Q.I puchased three palets of 18" x 18" travertine to install on my downstairs floors about a year ago. I am now finally ready to install it. It was in brown corragated boxes (4 per box) I had them covered with tarps, but water still got in. When I uncovered the boxes they were wet in places. Some had be wet and dried several times. I tried to clean them up with water and most of the stuck cardboard came off. Some places it looks like the brown cardboard may have stained the travertine, but I am not positive. About 50% of the tiles have some staining. I don't think the stains go deep into the stone, but I can't be certain. What do you think would clean it? Your help is greatly appreciated. So far I have only uncovered one of the pallets, but I am sure the others will show the same problem.

A. Travertine is a dense stone so chances are you can easily remove the corrugated and any surface staining using a high alkaline cleaner such as mb-2. A good nylon brush to aggitate the cleaner and scrub the surface should be used.

dilute the chemical 1 to 3 and let it dwell on the surface for 10 minutes are so.Then rinse it off with clean water

and repeat if needed.

Stu Rosen