scratched travertine

[John Wade]

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to remove very light scratches from honed travertine? I have a handful of tiles with very superficial scratches, maybe 10 in all. I'm waiting to collect the last draw on a kitchen remodeling job, and my customer is insisting I do something about the scratched tiles first. I told her that travertine is going to scratch easily, and the only way to prevent this is to take off her shoes in the kitchen, or better yet, never walk on it at all! The countertop installer on this job, who works for the company which also supplied the travertine, said that they hone the tiles using a random-orbit sander with 220 grit paper. (anything finer would began to polish the tile) I've read in a couple of threads some horror stories of people using sandpaper and making the problem worse. I don't want to go to the expense of hiring a professional restorer to fix it, as it's just a few tiles in an otherwise good looking installation. If it's not possible to remove these scratches myself, it there any type of sealer that will minimize their appearance? Any ideas?
Thanks

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[Davestone]

Without seeing it i'm only guessing,but his advice is sound,and i wouldn't be afraid to go to 120, if it didn't seem to work with the 220.You may have to hit some pieces around it also to blend it in. :)

[KChurch1]

I've never used sand paper to hone, but I do know that it's common practice. It doesn't produce a nice even hone like a honing powder will. Stone Tech has various grits of powder available... 400 grit is the most common. We use a random orbital variable speed polisher with a hog hair pad for honing with powders. We've been testing various repolishing kits for homeowners and Brightstone has one for about $25 that includes emery paper for removing light scratches/etches and two polishing liquids used with a white pad to restore the shine of polished marble. It's a kit I'd recommend for the average homeowner to touch up occasional scratches/etches.
See if you can get a piece of the stone you're going to work on and practice... see what kind of results you get. It may give you the results you're looking for...it may not.... but it's worth a try.

[doitright]

Hi John :)

I have had success with removing scratches with my Fein tool, and 400 grit carborandum paper. The tool has a variable speed which offers more flexibility with various grits.

As Dave stated, you may need lower grits to get the scratch out.

Following with Karens comments, it's good practice to work on a test piece.

[Jim Cuviello]

It's a catch 22. If you are good you can probabaly blend it it. The problem is the focus is those tiles. Anything you do a homeowner will notice. The only real answer is to powder hone the whole floor to get a nice appreaence. The problem with that is the hone result will not be the same as the factory finish and the customer needs to know that. Education is big here and it should of started with the person selling the stone. You are dealing with stone and its not a 1-10 standard procedure. Every stone has different mineral content and each stone reacts different to the same exact maintencae method. That is why stone is tricky. It is never standard procedure. The other issue you may run into is the honing powder that gets traped in the grout lines. Karen has been doing this for a while and knows whats up maybe she can give some good suggestions on how to get the powder out. We always have a problem with it.