Seal Polished Travertine?

[Matt Lengeling]

I used Premium Gold Travertine Sealer on polished travertine,it looked blotchy and dull, what did I do wrong. Do you even have to seal polished travertine?

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[ob1kanobee]

I'm afraid you will have to be a little more specific........
1) Was this newly installed travertine, for all I know you could of put sealer on a
Travertine that someone put a coating on. Most Travertine is not sold
polished.
2) How did you apply it (sprayer, sponge, rag, lambeswool aplicator)?
3) What specific brand of sealer did you use because there are many and they
each have their quirks.
4) Was the sealer solvent based or water based?

From the information I have so far to go by, you used too much sealer at once, left it sit too long. When using sealers and topicals their are a handful of variables involved.
It is also best to do a test area, preferably a stone that has not been installed yet.
It is also a god idea to apply "thin" coats of sealer or topicals than to try and saturate the stone in "most cases".

[Stonehenge]

Hi Matt,

Travertine actually has areas where there are voids(holes) that were filled with a dull grout-like material on the tile processing line, this is a normal aspect of your natural stone. Travertine is such a dense stone that even the best impregnators will only penetrate the areas of fill and perhaps your grout joints depending on the grout itself.

Do you have streaks and swirls of cloudiness?


Michael

[Davestone]

I would agree and would also say travertine will absorb very little sealer, especially if it's polished.Sealer must soak in to be any good, and apparently yours is sitting on top, and since it hazed over i guess it's water based.I would look up the manuf, and find out what they recommend you strip with and strip it off(Unless they advise an acid based cleaner)then i wouldn't use that i would have a restoration pro do it.

[ob1kanobee]

One more thing, and this may sound crazy, but it will not hurt to try. Go to an inconspicuous area of the floor and try this just on one piece of travertine. Apply another coat of sealer to reactivate the sealer that is already dried on top. It is important to use a rag and before it has a chance to dry (like immediately) take a towel and buff that piece of stone. This will usually solve your problem.
If you have a large area to work with or that is messed up you will need to rent a buffing machine and do this to the entire floor or just do it all by hand.

Try this though, it usually works and not very many people know about it.

[Matt Lengeling]

I just installed this. It has no pits and its got a pretty good shine to it,or at least it did. I used a spray bottle and i did what the directions told me to do. I soaked it and allowed the tile to absorb it in,it just beaded up thats why i was wondering if i even needed it. The label says Premium Gold Travertine Sealer Water Based Thanks for your help

[Matt Lengeling]

There are no streaks, More like blotchy cloudy spots,with overall dull look. I let it sit for awhile,but it wasn't completly dry. Thanks