We recently renovated a Travertine tiled floor in the Kitchen of a rental property in Mile End, which is part of the Tower Hamlets borough of East London. My client was the Landlord and unfortunately the previous tenants had not maintained the Travertine floor very well. The grout was filthy, and the tiles were ingrained with dirt and had lost their shine which made for a very unattractive floor that was likely to put off a potential new tenant.
The stone floor was an expensive addition for my client who was concerned about the state of the tiles and of course worried that it would be difficult to find a new tenant with the floor in that condition. Naturally she wanted to have the Travertine tiles renovated as soon as possible so she could get it back on the market.
To keep a stone floor in good condition it’s important to maintain the sealer as once it degrades dirt becomes ingrained in the pores and it becomes difficult to keep clean. I was confident the floor could be restored and having agreed my quote I was able to complete the work the same week.
Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor
I went over to the property and immediately set about deep cleaning and rebuilding the polish on the Travertine tiles using a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads. I started with a 400-grit pad, followed by the 800-grit and then the 1500-grit. Each pad was applied to the tiles with water to lubricate the process rinsing and extracting the soil after each pad.
Next, I turned my attention to the dirty grout lines which I treated with a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to dwell on the grout lines for a few minutes before being scrubbed in by hand. This was then rinsed off with water and again extracted with a wet vacuum.
Normally I would take two days to work on a floor like this, one day to clean and one day to seal however it wasn’t a large floor so I used a number of high powered fans to force dry the floor so I would be able to apply the sealer later that day.
Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor
Once the floor was dry, I then spray burnished the floor with a 3000-grit pad which further brought up the polished appearance of the Travertine, the last burnishing pad is applied dry with only a little water which is sprayed onto the floor as you polish.
After testing the floor for moisture using the moisture meter, I was happy it was dry, so I proceeded to apply two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer. Tile Doctor Colour Grow is is a penetrating colour intensifying sealer that enhances the natural brown and cream colours in the Travertine whilst providing durable protection. Once the sealer had dried the floor looked great and had once again become a real asset to the property.
It was dark outside by the time I had finished so apologies for the after photo, however I think you will agree the floor looks much healthier. Certainly, my customer was delighted to have the floor back to its former glory and with the floor looking like new it should achieve a good rent.
For the regular cleaning of polished stone tiles we recommend using a specialist cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Stone Soap which helps maintain the patina. Avoid the use of steam cleaners and if you wish to use another product please read the label in detail first, most supermarket tile cleaners are too strong and can prematurely erode the sealer.