Travertine is a unique stone famed for its pitted surface that makes each and every tile inimitable. It is this special characteristic which makes it so popular but can create challenges with maintenance. In our latest blog we explore how to clean a travertine floor with ease.
Like with all stone, the best care begins before you need to think about how to clean a travertine floor. A few simple steps will help to keep dirt and dust away from your stone. We recommend installing good quality matting at each entrance to the property. This will trap unwanted debris before it has a chance to find its way to your travertine. Having a ‘shoes off’ policy will also aid this by ensuring that no stones or grit on the bottom of footwear are trailed across the tiles causing scratches in their wake. This will also help to slow the inevitable loosening and disruption of the filler used for the pits. Over time, this does tend to pop out, however the less that you can aggravate it the longer it will stay where it should.
The dry cleaning of your travertine is probably the most important thing that you can do to care for your stone. The pits of the travertine are gluttons for dirt and dust. When these pits gather years of everyday debris, they will give an overall dull look to the floor. To prevent this, we suggest a daily regime of sweeping the floor. This doesn’t need to take long and is certainly quicker than vacuuming. A long-haired Swiffer is perfect to capture all the particles that have landed on the tiles during the day and will only take a few minutes to complete.
When if finally comes to how to clean a travertine floor, if you have followed the above steps then your work should be easy. The key is to remember not to over-wet the floor. Travertine is a porous stone and it is just waiting to suck up and liquid that you leave there for too long. We recommend a Kentucky mop and a lady-bug bucket to wring out as much water as you can. It is essential to regularly change the water to prevent mopping dirt back onto the stone and we suggest starting from the cleanest area. Like with all natural stone, you should use only a pH neutral cleaning product. The label of the bottle should advise if it is ‘stone-safe’. If you have a particularly large area of travertine then it may be worth considering a small domestic scrubber-drier and we can advise on the most suitable when we visit.
Travertine will forever if looked after well. You only need to observe the streets and homes of Italy to witness the durability of this classic stone. If you are looking to maintain perfection, then it is worth considering a professional maintenance visit periodically. The services that we offer will get deep into the pores of the travertine and also include filling of the pits to return the tiles to their original condition at installation. You can find out more about this here or to arrange a quote email jobs@athenastonecare.co.uk
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