An important point left out of the advice above is the fact that you need to test the sealer first. It describes this on the label. Follow the advice on the label to the "T". Often Travertine is filled with epoxy from the factory and does not accept sealer that well in random places This is only my opinion but an observation I have come to with first hand expierence. Test the sealer on a few spare tiles and wait and see the results. I have found that Travertine does not enhance well and Aqua Mix's Ultra Solve has been my best product to seal this stone with. All ways read all instruction and spend at least an hour of your life reading up on the short falls and worst case scenerio's that sealing tile can result. It is not rocket science but thinking this is an easy step and that you can do it your way faster is a good road to follow if you wish to destroy your finished product. Make sure you understand the complete process before you start. Don't practice on your finished product until you have done some real home testing... My thoughts...

Bill - your work never fails to amaze me. Absoulutely beautiful! And I agree - marble has been around way longer than any of us and is definitely not a fad. For some reason I haven't been able to figure out, there are many porcelain look alikes for calacutta, but none for cararra. Calacutta is too gold for my project. Do you know the manufacturer of that tile? Maybe they make a carrara look alike? I don't see myself spilling nail polish remover in my shower :-) But, I hear what you are saying. The Q-seal stuff is intriguing though. I started looking for porcelain subways that are not marble look alikes and I think I found a winner. It's the Villery and Boch Bernina series. Will probably do a strip of decos in cararra to get my marble fix and just have to deal with keeping that sealed which hopefully won't be a big deal. May still do floor in honed marble because it was just so beautiful I can't resist. Shower is small (32x48) so sealing that shouldn't be a big deal. Holly - I think you misunderstood. I do not want faux stone. I want real stone without the maintenance. I actually do not like faux stone at all and most of the time it looks fake to me and my even more picky husband (Bill's job above is definitely the exception!). The Q-Seal is not faux stone made with real stone. It's real stone. Any stone. And then they apply a sealer and bake it in. nikinikinine - thanks for the info. Please come back and let us all know how it goes. Would really love to know more about this stuff and how it holds up over time. Good luck with your project!

Easiest way to tell with the granite is to place a sopping wet sponge on it for a minute or so. Then pick it up, and wipe off excess water. If you see a spot where the sponge was, then it needs to be sealed (once it dries back out). if not, then you don't want to seal it. Beyond that, best advice I've seen on this thread is from my buddy Cabot & Rowe-- no spray on sealants please. First, you don't want the over spray getting on anything. Second, once it's in the air, you certainly don't want to be breathing it in. If it does that good a job sealing grout and so forth, do you really want that on your lungs?

If that $1300 includes three or more coats of the finish, the amount is a little high. Water based finishes are from 1&1/2 to 2 times more expensive than oil based finishes. The major esthetic difference is the added color. Oil based finishes add an amber color, which is usually pleasing. Water based finishes add no or very little color, which can sometimes look drab or washed out. Oil based finishes used to be tougher and longer lasting. Research and development of newer water based formulas bring that variety closer to the performance of oil based. And, finally, water based floor finishes take much less application/drying time, sometimes 2 days and have much less odor until dry.