaner, then decide if it wants anymore sealant.

 

[DHTiling]

Which lithofin sealer did you use..?

 

[aflemi]

Dave, MN Stainstop.

 

[aflemi]

You need to get a good stone cleaning product, either Aqua mix stone deep cleaner you will need to clean a couple of metres at a time, follow the instruction, let the cleaner dwell on the stone for about 15 mins and do not let it dry out, wet vac it up and continue until you have done the whole floor, then wash it with clean water to remove all of the cleaner, then decide if it wants anymore sealant.

Tx Enduro, sounds good but what exactly do you mean by 'wet-vac'? That sounds like an industrial cleaning machine I definitely don't have in the broom cupboard.....

 

[enduro]

Tx Enduro, sounds good but what exactly do you mean by 'wet-vac'? That sounds like an industrial cleaning machine I definitely don't have in the broom cupboard.....

Its a vacuum for sucking up water, they are not alot of money to buy, but a good investment for anybody with a stone floor, as when you wash your floor it fill collect all the dirty water from grout lines and stone. The biggest problem with stone is the cleaning, get a good stone cleaner, mop the floor, the suck it up, really quick and you will be amazed how dirty the water will be, and that normally would dry on your stone.

 

[aflemi]

Ok I think I know what you mean. We have a steam cleaner which gathers the dirt on a washable pad maybe 200 x 300. Would that be any good, or do I not want to add any more moisture to it?
Thinking about that, would it be too intense for general cleaning, do you think the steam would remove the sealer as well as any dirt on top??

 

[aflemi]

Which lithofin sealer did you use..?

Any place better than others for Lithofin, I have no CTD near me, probably look online....? Cheers:smilewinkgrin:

 

[aflemi]

Any large store stock lithofin, like Tile Giant, B+Q? I know Topps only sell Fila products.... Where do other people buy theirs?
Thanks.

 

[MakenaTile]

With stains and popping out filler-you got ground in dirt and old sealer that will prevent new sealer from working right. Sounds like you need a fresh start with this tile- This is how I refinish travertine-

Strip with stripper

scrub grout joints and tile surface with a stiff hand brush using lots of hot water
with a little dish soap in it to help degrease everything. Remove bulk of water by dragging a bath towel over it- ringing out collected water into a bucket- Then - while its still damp-

Wet sand whole floor with 400 grit wet sand paper wrapped around a firm square sponge. (sold in auto parts stores for wet sanding cars/painting prep) Comes in typing paper size sheets for about a dollar per sheet- a kitchen floor will use maybe 4 sheets. (Wear soft type knee pads or a folded towel or you'll get sore knees) Have a bucket of water with some dish soap in it- this time to make it slippery- sand one tile at a time- in a puddle of water- so it slides easily- press down evenly- but not firmly- paper should feel like its gliding on tile- sand in overlapping dinner plate size circles- go over each tile 3 times. Do like 4 tiles at a time- then mop up the dirty water with the bath towel. NOTE* first buy one sheet of 400 and one of 600 grit- go home and TEST clean trying with the 600 and the 400 in a hidden area. Once its dry- observe results. 400 can leave scratches if you press too hard or don't sand an area evenly enough- 600 may not do enough. You'll get a feel for it real quickly.

Rinse whole floor with clean water using a hand towel dripping with water- mop up water with same towel- dry whole floor with clean bath towel. Leave it for at least 4 hours to really dry out- a day is better- Fill all holes. Then seal with commercial grade sealer- one with a 10+ year guarantee on it.

You may want to add a commercial clear coat over it- knowing you want it to be easy to clean. Its made to coat every type of floor surface (except for polished marble and shiny glazed ceramic) Mop on 2 coats- $17 bucks a gallon- GREAT results. It's what they use on all the floors in shopping malls, resorts.

Or rent a floor polishing machine with the red pad on it- use with plenty water.
__________________________

I've been a tile contractor for 7 years- specializing in installing large travertine tile. I
also specialize in "fixing" bad travertine tile jobs- reducing lippage, refinishing surfaces, color correction. I've been a carved stone mural maker for 4 years- meaning: I have lots of wet sanding experience.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

 

[aflemi]

makena tile, thanks very much fior taking the time to help. To be honest I would prefer not to use chemicals if I can avoid it, so will follow your advice on a small area to test. Can I clarify a couple of things though?
When you say 'dish soap' do you mean plain household dishwashing detergent? it seems too simple (and cheap) to be true.....
Also I have minor cracks and as you say, holes to fill. What would be best to do that with, colour matched flexible grout?
I intend to use Lithofin MN Stainstop

Lithofin MN Stain Stop TILESTOP

to seal after, would you agree that is good?
The tiles are honed+filled travertine, sounds like you have excellent experience with them.....
Excellent gallery by the way, very impressive................

 

[MakenaTile]

Simple Green cleaner- if you can get it- removes a lot of solvent base sealers- (notably "511" sealer) mix a bucket of it- soak floor for half an hour- or while your sanding. Since its honed- try 600 grit first. The dish washing soap is added to the water for sanding just to make it slippery... and it degreases. So will simple green. Ask the guys here about type of grout- we have a new water clean up epoxy grout here thats good- For normal water mix powder grout: use unsanded color matched grout with liquid laytex additive added for cracks. sanded grout to fill holes- mix thick and add latex.

I recommend sealing for cleaning purposes and to lock in the added grout. A glazing topcoat type to ease cleaning for you. Not what I'd use on most floors- but in your case it makes sense.

 

[Dan]

Just bumping some threads related to cleaning travertine. Not all threads will be current discussion but if you would like to reply with some information, go ahead, it may be valuable to somebody in the future. Tile Cleaning and Tile Restoration Forum