Written in Stone

Often times our customers complain about “pitting” in their travertine floor. Let me reassure you that this issue is completely normal, especially with stones like travertine.

Travertine is a calcareous stone that naturally has voids (holes). Before fabrication, I like to compare travertine to Swiss cheese, a great product, which happens to have holes in it. The voids (or holes) can be filled during the fabrication process, but over time these fills can pop out. Part of our job during the restoration process is to re-fill these voids. Most travertine is beige in color and although fills do not perfectly match the natural lines and variations in stone, we try to match the color and finish of the fill as closely as we can to the natural stone.

Travertine may not be the only stone that needs filling every now and then. Sometimes weak points such as the veins in marble or loose chips in terrazzo may need to be filled over time. Also, no stone is safe if something heavy knocks into it or something heavy falls on the surface of the stone. When we fill in broken corners and areas, we use our white color epoxy fill and a color kit. We mix and match the colors and try to match the color of the marble, granite, limestone, etc. – It really is an art!

If you love DIY, you may want to try filling yourself if you have a few small holes and chips. The travertine fill that we sell is pre-mixed and already has a beige tint. We also sell the white fill with the coloring kit if your stone is a different color. For projects that have many holes that require a lot of filling, or for larger areas that have cracked or come loose, you may want to call a professional like International Stoneworks.