We bought a home with travertine marble floors throughout the entire first floor. In the kitchen it appears that the fill is gone and dirt has collected in the holes. What is the best way to clean the floors and grout so it appears more like the floors in the areas that have less traffic?

 

Dear Sara:

If it were only for the stone and the grout, I would give you advice on how to do it yourself. But the dirt in the holes is a problem that's beyond regular cleaning utensils. I would suggest that the first time around you hire a company specializing in tile and grout cleaning. They have the right equipment to extract the dirt from deep inside the holes. Once the floor is cleaned, you can proceed to do the filling of the holes, if the company does not offer such type of service. If they won't, let me know and I will give you directions on how to do the right filling in an easy way.

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 .  

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Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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