Travertine issue

ButlerFrank

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Frank Ellerker
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Looked at a travertine floor today for a lady that is a referral from a regular customer. She had someone come in about a year ago and fill the holes in the tile. Apparently the guy was colorblind and used a grout that is much darker than the tile. Anyway, she can't stand it anymore and is looking for options to fix it. Any advice on how fix, or is it not worth the hassle?
 

ButlerFrank

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Hack it out with Colorseal...

Lol. That crossed my mind when I was there looking at. How long do you think grout perfect would last in that situation before it wore off? It's funny because she asked if there was just something I could paint over the grout to make it match.
 

ButlerFrank

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Are areas flush with the tile?


If so, not long

Yes they are flush with the tile. That’s my concern with color sealing. I’m thinking the permanent fix is to rake it out and refill. I would guess that there are about 20-25 spots of different sizes.
 

clean image

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Carl Maddock
It looks like a sanded grout. Hence it rough and attracting soil. Kinda like a sanded grout line.

You may be able to turbo that floor and have it look 80 percent better

Option 1 Dremel out and use the polyester trav filler. There is a learning curve

Option 2 use unsanded grout( basically traverfill). Custom linen..

Mike, I see you keep recommending SGA (epoxy with sanded grout) for smooth surfaces. Doing inside corners is a different animal than filling holes smooth.
 
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ButlerFrank

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It looks like a sanded grout. Hence it rough and attracting soil. Kinda like a sanded grout line.

You may be able to turbo that floor and have it look 80 percent better

Option 1 Dremel out and use the polyester trav filler. There is a learning curve

Option 2 use unsanded grout( basically traverfill). Custom linen..

Mike, I see you keep recommending SGA (epoxy with sanded grout) for smooth surfaces. Doing inside corners is a different animal than filling holes smooth.

It is a sanded grout. There are some areas that are out of the main traffic areas that are lighter, but it's still a good bit darker. The cust said she questioned the guy when he was doing it and he told her it would lighten to match after it dried. It never did and she couldn't get a hold of him after. I planned on using traverfill, but I'm not sure what custom linen means?
 

Old Coastie

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Carl had it. Use a Dremel with a rough diamond burr and lower the level. Leave it rough, then flush with acetone and use epoxy filler.

It can be color matched, but break her heart up front, because if you get a close match to the other grout first try, you are just lucky.

Charge a BUNCH!
 
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Mikey P

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It looks like a sanded grout. Hence it rough and attracting soil. Kinda like a sanded grout line.

You may be able to turbo that floor and have it look 80 percent better

Option 1 Dremel out and use the polyester trav filler. There is a learning curve

Option 2 use unsanded grout( basically traverfill). Custom linen..

Mike, I see you keep recommending SGA (epoxy with sanded grout) for smooth surfaces. Doing inside corners is a different animal than filling holes smooth.
SGA can be used with sanded or unsanded grout
 

clean image

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New grout will lighten significantly when cured, dries.

Home Depot sells custom building products..color linen...unsanded...mix thick. Problem is cure time and color.

Mike, if you really want to use a true epoxy, you can buy it in knife set. (Fumed silica). I recommend Bonstone. I use many of their products. The problems are
1. 24 hour cure. Tell you customer, pets and kids not to step on it, or you gonna have a mess
2. Processing the filled hole. You can’t razor epoxy, even 1/2 cured. And when you do your micro/sponge trying to get it ALL of the surrounding tile, your going to divot the filler in the hole.
3. Epoxy, even thickened with grout, is very viscous, it will try to drain out of the bottom of that hole while it cures
4. Epoxy likes to yellow with sunlight....be prepared.

But hay, if you a gluten for punishment.....go for it

It’s the best way learn
 
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ButlerFrank

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Thanks for the replies, Carl. I need to get some training on stone. I get asked about polishing travertine all the time. Guess there aren't many guys doing it right up here.
 

ButlerFrank

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Acrylics are much better than resins and are much more user friendly than epoxies. They set up in seven to ten minutes They are ready to sand or polish within thirty minutes. They handle water and sunlight well. And they too can be colored to match.

I plan on ordering some traverfill in the light color and hope it's not hard for a rookie to work with.
 

MM&S

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I would try a poultice such as "mangia maccia" available from Stone Boss. Poultice will draw out fugitive dyes as well as mineral stains from stone with porosity Apply the poultice and tape plastic over it so it does not dry out. Takes a day or more depending on porosity. If the filler is a color adhesive it may not work. Effectively the dye is absorbed into the poultice.
 

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