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travertine floors and shower wall tile

We have just redone our guest bathroom with travertine tiles on the bathroom floor and shower walls. (tumbled stone on shower floor) My question is what should we seal all of these with and what is a daily cleaner we can use as well? Thanks, Lori
 

Dear Lori:

First off, if the holes of your tumble-finished tiles in the floor of the shower stall have not been thoroughly filled, you must seal those tiles with a good filler for travertine.

Once that is done, about the sealing of all that stone, my question is: Why?

It's never a good thing to seal stone in wet environment to begin with. So why apply any sealer to those tiles? Is there the likelihood that you're going to spill heavy doses of coffee and cooking oil in your shower stall and let them sit there unattended?... I really don't get all this seal-a-mania thing. Do you really think that the Romans ever sealed their public marble bathrooms?

If you like the way your stone looks when it's wet you may want to consider applying a good-quality stone color-enhancer like MB-6, which will give you the “wet-look” (only darker – no sheen) permanently, but that's just about it.

The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – as it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about routine care from your dealer or installer. Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at:   http://www.mbstone.com/HH_promo/helpful_hints.htm, you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay-per-download format in our Educational Literature section at:   http://www.mbstone.com/literature/literature.htm.  

And remember, every single penny of the cost of the literature will be used to support this site and its cause: your cause.

While you are in the “Helpful Hints” section, do spend some time reading all of the interesting FREE articles you'll find in there!

Finally, keep in mind that we need your support to help us helping you!

Will you please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?    

By spreading the word about this valuable site among your friend & family and the stone trades' people you've been dealing with, you will be rendering everybody a valuable service!

Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

www.marblecleaning.org – The only Consumers' Portal to the Stone Industry Establishment!

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