Travertine is one of the most common floors we see in Scottsdale and Phoenix homes, and one of the most misunderstood. It looks tough, but it is a soft, porous stone that reacts to the wrong cleaner, the wrong mop water, and the desert itself. Here is how we care for the travertine in our own homes, and what we recommend to every homeowner we visit.
Most off-the-shelf floor cleaners are acidic or leave a film. Acidic cleaners slowly eat the surface of calcium-based stones like travertine, and film-forming cleaners trap dirt and dull the finish. Use a neutral pH stone cleaner and a microfiber mop, and change the water when it turns gray.
Home mopping cleans the surface, but travertine is full of pores and troweled-in fill, and grout lines sit lower than the stone. Our professional stone cleaning uses truck-mounted equipment with water heated to 250 degrees F and dirty-water extraction, so the soil leaves your house with us instead of settling back into the pores.
The gray, shadowed look in high-traffic travertine is usually not damage. It is embedded soil, and extraction pulls it out.
A quality penetrating sealer slows down staining and gives you time to wipe up spills before they soak in. We use Stone Pro commercial sealers after cleaning, and most travertine floors in Arizona are due for resealing when water stops beading on the surface. If you want to know more about the stone itself, our travertine guide covers finishes, fill, and what to expect as it ages.
If your travertine looks dull in the walkways, shows dark grout lines, or has not been sealed in years, a professional deep clean and reseal will do more than any amount of mopping. Get a free quote and we will take a look at what your floors actually need.
