How to Clean and Seal Travertine Tile and Grout

This client got in touch about cleaning their Travertine Tiled floor which they were struggling to get clean. They had been using all the usual household floor cleaners, but nothing was having the desired effect. The property was in the lovely village of Sunbury On Thames within the borough of Spelthorne. I’m based in nearby Shepperton and so it wasn’t long before I was able to pop over and take a look at the problematic floor.


It turns out the Travertine floor which was installed throughout the hallway and kitchen had not been professionally cleaned since its’ installation twelve years prior. As you can see from the pictures, the old sealer that was protecting the Travertine had long since worn off and this in turn had allowed soils and spillages to penetrate deep into the pores of the stone and grout. The sealers demise may have been accelerated with the use of overly strong cleaning products but given it not been professionally cleaned for twelve years it was well overdue a deep clean and reseal.

I discussed with the client what we could do to clean the floor and demonstrated my proposed cleaning process on part of the floor. They were very satisfied with the demonstration and were happy to go ahead with my quote. The work would take two days to complete, one day for cleaning and a second day for sealing.

Deep Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Floor in Sunbury-on-Thames

Working in sections I started by spraying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean on the floor and left if to soak in while I set up a floor buffing machine with a black scrubbing pad. After about ten minutes I ran the buffing machine over the working area, the machine was set to run at slow speed to reduce splashing. This action broke down the soils and helped lift the marks and stains out of the stone.

Tile Doctor Pro-Clean is a concentrated, multi-purpose high-alkaline cleaner, stripper and degreaser. The strong dilution of one-part cleaner to two parts water would ensure it would clean the floor and strip off any old sealers present on the tiles. Once the Travertine had been cleaned in this way, I ran a narrow brush along the grout lines to ensure they were also scrubbed clean.


After scrubbing a low-pressure rinsing machine was used to rinse the floor with water and extract all the dirt and cleaning products off the floor. After a final inspection the floor was then left to dry out overnight to leave the stone ready to receive a new seal the following day.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor in Sunbury-on-Thames

I returned the next morning and tested the floor with a moisture meter to ensure the Travertine was dry. The results were good, so we set about applying two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing sealer that soaks into the pores of the stone thus preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. The sealer really brought put the contrast back into the stone by enhancing the colour whilst giving it the protection it needed to prevent future spillages staining the tiles.


The client was very happy with the result, the finished floor looked much lighter and 100% cleaner, the beauty of the natural stone was really apparent, and the grout which was once dark and was now white again.

For aftercare I recommended they avoid purchasing supermarket floor cleaners, the majority of which are too strong for sealed stone and let them with a bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. This is a pH neutral solution that will not prematurely erode the sealer and is highly concentrated, so a small bottle lasts a long time.




Source: Travertine Tile & Grout Cleaning Service in Sunbury, Middlesex

Renovating Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles in East Surrey

Travertine is a beautiful product however like all-natural stone it needs to be protected with a sealer if you want to keep it looking its best. The trouble is sealers wear down with foot abrasion eventually allowing dirt to become ingrained in the stone at which point it becomes difficult to clean. This was pretty much the issue with this tumbled Travertine floor in the kitchen of a house in Godstone, East Surrey. The owner was fed up with the appearance of the floor and asked if we could anything to improve it.


I went over to take a look and could see it was as suspected the usual problem of the sealer wearing off and needing replacing. Before we could do that though I would need to remove any remaining sealer and deep clean the tiles to extract the dirt. Fortunately, it was only a small Kitchen and summer time, so I was confident I could do the whole floor in a day.

Cleaning and Polishing Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Tiles

The first thing I needed to do was to remove the plinths from the kitchen units to prevent them from encountering the cleaning products. Next and working in sections I started applying Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a powerful tile coatings remover that would strip what was left of the old sealer from the floor. This is important, so we could get down to the base stone, otherwise we would end up with different levels of sealer which would affect the overall appearance of the floor.


I left the Remove and Go on the Travertine for about ten minutes before scrubbing it in by hand with a scrubbing brush. Normally I would use a machine for this but given the size of the floor that was not a practical approach. As well as removing the sealer this process also got the Travertine and Grout clean and after rinsing off the now soiled solution with water and extracting it with a wet vacuum the floor was looking much improved.

I inspected the tile and grout at this point and spot treated any areas that needed further attention using a repeat of the previous process. Once I was happy I setup a couple of air dryers to speed dry the floor.

Sealing Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Tiles

After speed drying the Kitchen floor for a couple of hours, we had a moisture content reading low enough to apply a coat of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is an impregnating natural look sealer that works by occupying the pores in the stone thus preventing dirt from becoming ingrained in there. Speed drying for a further hour then allowed the application of two coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go to produce a lovely finished look that really brightened up the kitchen.


Before leaving my very happy customer to the enjoy, I left her with customer with a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap, a neutral and highly reliable cleaner for natural stone floors such as Travertine. This will assist her in maintaining the appearance and condition of the tiles going forward. Another satisfied customer!


Source: Travertine Tile Cleaning and Sealing Service in Godstone, East Surrey