Travertine Cleaning & Sealing

When cleaning and sealing is enough

Not every tired travertine floor needs to be honed. If the surface is still fairly smooth, the holes are mostly filled, and the main complaints are "it looks dingy" and "spills soak right in," a proper deep clean and a fresh seal can get you most of the way there for a lot less work.

I'll tell you honestly if that's your situation. I'd rather do the smaller job right than sell you the bigger one.

How I do it

• Pre-inspection. I check for etching, open holes, cracked tiles and old coatings. Some floors have a topical wax or "enhancer" on them that has to come off first.
• Deep clean. A stone-safe alkaline cleaner, scrubbed in with the machine and brushes, then extracted. Grout lines get worked separately because that's where dirt really hides.
• Rinse and dry. Stone needs to be dry before sealing. In summer here that's quick. In winter I give it more time.
• Penetrating sealer. A sealer that soaks into the stone instead of sitting on top as a shiny coat. It doesn't change the look much. It just slows down how fast water, oil and coffee get in.
• Aftercare talk. What to mop with, what to avoid, and how to tell when it's time to reseal.

Why sealing matters more here

Our water is hard. When it sits on travertine and evaporates, it leaves minerals behind, in the pores and in the holes. Sealer doesn't make stone waterproof, but it buys you time to wipe things up. I wrote more about that in hard water and stone in Las Vegas.

How long it lasts

It depends on traffic, cleaning products and where the stone is. My rough rule is in how often to seal travertine in Vegas. The water-drop test there is something you can do yourself in ten seconds.

If it needs more

If cleaning reveals a lot of open holes or a dull path that won't come back, the next steps are hole filling and honing.