Do it yourself Travertine sealer and fill.

[Mikey P]

Some home owners should stick to just signing checks.

She had 800 feet of this that she attempted to fill some of the wholes with some miracle puddy she found on line and then sealed with with Home Depot Tile Lab topical junk..



We tested it today to see what to expect.


Took a razor to the over fill and some acrylic stripper and a hogs air to the sealer.




Pow!

 

[GroutManiac]

Mike,

If she filled the Travertine, why are you taking it out? Because it looks bad, it's not bonding properly or are you just cutting it down level to the surface.

Also, if it's because it stands out to much or is it the wrong color, you could put any Color Sealer on it. To blend it in with the tile, just as long as the Travertine is still sealed. But it can take forever. But then again the whole floor needs to be restored. Including remove the surface sealer.

Nice pics.

 

[Tile Nerd]

I don't think color seal will stick to puddy.

I agree, most clients are better at writing checks then doing our job.

 

[GroutManiac]

"I don't think colorant will stick to puddy"

You don't know untill you try. Their is a chance that this could be a cementitious based material, or contain silica, if it does a colorant might work. And it's better then pulling it all out.

 

[Mikey P]

After we strip it we're gonna use some of Stone Pro's Traver fill on the holes in the traffic areas.


The first pic is after I razored off some her goopy job from years ago.

When its all said and done the bill will be over 4Gs.

 

[GroutManiac]

The customer isn't the only one at fault here, she tried to remedy the problem with what was available to her. The fault lies with the tile store or the installer.

1. The tile store shouldn't recommend un filled travertine for floors.
2. The tile contractor should have told her that un filled travertine on a floor is a maintenance nightmare.

And that he could and should have filled in the travertine with grout, this is a common practice done to un filled travertine upon grout installation Or for an added cost he could have filled it with traverfill .

Mike, if you want to use travertine fill that's fine, but you could also use sanded grout. In the same color as the original grout or the close to the color of the Travetine.

Unless you are trying to make this tile look like it was properly filled by the manufacturer right after fabrication. Then the Traverfill is your only solution.

Oh, would you be willing to tell us a little about your sealer stripping method?

 

[Mikey P]

These homeowners are such extreme pigs that anything I do will soon be covered in gunk.
She is probably the worse house keeper I've ever seen.


They could not have picked a worse floor for themselves.


Anyways, a Green pad and Acrylic stripper and plenty of time and "healing" got the Tile Lab junk off.

I'll be applying Dry Treat after I strip and fill.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Just finished a DR & hall filling Travertine, customer originally wanted only the largest holes filed (around 35) but was so pleased with the results added 300+ more, thankfully we are charging by the hour so I really didn't care how many they wanted filled, had we known from the beginning we would of just used grout on the entire area & filled all the holes, next week I start on filling the holes in the kitchen. Unfilled Trav should not be sold for flooring but I am not complaining since this 1 floor is paying my kids tuition for the year

You need good knee pads (Racatak with chest support is a plus), popsicle sticks & lots of razor blades for a glass scrapper.

 

[alazo1]

Never done it but it seems honing powder will take out the excess traverfill. Traverfill, let dry then honing powder a few days after. Should save time if there's a lot of it and will take out those scratches. Not to mention they'll have a nice uniform floor.

Albert

 

[Mikey P]

Those scratches are only in the topical Albert.