B
BernieA
Hi, In the past I've usually done my own tiling on Kitchen and bathroom walls but when I got an extension to my house a couple of years ago I decided to have Travertine tiles in the Kitchen, diner, sun-room, utility room and downstairs loo. It cost me a small fortune to buy the tiles and adhesives and to have them laid but they have been a complete disaster. I've tried in vain to get the tile suppliers involved in putting things right but they have refused, stating that I should have been aware that Travertine is high maintentance and new holes would appear continually. They maintain that their Travertine is 1st quality. I've looked at quite a lot of Travertine floors but never seen any as bad as mine.
I sealed the tiles myself using Stonefix satin tile seal which I believe is acrylic based. I have always cleaned the floor using a neutral cleaners recommended for marble/travertine etc.
My kitchen area looks awful. Around 40% of the tiles have either multiple small holes or else several large holes sized from 0.5 cm to 3 cm across and upto 1.5 cm deep. A kitchen bar stool has worn into the tiles on which it stands as if they were made from polyfilla. The first tile inside every enterance door has cracks in it - I presume this is down to insufficient adhesive at the interfaces. The dining area was floor boarded but covered with 20mm plywood which was screwed around every 4 inches as I recall. Worryingly there are now several places here where cracks have appeared which contnue through several tiles.
As you can imagine, my wife hates the site of it and would like to have it all ripped up. I'm retired now and couldn't afford this option even if I wanted to do it. She is giving me one last chance to try and save it before she brings someone in to cover it in cushionfloor. I haven't dared tell her that it will need covering in leveller or grinding first due to the lipping on some of the tiles.
I've decided to do the repair work myself where possible and will seek the advice of pros and more experienced diyers in Tilers Forum, so look out for my Posts.
I sealed the tiles myself using Stonefix satin tile seal which I believe is acrylic based. I have always cleaned the floor using a neutral cleaners recommended for marble/travertine etc.
My kitchen area looks awful. Around 40% of the tiles have either multiple small holes or else several large holes sized from 0.5 cm to 3 cm across and upto 1.5 cm deep. A kitchen bar stool has worn into the tiles on which it stands as if they were made from polyfilla. The first tile inside every enterance door has cracks in it - I presume this is down to insufficient adhesive at the interfaces. The dining area was floor boarded but covered with 20mm plywood which was screwed around every 4 inches as I recall. Worryingly there are now several places here where cracks have appeared which contnue through several tiles.
As you can imagine, my wife hates the site of it and would like to have it all ripped up. I'm retired now and couldn't afford this option even if I wanted to do it. She is giving me one last chance to try and save it before she brings someone in to cover it in cushionfloor. I haven't dared tell her that it will need covering in leveller or grinding first due to the lipping on some of the tiles.
I've decided to do the repair work myself where possible and will seek the advice of pros and more experienced diyers in Tilers Forum, so look out for my Posts.
