I installed honed travertine floors in my hours about 8 months ago. we sealed it. We clean it weekly with water and vinegar. I noticed several spots that look like water splatter appear on different areas of the house. I dont have any chemicals in my house. the cleaning lady that I have points out to me and assures me that all she uses is vinegar and water to clean and I believer her. the spots are driving me crazy because they are appearing all over the house. I dont know what could be causing them and how I can get rid of them. Please help.

 

Dear Samar:

Oh my! After so many years we're still at the water & vinegar thing?

I thought that by now it went “out of fashion” after all the damages it made. I guess not…

Travertine is a calcareous rock, which means that is mainly made of calcite.

Calcite cannot be touched with any acid. Any acid that will get in contact with travertine will corrode (etch) it. Vinegar is highly acidic (acetic acid) and the systematic use of it to “clean” your floor (IMO, vinegar is not even a cleaner and only belongs in the salad bowl) created those permanent damages that you see and look like “dirty water marks”. No sealer for stone on planet Earth could ever do the first thing to prevent acid from corroding the stone.

What to do now?

Nothing in a bottle can fix those etch-marks.

Your only option is to hire a reputable stone restoration contractor that will have to re-hone your floor using a good quality honing powder. Be ready to spend some good money… L Reputable stone restoration contractors are few and far between and the good ones don't come cheap. And, believe you me, you do NOT want a cheap contractor on your floor! Stone restoration is the pinnacle of all stone-related activities.

After that, of course, you will have to learn some basic intelligence about stone care and use appropriate products to clean your floor, like MB-1.

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,

Maurizio Bertoli

 

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