Cleaning Travertine from grout film

Dear Colin:

“We have removed the sealer ”

What sealer? And how did you remove it? I mean, it is not certainly easy to remove sealers for stone. And if you used the wrong chemicals you may have etched the stone surface to the point that it may still look as if there's a film.

Sure enough, no pH neutral cleaner could ever remove any grout film, no matter what the label of the bottle says. To remove grout film you need a heavy-duty alkaline cleaner with chelates in its formula, like MB-3.

But, once again, you have to make sure that you're dealing with actual grout film and not something else as noted above.

Now remember, it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. 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!