Lightening / Bleaching Travertine Floor Tile???

Jul 20, 2008 5 Replies

I recently received an order of "light" colored travertine floor tile. Only this is, it's mostly "medium" to "dark" in color. The vendor told me that because it's natural stone, it's subject to "natural variation" in color. I accept this answer, but I'm not too happy about it.



So what I'd like to know is this: Is there any solution that I can apply to the tile (hydrogen peroxide, bleach, etc.) that will lighten its color? Is there a commercial product available? Is there anything the tile installer can do, perhaps with a certain type of sealer?



Thanks very much.


replying to gobofraggle, Donalyn wrote: Did you get an answer or find a solution

He did. The acid in gerbil urine will lighten the color. He lt loose a herd of hundreds of gerbils and after six moths of letting them loose, he was happy with the color of the floor. The residual odor is starting to lighten up too.

The pyramids were built with onyx but look how they lightened up after years of pigeon crap on them. Works

On Tue 18 Jul 2017 05:29:45a, Ed Pawlowski told us...

You mean you can't sugstitute Guinea pigs for gerbils? One would think that a Guinea pig would produce far more urine than a gerbil.

replying to Wayne Boatwright, Michael wrote: Idiots. It was a serious question. The guys an artist looking for a solution to a problem and all he gets is stupid opinions from idiots who just don't get it. And there no craftsman either. They would probably painted the cistean chapel with white timer and called it good. No genious there.

On Tue 30 Jan 2018 06:14:11a, Michael told us...

I didn't reply to your post. Someone must have munged my account.

Hving said that, if you haven't found a solution, you might try muriatic or hydrochloric acid on a sample piece. Neither chlorine bleach or oxygen bleach would have no effect.

Good luck!

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