Sealing and grouting unfilled travertine

[mrsmiley]

I previously posted this in the wrong area.

I am currently finishing up a large project of tumbled unfilled travertine that is honed, polished, and probably already sealed. The travertine has some sort of sealer on it already. To date I have purchased no sealing products. I have several questions.

1. The cleaning of thinset resedue is taking a ling time. It leaves a white film behind when it is scrubbed off and wiped up, and any unfilled sections (holes) that were contaminated are a bear to get clean. It is coming clean but takes a long time. Any tips or suggestions.

2. The guy at the tile supply store said to seal the stone tiles twice with TEC
Guard All invisible Penetrating sealer prior to grouting and then to seal everything again after grouting. Is this a reasonable process, if not, what should I do or use?

3. My wife would like to use one of the "color enhancing" sealers because the stone looks so good when it is wet. (not to mention the thinset film in the holes disapears) The web site instructions from Tec mention things getting darker after multiple coats, so I wonder if it will be a problem to use this type of sealer twice before grouting and once after? Or should I use it only on the last coat? How will the sealer work if I cannot wipe it out of the holes?

4. Since the stones are already sealed on their face, will the sealers be compatable with each other?

5. Finally any hints on grouting without filling the holes? We really do not want to fill them in.

Thanks Steve

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[Michael of Stonehenge]

Hi Steve, To remone thinset residue upon tumbled Travertine I suggest that you start with 1/3 white vinegar and 2/3 warm water and a stiff brush, repeat if required and rinse with a diluted neutral cleaner three times. The facilitation of clean up will be aided with the use of a shop vac, so after the neutral cleaner use you will also rinse your stone three times with warm water. Now that you have cleaned your stone lets talk about grouting and sealing. The first thing I would do is to run testing upon a spare tile for sealant compatibility, just to make sure. After running a simple test I suggest that you apply your 1st run of enhancer very light and almost dry,do not let your sealer pool into the geodesic voids of your natural product
Unfilled Travertine has the capacity to collect materials within the geodesic voids I suggest that these voids be filled with an unsanded grout so as to limit the collection of future negative materials. The completion of your project would be 2-3 applications of enhancer/impregnator. Good Luck Michael of Stonehenge