Filling holes in a Travertine floor

[Gordon Smith]

I live in Phoenix and most of my house is has travertine flooring (16' tiles). My house is 5 years old and holes are starting to show in the floor. They range anywhere from tiny (1/16') to small (1/2').

I called a stone floor guy out to assess what it would take to fix it and the quote I got made me hesitate. He wanted to fill the holes and then treat/buff the entire floor bringing the total to roughly 5000. I am by no means a cheapskate, but I also don't want to pay 5000 to repair holes in my floors every 5 years. I've seen various posts about people filling holes with various materials.

So, finally - here is my question. Should I simply fill the holes (either myself or hiring someone) or is doing the whole treatment/buffing/$5k route necessary?

Second question. What should I use to fill? The options I've seen discussed are: sanded grout, unsanded grout, Traverfill, epoxy.

Thanks,
Gordon

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[John Bridge]

Hi Gordon, :)

Sounds like you got some travertine that was filled with a soft or flakey filler. If you've got a lot of these holes I think it's a professional level job and will entail going over the entire floor. I'm going to move you to our restoration area where people more knowledgeable than I hang out. ;)

[doitright]

Hi Gordon, Welcome! :)

Can you post a picture of your floor? :shades:

How many square feet?

There are a few different materials to use. Depending on your floor and budget, will establish which direction to go. This is not a typical DIY job.

[Gordon Smith]

Sure - I'll take a picture shortly and post it. I'll try to take pictures of the good areas and the bad.

The total square footage of my house is 5600 (not including the casita). Not *all* of it is covered by travertine though. Rough guestimate: 2500-3000 sq feet has travertine. I'd say that holes exist in 1 in 25 tiles.

--Gordon

[Gordon Smith]

Here are some pictures - I'm no pro at cameras. :)

I 'attached' the pictures. I hope it works.

1. One of the larger holes - in the kitchen
3. View of a stretch of floor with no holes. ie: normal
5. Partially focused view of a tile in the foyer with a hole.
6. Another 'normal' shot.
10. The single worst tile. This one tile is MUCH worse than any other tile in the house. It's been under a rolling office chair.

Thanks,
Gordon

[Davestone]

I can't tell, but maybe the resto guy felt the floor needed a cleaning, or honing to blend in the newly filled tiles,i dunno.The secret to filling is to clean the holes before filling,and if the fill is polyester, or epoxy, a buffing will probably be necessary,since you overfill,allowing for shrinkage, then buff it down to flatten,or razor it off, but that can be harmfull if you're not careful,traverfill,and grout tend to shrink, and need to be worked on also.