Travertine is really a sedimentary limestone formed by chemical precipitation of calcium salts in watersheds. It consists basically of calcite (around 99%), the crystalline, white porous structure of calcium carbonate. It’s characterized by its spongy, vacuolar structure, resulting from the inclusion of organic matter (mainly vegetable) and gas emission (carbon dioxide) during its formation.

Calcite, the principle mineral element of travertine, is white. Nevertheless, resulting from impurities like sulphur, ferrous compounds, organic pigments, and so forth., it is found in a wide variety of colors: walnut, yellow, red, and so on.

Travertine deposits is usually found around the globe, such as Iran, the U.S., Mexico and Italy, among other nations. Italian travertine has great historic value, and as a result of its closeness to Rome, it was made use of in numerous of your city’s monuments, like the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain as well as the colonnade of Saint Peter’s, which all testify to the ancient use of travertine as a construction material. Travertine has also found applications inside the present day, since it was employed  the ABC Entertainment Center in Los Angeles and most not too long ago the new mosque in Rome. It is also becoming used in residential applications worldwide.

Travertine’s physical traits make it an in particular suitable material for use in adverse environmental and climatic situations. Travertine can as a result be utilized for a wide selection of applications, from external wall facings to interior flooring; from urban furnishing to funerary monuments.

Let us appear at the most important problems connected with some of its several utilizes. Travertine includes a vacuolar structure. That’s, it consists of actual cavities throughout its structure which accumulate dirt, it doesn’t matter what the application. It’s hence best to plaster (fill) the travertine, as certainly would be the standard practice, to prevent significant problems with cleaning.

An additional incredibly crucial aspect to emphasize is surface finish. Travertine normally has the following forms of finish: polished, honed and split-faced. Travertine is also broadly made use of as cobbles using a tumbled or sandblasted finish.

2. Floors

two.1 Initial wash

Do not use acid goods. Due to the fact travertine is really a calcium-based material, it reacts with acids and is dissolved by them. Use only neutral or alkaline detergents, depending around the variety of residue to become removed.

Inside the case of polished travertine, don’t use robust alkaline solutions mainly because they could harm the mirror finish on the material. Within this case, we propose only the use of neutral detergents.

In the case of a rustic finish — whether or not it can be tumbled or sandblasted material — and when removing installation residue (i.e. cements), disregard the above cautionary remarks and use an acid descaling agent, mainly because this is the only technique to completely clean the surface of these residues.

In this case we strongly recommend the usage of buffered acid descaling goods, which are no cost of sturdy agents which include muriatic acid, at the greatest dilution compatible together with the quantity of dirt to become removed. Note that the material have to be professionally installed. It truly is critical to leave the smallest attainable amount of residue to ensure that it may be cleaned without the use of highly effective chemical substances.

2.two Protection and care

2.2.1Polished

Just as with marbles and polished limestone, travertine is commonly only used for unique applications including bathroom and kitchen flooring. Within this case, protection is assured by the usage of special water- and oil-repelling products which guard the surface with no frequently altering its look. Following application of those solutions, a surface residue can crop up. This must be removed soon after drying, from four to 24 hours right after therapy according to the kind of solvent applied in the protective solution. The exact same sort of treatment is usually applied when polished travertine is utilized in non-walkover places such as: vanity tops, cooktops, thresholds, and so forth.

One more broadly employed protective remedy is waxing. In the case of residence floors, we suggest the use of traditional polishable wax, which calls for polishing with a cloth or polisher soon after application to offer it a shine.

In the case of public installations, and therefore with high foot traffic, we suggest the usage of self-shining waxes, for instance metallized waxes.

In contrast to marble, which is ordinarily waxed when its shine starts to show wear, waxing on travertine can be carried out anytime so as to defend its surface. Foot targeted traffic can damage the original shine more quickly than within the case of marble or granite, that are tougher supplies.

