We are in the first phase of a travertine restoration for some people that just moved to Birmingham from Clearwater Florida.  Now let me tell you that you would be hard pressed to find a house in central or south Florida that doesn’t have stone floors.  The reason I say that is that is that they pointed out to me that people “up here” don’t know what a stone floor should look like or how to maintain them properly.  Maintaining stone floors for Floridians is like maintaining carpet for us.  We know all about carpet maintenance, stone floors on the other hand not so much.  We at Brilliant Services are always being asked about stone maintenance.  There are so many conflicting stories from what people think are reputable sources.  A lot of times even the salesman that sold you the stone is only repeating what he was told to sell you to maintain that stone.  I routinely hear about installers telling clients to clean granite countertops with Windex. Just in case you were told the same thing, Windex will etch your granite.  I have been on restoration projects where a maid had been putting Quick Shine on the travertine.  The bottle says it is safe for stone.  It is an acrylic top coat that puts a hard shell over the stone.  The problem is that stone has to breathe and putting an acrylic shell over it prevents that breathing.

Travertine Restoration starts with delipping the floor.  Lippage on the floor are those areas where the edge of one tile is higher than the tile next to it. We then go on through the honing phase which includes applying a stone hardener that makes the floor more dense and hard.  We proceed on through the polishing stages and then sealing stages.

Look at your travertine floor. Do you see holes? What about lippage? Is it as shiny as it used to be?  Do you have a regular plan for maintain your travertine floor?  Call Brilliant Services at 205-617-6330 so we can help you maintain it, or email us at Jay.Mullins@BrilliantServices.net.