Travertine stone floor tiles

[FlamedToACrisp]

I love the look of these for a country cottage kitchen. Will I regret it? Do they stain? Do they clean up properly after spills?

[Dogsandbabies]

They stain easily and can't withstand most cleaners, so you have to pay for specialist cleaning products.

I used travertine once in a bathroom and I won't be using it ever again.

[Yewtown]

Have a look at limestone. It is much more durable. I have it on my entire ground floor. It's easy to clean with a steam mop.

[SingingBabooshkaBadly]

Don’t do it Flamed. We had a travertine bathroom at one time and, like dogsandbabies, we wouldn’t touch the stuff again. It looked lovely at first but was so difficult to clean. One morning, when the bathroom was only six months old, I got up to find a bottle of shower cleaner had leaked. It burned three holes right through the tile and took the surface layer off a large area.

[nomdeguerrrr]

I've had travertine before and as others have said it's a nightmare to clean. Tumbled or unfilled travertine is particularly difficult as it traps dirt.

You can get fairly realistic porcelain replicas of stone including travertine. Porcelain you can steam and bleach and generally attack with anything. It's the way forward

[FlamedToACrisp]

why would anyone make a kitchen floor out of something that couldn't withstand normal cleaning products?

Thanks, ladies - I have taken travertine off my mood board!

[Zilla1]

What authentic stone tiles would anyone recommend then? I understand granite is generally tough and limestone not.

[WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat]

Yes I had Tavertine in a bathroom and made the mistake of using viakal on it, and it just consumes the tile. But was 'luckily' sold some very expensive special cleaner by the tiler to avoid the problem in future. Next time ceramic tiles for me!

[ZaraCarmichaelshighheels]

Never again! they are the biggest most expensive mistake I have ever made, you can’t clean them with any floor cleaner at all, they stain pretty much instantly, would love to rip them up and put down normal ceramic or porcelain tiles.

[Mosaic123]

Porcelain is bullet proof. I did sn experiment with the sample of porcelain tile I intended to use fur a floor. I put a blob of blue loo cleaner, olive oil and tomato ketchup on the tile over night. On the morning they washed off with water under the tap. No staining at all. Then I ordered the tiles.

[Wanderlustnearorfar]

We have travertine tiles in the bathroom and we were advised to coat them with natural tile sealer they are still going strong and have been subject to hair dye and tan disasters and I use most cleaning products without worrying about it. Our slate floor is another matter never looks bloody clean

[SunshineChatter]

I have travertine in the living room and conservatory. The colour and 'pattern' is lovely but they look 'patchy' - as if pools of water had dried up on it. I've had it professionally cleaned a few times, at a cost of around £600 every time and still nothing. They aren't matt, they aren't shiny. Stay well clear.