The material will have to be maintained with a neutral detergent to avoid damaging the surface, its shine or protective treatment. It can be applied manually, using a bucket, mop or brush and rag, typically within a 3 to 5% dilution, for regular upkeep more than a smaller surface area. It can alternatively be applied using a scrubber-drier machine for bigger locations, in which case the dilution will usually be 1 to 2%.

If stronger solutions (five to 10%) are essential for washing away much more tenacious stains, a final rinse is expected.

In the case of waxed floors, an alternative is 200 to 300 ml (eight to ten fluid ounces) of a “wash and wax” product that is poured into the washing solution. When the floor is treated with metallized wax, the regular procedure for these waxes should be followed. This incorporates the above-mentioned washes and also dewaxing each one to two years, applying a particular wax-stripping detergent at the advisable dilution, using a subsequent application of two to three coats with the very same wax.

A further maintenance remedy is crystallization, working with a special crystallizing item.

This therapy is made use of in circumstances in which the mirror finish of the travertine is moderately broken plus the user wishes to prevent waxing or repolishing it. Crystallization attacks the already damaged surface to a greater or lesser degree as outlined by the acid applied in the crystallizing agent, followed by a partial repolishing using a wire wool disk added towards the weight from the expert polisher. When the damage is important, even so, we advocate repolishing the floor mechanically in the traditional manner.

There’s also unique upkeep, which falls outdoors with the standard routine care schedule. Two of these operations have already been pointed out, crystallization and dewaxing. There is also a third procedure: stain removal.

A polished travertine surface could be stained inside a range of methods, specially if not treated. Note that in a lot of situations — as with marble and polished limestone in general — these defects is not going to be penetrating stains, but rather surface opacity, which appears like a stain at first glance. This can occur when an acidic liquid is spilled onto the limestone surface: coffee, wine, ketchup, tea, beer, soft drinks, lemon juice, and so on. In general, this covers the majority of meals stains.

In such situations, there is an aggressive chemical reaction with the surface; the staining agent dissolves the salt constituting the mirror surface and renders it opaque. Normal protective agents can slow down and hold back this reaction, but they can’t totally prevent it. Only by producing a important surface layer can the material be protected against stains of this kind, but such a protective layer would destroy the all-natural aspect with the surface, and this is not normally an eye-catching choice. A surface which has been damaged within this way might be partially restored with crystallization or making use of a polish. Other typical stains are these resulting from grease or oil, which may be completely removed using a stain remover spray or with poultice.

two.two.two Honed

The distinction involving this sort along with the preceding lies only within the polish from the surface, in order that precisely the same forms of protective treatments encouraged above is often utilized also within this case. We are able to also propose an alternative wax therapy, whereby this kind of surface might be treated with two applications of a matte-finish wax, that is then naturally not polished. We can suggest this type of remedy in cases in which the customer — obtaining chosen a smooth but opaque surface finish — wishes to maintain the finish unchanged. A comparable outcome is usually obtained making use of a water- and oil-repelling product or even a mixture of water- and oil-repelling items, which commonly offers a better outcome in terms of proofing but doesn’t assure dirt repellence, which can be what waxes do.

For routine care, exactly the same considerations pointed out previously apply.

As for particular maintenance, we ought to distinguish between the two instances. Crystallization will not be an alternative, and staining will not be an issue on account of the inherently opaque surface of the material. Within this case, we may well see stains due to the color in the staining agent, whether it is actually coffee, the tomatoes in ketchup or red wine. In such instances, a unique color stain remover should be utilized. For oily or greasy stains, stain remover sprays or poultice are each fantastic solutions.

2.two.3 Tumbled stone

Among essentially the most broadly utilized materials employed to make tumbled stone is travertine, in all its colors: Roman, walnut, red, yellow, etc. The encouraged treatment in this case consists of applying a base coat of a solution, such as the usual non-filming solvent-based water and oil proofing or the more current analogous water-based variety of solution, to make sure uniform absorption. This have to be followed by a few applications of certainly one of the vast selection of industrial waxes, depending around the intended use and also the sort of finish desired: from very brilliant self-shining metallized waxes to opaque wax.

