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Best way to clean polished travertine floor?

12 years ago

I have a tile floor in my entryway that's polished travertine. It gets a lot of wear and dirt tracked in. The pits in the travertine (where the filler has worn away) show the dirt, and the grout doesn't look that great either.

I got an estimate to have it honed, polished and sealed that was nearly $1000. I'm sure it would look fabulous after this treatment, but I'd like to try something a little more affordable first.

Someone posted a free steam cleaner on freecycle this morning. Would that work? What cleaning products should I be looking at? I tried my granite polisher (Simple Green Granite Polish) on one tile even though the label said to not use it on floors, and it didn't bring out the shine in the floor at all.

Any advice?

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Comments (2)

abundantblessings
12 years ago
The only way I know to safely restore the stone is to have it refinished. You may want to check other sources for refinishing as it's only a few hours work. If you have a hard time finding a reasonably priced company, perhaps you'll have luck asking who does the work in nearby churches, hotels, hospitals etc. If their referral is a long-time in-house maintenance staff, perhaps you can negotiate with him directly as a side-job if it seems safe to do so. Some installers do this repair as well so that's another potential source instead of the franchise refinisher I think you may have gotten the quote from.

You won't necessarily have to have it honed as, if it's not too far gone, they can use a solution akin to tooth polish and buff. If it needs to be refilled and honed, that's only a bit more complicated but should be doable in a day's work. You can clean it with a steam cleaner but you may wind up taking out more of the fill. Do not use any citric based solution if you try. I don't know of any good DIY treatments for bringing back the shine, but once it is polished, be sure to maintain with the right ph balanced cleaners.

Maybe others will chime in here. You can also ask in the flooring and kitchen forums as some knowledgeable stone people frequent there. Good luck!
annkathryn
Original Author
12 years ago
thanks, abundantblessings (love your screen name!)
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