travertine tile - need to seal?

I have just finished laying a filled travertine floor in my bathroom. The question I have is to seal or not to seal? From what I read in your answers is, NOT. What do I seal the grout with? If I am to seal can I seal the grout and stone all at once the same time? The tile size is 18" X 18".

 

Dear David:

Jeez, man! What's the matter with you??...

You just installed hone and filled travertine, and instead of asking me how to take care of it on a daily basis, which – as it should be intuitive – is vastly more important that the sealing, you only ask about sealing this and sealing that…

As if a sealer for stone could ever offer any protection whatsoever to your stone or your grout!

I mean, do you think that your grout will never get dirty if you seal it? Actually, it will get dirty faster! In fact, since you can't remove the residue of the impregnator from the grout surface before it has a chance to dry, the sticky residue (it will stay sticky for a few months) will attract dirt real quick. Are you concerned about staining?? I mean, are you gonna spill coffee or cooking oil in your bathroom??

This seal-a-mania is really beginning to get to my nerves!

Can't anybody thing with a grain common sense? Do we always have to listen to and get brainwashed by a bunch of salesmen whose only scope is to make a buck out the promise of an illusion masked behind a magic word: sealer?!

Go ahead, seal the entire darn thing if it's gonna make you sleep better! And then clean it with nothing: who needs any cleaning if it's “sealed”?!

 

Sorry for the outburst. But if you read only a fraction of all the over 1100 threads (so far as of Feb 4, 2008) in this Question Board, you will easily realize that this insane “sealing cult” is the topic of the day – every single day!!

And I even make a sealer! Perhaps I should take advantage of this insanity and make money hand over fist like anybody else, instead of spending hour and hours trying to educate consumers!

 

Sorry again. It's on of those days… Lucky you, I reckon… J

 

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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