An option to this therapy, which can be broadly made use of especially for exterior surfaces, consists in applying two coats of a stone enhancer, which leads to the so-called wet effect.This really is ordinarily an oil or resin of diverse origin.

An additional possibility, which is extensively utilized in exteriors, would be the application of two coats of penetrating waterproofing, which proofs the surface against water — as a result stopping damage when also impeding the formation of mold, with no altering the aspect in the material. If a a lot more extreme degree of proofing is expected, particularly against greasy and oily dirt, this treatment may be completed with a finish coat of oil-proofing.

As for maintenance, within this case the issue is rather more complicated. Tumbled travertine has open cavities in the surface, in contrast with polished or honed supplies that are filled. These cavities are great accumulation points for dirt, and therefore, stronger goods ought to be utilized for cleaning the surface, combined with the mechanical action on the cleaning machine. Additionally, considering the fact that tumbled stone is typically employed in exteriors, the dirt in question is commonly much more tenacious than indoor floor dirt. Cleaning for that reason requires the use of alkaline products in mixture using a professional cleaner with an abrasive disk (up to green disk) or really hard nylon brush. On the other hand, the surface to clean will not be particularly delicate, and hence, it can accept the use of a lot more energetic indicates than those employed in the case of polished or honed travertine. In intense situations, a waterjet cleaner may very well be utilized, just after application of a resolution of your alkaline product pointed out above (at a appropriate dilution), left to act for any few minutes.

three.Walls

Travertine has had an incredibly wide use as a wall covering. The complications connected to this application are quite a few and several, and they call for different solutions as outlined by the intended objective of the protective treatment.

Travertine walls can have issues with water absorption, with consequent accelerated damage for the surface, also resulting from acid rain and the presence of aggressive gases within the atmosphere which include sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide, both of which form acids in combination with all the humidity inside the air and may seriously damage the surface in the calcareous stone. This challenge is usually prevented having a waterproofing solution, of the penetrating kind if possible, which will stop the absorption of the water that forms the aggressive acids and causes other types of harm. In the present time, helpful water-based solutions are also obtainable to supply this type of protection and also the classic solvent-based items.

3.1 Graffiti protection and cleaning

Yet another problem of good value may be the graffiti, which degrades the urban landscape. Within this case, we are able to use anti-graffiti merchandise which protect against adhesion on the spray paints applied to paint graffiti and therefore facilitate subsequent cleaning operations. Two types of anti-graffiti goods are suitable for use with travertine: sacrificial and permanent.

The sacrificial kind, which can be extra suitable for rough surfaces and provides surface protection, is so-called simply because it sacrifices itself to shield the wall material. When the graffiti is cleaned off, the protective agent onto which the paint has been sprayed comes away, leaving the wall clean. The permanent kind, on the other hand, is a lot more suitable for polished surfaces and penetrates into the material, diminishing the adhesion with the graffiti, which can therefore be removed extra very easily.

Removing graffiti needs the combined use of cleaning goods and machinery. Surface-specific solutions will have to be employed and are frequently supplied as gels or viscous fluids to make sure improved adhesion to the surface. They should be chosen as outlined by the delicacy and form of the surface. In the case of polished travertine, the least aggressive cleaning solution need to be used in an effort to stay away from damaging the surface, In the case of rough surfaces, no certain precautions require be taken, as long as acidic goods are avoided, and hence it can be ideal to utilize the strongest product feasible in an effort to eliminate the paint in the surface cavities.

The process would be to apply the viscous cleaning agent, allow it to act for any couple of minutes then use a waterjet cleaner at 100-120 bar to eliminate the gel together with all the paint, which has been lifted away from the surface by the cleaning agent itself.