Is Travertine in the kitchen a good idea?

After looking for 4 months, my husband and I have decided to have Travertine, honed and filled, installed in the kitchen with a dime-width grout line. The stone has been delivered and we are three weeks away from the renovation. Today, while shopping for a marble we agree on for the bathroom project, the dealer told us to stay away from Travertine as it is a "disaster" to keep clean. I love the aged irregular patterns of the stone. Was he right? Do we need to pick something else out? I really love the look of this stone, but I do not want a high-maintenance nightmare. Please advise. Thanks in advance, Cindy Keeney

 

Dear Cindy:

“ the dealer told us to stay away from Travertine as it is a "disaster" to keep clean. Was he right? ”

No, he is not right: he's plain ignorant (specifically, that is).

If cared for properly – which is no biggie – honed and filled travertine is a wonderful material for your project, providing that you don't get obsessed with every little “incident” that it will happen to it as it “ages” and takes on its final look – which, depending on the traffic – could be a few years down the road.

Just learn how to take good care of it, which may include the application of a good-quality impregnating sealer like MB-4.

However, always remember that what you'll be using for the care of your stone on a daily basis is vastly more important than the sealing.

And the same thing applies to the marble in your bathroom, with the main difference being that you can't seal that one.

By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/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.marblecleaning.org/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 z io Bertoli

 

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