Need your suggestions

[irfan williams]

Hi

Need your suggestions

A few of our travertine floor tiles have stains.

What is the best way to get these stains off ?

Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Irfan Williams

California

[Frank Erskine]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 07:25:58 -0800 (PST), irfan williams had this to say:

An angle grinder?

[John Rumm]

Do you know what caused the stain? Are these natural or sealed with anything? Are they polished?

Travertine is somewhat porous, which means that if stains can get right into the tile they can be often be impossible to remove once they are set.

[NT]

There are sites that list stains and the subtances that will remove them. If you dont know what it is, there are general purpose ones such as biological washing powder and bleach

NT

[Tim W]

Frank Erskine wibbled on Saturday 07 November 2009 15:39

Irfan: That's a standing joke round here in case you wondered...

As others have said, if you know the stain, you stand some chance of lessening it. eg iron/rust *might* respond to oxalic acid, organic stains might lessen with bleaching.

My advice would be, whether you sort it or not, is to apply some decent stain blocker to the tiles to reduce any future issues. I've just had some slate laid and the bloke applied two coats of different sealers. The first was a generic stain stopper, which helps the grouting (ie stops that staining the tiles). The second could have been more of the same, but we opted for a colour enhancer, that gives the tiles a slightly damp look. I have spilt much water on them whilst plumbing and it just sits there in balls - marvellous stuff.

Cheers

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

essentially if you stain marble., its stained for life IME.