{"id":121,"date":"2013-10-09T15:57:21","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T15:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/?p=121"},"modified":"2013-10-09T16:06:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T16:06:44","slug":"all-about-travertine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/09\/all-about-travertine\/","title":{"rendered":"All About Travertine"},"content":{"rendered":"

We covered marble countertops in our latest blog, but we know a lot of you also have travertine<\/a> floors.<\/p>\n

Not sure if you have travertine?<\/p>\n

Most travertine is beige in color. It can have a honed (flat) finish or it can be naturally polished into a medium shine. Other finishes are textured and include \u201cleathered,\u201d \u201ctumbled,\u201d \u201c cross-cut,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n

\"travertine<\/a>
Filled Travertine half polished \/ half honed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0Travertine can be \u201cfilled\u201d or \u201cunfilled.\u201d Let me explain: Travertine naturally has voids (holes) when it comes from the quarry. Travertine voids are sometimes filled at the factory before the stone is installed; this stone is called \u201cfilled\u201d travertine.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfilled\u201d travertine does not contain these fills and, therefore, has many visible voids\/holes.<\/p>\n

\"unfilled<\/a>
Unfilled Travertine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0A lot of people mix up limestone and travertine. These two stones are related, but you can tell the difference between the two by seeing if the stone has voids or filled voids.<\/p>\n

The Marble Institute of America goes even further by explaining that travertine is, \u201ca type of limestone. It is actually the terrestrial (land) formed version of limestone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now that we have established what travertine looks like, how do you maintain this stone?<\/p>\n

First off, you need to know that travertine is calcium carbonate based, meaning that it will react (etch) when it comes into contact with acid, ammonia, and alcohol. Etch marks are chemical burns that look like the finish or the shine has been removed from the surface of the stone.<\/p>\n