After we leave how do you clean and maintain your natural stone travertine tile?

So, we have just finished cleaning and polishing your travertine floors and you are now wondering, how do I maintain this beast??  

We get this question nearly everyday… “Once you are done with our floors how do I clean my travertine tile on a daily or weekly basis?”  First, NEVER EVER clean your floors with vinegar or any other acid based cleaner. This is the fastest way to dull down the travertine in which you’ve just made a significant investment. So then, what should you do in order to maintain your travertine floors?

We recommend first vacuuming or sweeping the floor to remove dust and crumbs. Even if you don’t see any visible dirt, it’s there, and will become your prime culprit for dirty grout. Once the floor is clear of particulates you can mix up a bit of Neutral Based stone cleaner in your sink or a bucket and begin your travertine floor cleaning. Be sure to dilute the Stone Tech Stone & Tile Cleaner   as it says on the label. You can even dilute it a bit more if it’s for weekly cleaning. As far as mops go, we recommend using a rectangular shaped plastic mop that has an elastic terry cloth or microfiber towel wrapped around the head. Any of the home improvement warehouses will have them as well as replacement towels. I’ve added a picture with a link below to the one we use but anything resembling this will work just fine.

Helpful tip… make sure you take the cloth off and rinse it out in fresh water after you have done 100 square feet or so. This means you are changing and/or cleaning that mop head VERY FREQUENTLY.  If you don’t, you will be moving dirt from one spot to another on your floor. You may also want to make another bucket of fresh cleaning solution halfway through the cleaning. We also recommend having a maintenance cleaning and polishing done, in the traffic areas, every other year to keep it fresh. This will be less than half the cost of the original job if you keep your floors professionally maintained.

Stay tuned. In my next blog I will list and discuss a few of the different stone cleaning solutions available to home owners.