We have honed travertine in our bathroom. The contractor sealed before and after grouting.

In my last house I had tumbled travertine backsplash in the kitchen. The contractor used an enhancer only before the grout, but he used a sealer before and after grouting.

Thanks firstyeargardener, I went to HD yesterday and only saw Enhancers that were also Sealers. I wonder if there is a difference. I saw plain Sealers but not plain Enhancers. So your contractor did a 2 step process before grouting on your tumbled travertine?

In our recent backsplash experience with tumbled travertine marble tiles, we were told to use an enhancing sealer if we wanted the tile color to become more like the color they were when they were wet.

The tile contractor put on the enhancing sealer before the grout and then a 2nd time after the grout. They changed to the color we wanted.

I was told that if you do not want to change the color of your tiles, you can use a non-enhancing sealer. I would guess (check on this 1st) that if you like the color after the first application of enhancing sealer, you could use a regular sealer the second time.

Hey Susie,
Quick question, did the color change much after the second enhancing?

I always use a sealer/enhancer on tumbled after set, but before grouting. Most clients love the "enhanced" look. If you don't, just use a sealer....makes grout clean-up far easier. Then, seal or enhance again after the grout has cured.

In my case, I feel that the enhancer made quite a bit of a difference, it brought out the warm colours of the stone. With the tumbled travertine, I really like the colour with the enhancer better.

I think wetting your tile should give you an idea of what it will look like with the enhancer. That`s what our contractor told us to do.

Here are pictures of the whole process. I can't remember if there was much change between the 1st coat and 2nd coat. It does not look like it from the pictures. We used Almond grout.

No grout, no enhancing sealer. We were trying for the color on the tile sample board.

before any enhancing sealer

before grout. after 1st coat of enhancing sealer.

After grout and 2nd coat of enhancing sealer. grout in the irregularities of tile changed the appearance too. I did wash some grout off tiles after it set up for about an hour.

Thank you all so much...

looks like I will enhance/seal before grouting and then after enhance/seal or just seal depending on how it all looks. Can't wait to show you all how it came out. I'm hoping the grout doesn't change it too much because I love it just the way it is :)

Wow annettacm, can you imagine if you didn't enhance? So much prettier with it and it looks much easier to clean, although I'm sure a plain sealer would've helped there. Thanks so much for responding.