problems with travertine

[thompa]

hi guys,new to this forum and would love some advice.about 6 weeks ago i tiled a floor in a beauty salon/hairdressers.got a phone call to say few little holes had started to appear. had a look at tiles and holes look like the size of a penny and there are quite a few gouge marks. rang a few locol suppliers and all of them have said this is due to womens high heels and they would not have recommended travertine due to the high amount of people walking on it and the fact that this is a soft stone.has anyone else had any problems or can anyone offer advice. cheers.

 

[DHTiling]

Did you back skim the tiles by any chance....?.....and yes travertine doesn't like high heels.....

 

[thompa]

no i didn't back skim the tiles.would this have made a difference?

 

[DHTiling]

By back skimming the tiles , this fills in all the holes and imperfections on the back making them more solid.....maybe the heels have gone through a soft spot......

A quick fix now , would be just to grout the holes in with a similar coloured grout....

 

[CJ]

Not the best stone as mentioned for high heels and heavy trafic.

Got the same in my kitchen/dining room, and I do have to grout up the occasional dimple..........part and parcel of it really

 

[wetdec]

Hi m8 welcome


Inorder to see what is going on here you have to understand how travertine works.

Travertine is sedimentry limestone so is basicaly made up of layer upon layer of sediment like shells etc and small grains built up as water bubbles through it and is consolidated under the weight of the layers, the way its formed leaves it porous.

When travertine is cut its first chopped into blocks then sheets from which the tiles are cut. Now think of cheese like Gouda full of holes. As its sliced you cut across the holes which are evident untill you come to the end of a hole. When this happens you can have a thin piece in the middle of your slice which looks ok but isnt as thick as the rest. Ok now back to travertine. The travertine is sliced into slabs and the surface holes filled with a compound before it is honed smooth. When you pick up the slab it looks cool BUT remember the cheese there may be areas where the Travertine has been cut through the end of a hole. You have a weak spot.

A propotion of trav is good quality and the tiles are heavy but far too much is light and not very dense. It is the lighter cheaper trav which shows this problem most often.

To combat this you can do 2 things 1st you buy cheap you get cheap so buy quality travertine 2nd always butter the back of the tiles filling any voids when you are fixing


Easy isnt it


tiler


..

 

[Pawelzik]

Not the best stone as mentioned for high heels and heavy trafic.
Got the same in my kitchen/dining room, and I do have to grout up the occasional dimple..........part and parcel of it really

Agreed, not the best stone for heavy loads like high heels. CJ, what have you used for filling the holes?

 

[wetdec]

Not the best stone as mentioned for high heels and heavy trafic.

Sorry can't agree with this statement I have this material in heavy traffic foyers the fact is you get what you pay for.

Everyone wants a travertine floor for £20 a m2 so the idiots out to make a buck have replied with 16/18/20 m2 crap . (Buy a car in a lay by or an auction then you consent to taking the chance)

Travertine is the new slate its really quite straight forward.

By its very nature Trav is porous so the idiots who sell and fix it rubbing their hands at the money are a huge part of this problem


tiler


..

 

[White Room]

A hairdressers with all thoughs dyes and gels, Hope you gave it plenty of sealer.

 

[wetdec]

A hairdressers with all thoughs dyes and gels, Hope you gave it plenty of sealer.

Now thats to be agreed with


tiler

 

[CJ]

My Travertine was unfilled, chiselled edged............swiss cheese for floors.

Looks good, but ocassionally a little grout needs to be knocked up. (dimple or hole that has appeared)

 

[wetdec]

My Travertine was unfilled, chiselled edged............swiss cheese for floors.

Looks good, but ocassionally a little grout needs to be knocked up. (dimple or hole that has appeared)

Unfilled travertine is usially a better quality stone than honed travertine. As a rule you will see far more movement and veigning in unfilled as opposed to filled because it has to be a better cut.

Providing Unfilled is allowed to dry thouoghly before you grout with a quallity stone grout like ultracolor and then to dry again before sealing it will give you a far better floor.


tiler

..

 

[johndoboy]

Hi Chaps,
got my first big travertine job in a fortnight after being in the business 18 months. Any good advice on cutting, sealing and grouting the stuff? Many thanks Tiletech Interiors Wirral

 

[burncross]

after some of the problems with travertine floor tiles i've heard recently on here, from indepdent tile stores, and other fixers, i'd advise the customer to think again about choosing travertine!

 

[thompa]

many thanks for all your advice and thoughts guys. as there are only 5 tiles out of possibly 100 i am goig to lift these and re lay new ones. i agree that thse should have been back buttered which would of helped with any soft spots. in hindsight i think i would have advised the owners of the salon to steer clear from travertine and maybe opt for porcelain. anyway have learned quite a lot off your answers to my problem and would like to thank you all.cheers thompa