Travertine tile floors will typically have a polished or honed finish that can be damaged with improper cleaning products or using aggressive scrub pads to you your travertine tile floor. Many times homeowners use household cleaners that can be acidic or contain damaging chemicals that can ruin mar the finish on a travertine tile floor.
When cleaning a travertine tile floor it is essential to use only professional alkaline or pH neutral tile and stone cleaning products that are specifically designed for cleaning tile, grout and stone. You can see from the picture below how the travertine tile floors surface can be etched by using improper cleaning products or chemicals.
Never use any type of household cleaning product containing bleach on a travertine tile floor. These types of acidic products can permanently damage the finish of your travertine tile floors. You can see below the ugly damaged spot a household cleaning product containing bleach can do to a travertine tile floor.
If you have a damaged discolored floor like in the examples above then just cleaning your floor will not remove the etched stains and markings. In these cases a professional stone restoration company should be contacted to polish your travertine tile floor to remove these stains and etched marks. For more information on how to hire a quality licensed stone restoration contractor you can visit our tile, grout and stone restoration contractor page HERE.
If your travertine tile floor is extremely dirty then you should use a professional grade alkaline tile grout and stone cleaning product. These professional grade alkaline cleaning products will effectively clean your travertine tile floors without damaging the honed or polished finish of your travertine. Trying to save money by using a cheap cleaning product on your travertine floors can ruin the finish and cost you a lot of money to restore or replace your damaged travertine tile floor.
You should mix the alkaline cleaning solution with hot water and apply it to the travertine tile floor with a soft scrubbing sponge. You do not want to use any type of aggressive scrub pad or scrub brush on you travertine tile floor. Travertine is a dense stone but the finish can easily be marred by using aggressive scrub pads or brushes. Soft white scrubbing brushes work great to scrub the travertine and the grout lines without damaging the polished or honed finish of your travertine tile floor.
You should try to scrub the travertine tile floor for 15-20 minutes and do not allow the cleaning solution to dry on the travertine tile floor. Keep scrubbing until you are confident that you have removed all the dirt and debris from the travertine tile and also the grout lines. If an area of the travertine tile floor starts to dry add some more cleaning solution to the dry area to keep the floor saturated with the cleaning solution.
After you have finished scrubbing down the travertine tile floor an grout then you must remove as much of the dirty cleaning solution as possible from the travertine tile floor. You can rinse away the dirty cleaning solution with clean warm water and use a mop or your soft sponge pad. It can also help to use a wet vac to extract the dirty cleaning solution to help in the rinsing process. Make sure that you only use a rubber wet vac tool to come in contact with the travertine tile floor. Also do not drag the wet vac across the travertine tiles. You can easily scratch the travertine tiles with the plastic from your wet vac so be careful when using the wet vac when extracting the dirty cleaning solution. If you do use a wet vac then you will still have to follow up with a normal rinsing procedure using a mop or a soft scrub pad to ensure that you have removed all the excess cleaning solution from the travertine tiles and the grout lines.
After you have cleaned and rinsed the travertine tile floor then you should dry the travertine tile floor with a soft towel or else use paper towels to dry your travertine tile floor. The final drying step will help to extract any remaining dirty cleaning product residue from your travertine tile floor. After you have cleaned you travertine tile floor with the alkaline cleaning product then you should definitely protect your travertine tile floor as well as the grout lines by sealing your travertine tile floor. The aggressive alkaline cleaning solution will break down any of the sealers that were in your travertine tiles and grout lines so you should seal your travertine tile floor after it has been effectively cleaned.
The aggressive alkaline cleaning solution will provide the most effective cleaning results on the dirtiest travertine tile floors but it will also break down the sealers in your travertine and the grout lines. After you have used the alkaline cleaning solution on your travertine tile floors then it is a good idea to seal or reseal your travertine tile floors and grout to protect the porous travertine tiles as well as the grout lines.
To get effective cleaning results without breaking down the sealers and having to thoroughly rinse the excess cleaning residue off of your travertine tile floors then you should use a pH neutral cleaning product designed for cleaning tile, grout and stone. When using a pH neutral cleaning product you only have to use about 2-4 ounces of the cleaning solution per gallon of hot water to get effective cleaning results. Also you do not have to do any type of intense rinsing and extracting of the excess cleaning solution. PH neutral cleaners are safe and effective cleaning products for all of you tile, grout and stone surfaces and they will not break down any of the sealers you have applied.
Often times people have damaged unsightly grout with small grout joints and unsanded grout. In many cases the unsanded grout in these thin grout joints will not come clean no matter what type of cleaning process takes place. You many want to consider reading about how to regrout a travertine tile floor if your grout is impossible to clean.
Cleaning, sealing and maintaining a travertine tile floor can be difficult work for the DIY homeowner. You may want to hire a professional tile, grout and stone cleaning contractor to steam clean your travertine tile floors to get the ultimate cleaning results without the backbreaking labor of cleaning your travertine tile floors yourself.
You can read some valuable information and tips on how to hire a tile, grout and stone cleaning and restoration contractor at our contractor information page here. Tile Cleaning Contractor.