For this job, I was asked to work on my client’s newly installed bathroom in their house in Hull, the largest city in East Yorkshire. The new bathroom consisted of natural Travertine stone, and my task was to give the tiles a thorough clean, polish and seal. Travertine is a form of limestone with a distinct appearance consisting mainly of tan, white and cream-coloured shades. It’s commonly used for both residential and commercial use; although recently installed the tiles were dull and lifeless and not looking anywhere near their best.
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Polishing and cleaning Travertine bathroom tiles
My first task was to polish the wall tiles using the Tile Doctor burnishing system, this consists of four six-inch buffing pads with different grits. Starting with a coarse pad you grind off any dirt off the tile before moving onto the medium, fine and very fine pads which build up the polish. The result was a superior polished finish, as you can see from the below photo
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After achieving the desired polished finish, I set about cleaning the tiles using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, a high alkaline cleaner safe to use on stone and grout, diluted with water. Once mixed, the solution was applied using spray bottles as the air makes the solution lighter and enables it to stick to the vertical surface. The solution was then scrubbed into the tile and grout to lift out any ingrained dirt and muck left over from the initial installation of the bathroom.
Following the clean I gave the bathroom tiles a good rinse with water to remove any trace of product; I used a wet-vacuum machine to remove any excess residue and left the tiles to dry.
Sealing Travertine bathroom tiles
The last step was to seal the bathroom Travertine tiles. After checking to make sure the whole area was completely dry, I applied five coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. Colour Grow is a colour intensifying, impregnating sealer which accentuated the natural shades in the Travertine, while at the same time providing a durable surface seal. The product is suitable for use on both internal and external Travertine tiled floors and walls, along with a range of other natural stone surfaces.
The sealer was applied using cloths, and the Tile Doctor three cloth system. The surface was also buffed after the application of each coat of sealer.
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My client was very pleased with the end results; the Travertine surface finish is now looks exactly the way she had expected it to look.
We often get work to sort out tiles following installation by builders and tilers, you can always rely on Tile Doctor to sort out the problems no one else will touch, after all – We Love the Jobs Tilers Hate