Travertine tile showers need to be periodically cleaned and sealed to keep them looking looking beautiful. Travertine is a dense natural stone that comes in many colors and styles. The dense nature of travertine makes it an ideal stone to be used for a tile shower installation.
Cleaning up the soap scum is extremely important with travertine tile showers.
The biggest issue people have with cleaning and maintaining a travertine shower is cleaning up and removing the soap scum. You can usually see the soap scum build up on the travertine shower floor and on the bottom of the vertical walls. It will look like a white chalky film or it can also look like a shiny film depending on the type of soap used in the shower. The soap scum can ruin the look of a travertine shower and the soap scum can also damage the travertine tiles.
If you allow the soap scum to just sit on the travertine then hard water deposits can also start to accumulate. These hard water deposits can start to literally eat away at the travertine. Over time your travertine tiles can start to become pitted and look dull and lifeless even after the soap scum has been removed. Also if your travertine shower has not been properly sealed then the hard water deposits can more easily enter the travertine stone tiles and start eating away at the travertine. Therefore you can see why it is important to properly clean, seal and maintain a travertine shower.
MB-3 has been a secret weapon for removing soap scum from stone tile showers for many years. MB-3 has been used by tile restoration professionals for years and it is a professional non acidic soap scum remover. It can be used on all types of stone and ceramic tile shower installations including ceramic, porcelain, marble, granite, slate and travertine tile showers.
MB-3 is basically the only type of soap scum remover that stone restoration professionals use. MB3 is is not difficult to use and it is the only recommended soap scum remover to be used in a stone tile shower. You should not use any consumer level brand soap scum removers on natural stone surfaces. These consumer level soap scum removers can be acidic and they can also have other harsh chemicals that can damage your stones finish.
When cleaning off the soap scum off of the travertine shower you should follow the instructions on the MB-3 soap scum remover product label. The MB-3 soap scum remover will require you to mix it with water for it to become effective. You will most likely want to allow the soap scum remover to dwell on the travertine tiles for 20-30 minutes for it to loosen up the soap scum. You do not want to allow the MB-3 soap scum remover to dry on the travertine tiles. Keep applying the soap scum remover to keep the travertine tiles saturated with the soap scum remover for the entire dwell time.
After the dwell time you want to scrub away the soap scum with the soft scrub pad. It may also be necessary to reapply the soap scum remover and repeat the process for removing heavy deposits of soap scum. Do not be tempted to use the aggressive scrub pads as these pads may make it easier to remove the soap scum but they can also scratch and dull the travertine tiles. Keep applying the soap scum remover and scrubbing down your travertine tiles until you have removed all of the soap scum. It is best to use a soft scrubbing sponge to scrub away the soap scum without damaging the travertine tile showers finish. This type of scrubbing sponge is also useful for rinsing the excess soap scum remover from off of the travertine tile showers.
The travertine tile floors can accumulate a lot of soap scum and you can use an aggressive scrub pad if the travertine tile floor has tumbled travertine tiles that will not scratch. You should always test the surface you will be scrubbing to ensure that it will not be scratched with the aggressive scrub pads. Typically the travertine tile floor tiles do not have any type of honed or polished finish and you can use an aggressive scrub pad on them without scratching them.
The MB-3 soap scum remover also works great to remove soap scum from shower glass doors and any other shower fixtures you might have in your home. You can apply the MB-3 to the shower glass and scrub away the soap scum with the soft scrubbing sponge. You should rinse away all of the excess MB-3 from the shower glass and do not allow the MB-3 to dry on your shower glass doors and walls.
After you have scrubbed away all of the soap scum from your shower glass surfaces it helps to dry them with a paper towel to remove any water spots and to also remove any residual traces of the MB-3 soap scum remover.
Sealing the travertine tiles is very important to preserving the natural beauty your travertine shower. Travertine should always be sealed to protect it from dirt and stains and it is especially important to seal travertine in a shower. Travertine is a dense stone but is still somewhat porous as opposed to ceramic or porcelain tiles. The daily wear and tear of taking a shower can over time damage travertine so it is especially important to seal a travertine tile shower. Make sure that the travertine shower is clean and dry before sealing it. Do not use any type of cheap sealers from the home improvement stores. Cheap sealers will not last and will simply wash away especially in a travertine tile shower.
Stonetech and Aquamix both make a high quality sealer with the newest microbond technology.
The one (1) quart container is usually sufficient for sealing most travertine tile showers.
You should only use the highest quality sealers with the newest microbond technology for sealing travertine showers. These newest generation of sealers with the microbond technology provide the longest lasting and maximum protection of any type of sealers on the market today. Additionally these new generation of sealers using the microbond technology have an extremely small molecular base so they are able to be absorbed deeper into dense stones like travertine.
When sealing the travertine tile shower keep the tiles saturated with sealer for 5-10 minutes. You should always follow the manufactures instructions when sealing travertine tiles. You want to thoroughly saturate the travertine tiles and the grout with sealer for 5-10 minutes. Keep applying the sealer to the travertine but do not let the sealer pool up and dry on the travertine tiles or the grout. Apply the sealer with a soft towel to only one area at a time.
It may be difficult to thoroughly keep the vertical shower walls saturated with sealer but keep applying the sealer with the soft towel for 5-10 minutes or until you see that no more sealer is being absorbed by the travertine tiles. After you are done applying the sealer to one area make sure that you thoroughly wipe away any sealer residue from the tile surface and do not leave any pools of sealer in the grout lines. Continue wiping away any sealer residue with a dry soft cotton towel until you are sure there is no sealer residue left on the tile or grout lines. After you are done with sealing one section of your shower then move on to another section of your travertine tile shower.
Properly maintaining your travertine shower is the key to keeping it looking beautiful and new.
If you have just had a travertine shower installed then of course the first thing you should do is to properly seal the travertine shower tiles and the grout. It is important to wipe down the travertine tile shower after every use to keep the shower clean and to keep the soap scum from building up. Do not ever use any type of aggressive or consumer tile shower cleaning products in a travertine shower. Many of the consumer soap scum and tile shower cleaning products are acidic or have aggressive cleaning agents that can damage and dull the travertine tile showers finish.
For daily cleaning you should use only a professional tile, grout and stone cleaning product specifically designed for cleaning tile, stone and grout. These daily maintenance stone cleaning products are pH neutral so they will not damage the travertine tiles and they will also not break down any of the sealers in the travertine tiles. Every year or so you will want to do an aggressive, cleaning, soap scum removal and sealing procedure in your travertine shower. Performing proper daily or even weekly maintenance cleanings is also essential to keeping your travertine shower from looking dull and lifeless. It may be necessary in older travertine showers to polish your travertine tiles to bring back the original beauty of the travertine shower tiles. A stone restoration professional contractor should be used for any travertine polishing, honing and restoration procedures.
Depending on the look you desire from your travertine there are various types of matte or glossy polishing options available. Polishing or honing travertine is a difficult task and should only be done by trained stone restoration professionals.
Cleaning, sealing and restoring travertine tile can be a difficult and laborious task. Even with the proper techniques it can still take a long time to complete and not look as clean as you wanted. You may want to hire a professional tile and grout cleaning and restoration contractor to clean your travertine tiles for you.
You can read some valuable information and tips on how to hire a tile, grout and stone cleaning and restoration contractor at our contractor information page here. Tile Restoration Contractor.