Travertine/Natural Stone Sealing

Travertine/ Natural Stone Sealing

Imagine your travertine paver pool deck or driveway looking better than the day it was installed. That’s exactly what we do; we specialize in estoring travertine to look it’s best. The best part is, once we finish, we prescribe an easy to follow maintenance plan that you can do to keep it looking this way. If you’re disappointed with the way your travertine pavers look, HIRE US.

Why Seal and Sand Travertine Pavers

Travertine, Limestone and Natural Stone Pavers – Unlike concrete pavers, travertine and limestone pavers are natural. No color pigment has been used to achieve their color, so you will never have to worry about color loss from natural stone. However, rain and salt in the air and in salt water pools will deteriorate travertine and limestone pavers over time. By sealing the travertine tiles, this will help prevent this from happening. Properly protected, these types of materials will outlive the home and very little restoration repair will be needed . Unprotected when exposed to these elements, expect them to last as long as man made products.

Equally as important as sealing travertine, limestone and other natural stones is keeping the sand material locked in the joints or gaps between each stone. This is assuming these stones were sand set and not mortar set. On sand set natural stone installations, the sand must be installed in the joints for several reasons.

A few are:

To create a cushion from one stone to the next to help minimize chipping.
Achieve friction between each stone so that the stones move up and down as one and not independent of each other causing unevenness.
The sand in the joints prevents heavy rains and cleaning from washing out and eroding the sand bed beneath the pavers. This is the leading cause to unevenness between one stone to the next. We see it often where a client has a travertine pool deck full of uneven stones. The thing they all have in common is, the joints are empty from frequent pressure washing or neglect.
When the joints are empty, they are prone to fill up with airborne organic material that blows across the stones and begins to collect. This organic material turns the gaps between your stones in to a mold and vegetation breading ground.

To combat all of this, our process on natural stone includes carefully washing out the organic build up and sand from the joints and replacing it with our ASTM-C144 grade joint stabilizing angular sand which will lock itself in the joints preventing erosion of both the sand joint and the sand bed beneath the pavers.

Help Prevent Mold and Bacteria Growth

With a deep chemical wash diluted enough to not affect surrounding plant life, but strong enough to kill organic growth, mildew, weeds, etc on the travertine stone. To help minimize the growth of this mold and bacteria, we seal the pavers using a specialized sealer designed for natural stone. This sealer soaks down in to the pores of the paver filling the void so that it’s harder for mold to grow. The sealer will also keep the surface cleaner by allowing dirt and debris to easily rinse off the surface during rains similar to a waxed car. And, as a bonus, the sealer will enhance the colors in your travertine a bit making it look even better than when it was installed.

It’s important to not seal travertine using traditional concrete or paver sealers. These sealers are thick and travertine is very dense. This means the sealer will simply lie on the surface creating a very, very slippery surface. In addition, the sealer to travertine bond will break down quickly causing your sealer to turn white. Then the sealer will need to be stripped, which can be very costly.

This is why we’ve developed a special sealing process and product specifically for sealing travertine. . Our sealer is an impregnating sealer that soaks down in to the travertine and protects from within. It is also microporous, meaning it allows moisture and water to transfer in and out of the stone. This is a natural process that you do not want to prevent. Florida has a high water table level and water is always trying to escape the surface, don’t trap it in.

Our process allows you to do the necessary maintenance on travertine which is what helps keep the mold away. We will educate you on the necessary maintenance that you need to do to keep your outdoor travertine looking great.

Will Sealing Travertine Pavers Make Them Slippery?

The main reason many people have chosen not to seal travertine pavers is due to the threat of increased slipperiness. This is a valid concern, however, our travertine sealing process are penetrating sealers designed for the use on travertine pavers and will not make travertine pavers as slippery as traditional paver sealers. If slippery is a concern, we offer Natural Look sealer which is not slippery at all. We offer two travertine options, Natural and Enhanced. We will show you a sample of both options so that you can make an informed decision about which is best for you.

Do You Repair Travertine Pavers?

Yes! It’s very common for a travertine pool deck or travertine driveway to need repairs completed prior to sanding and sealing. These repairs often include fixing uneven/un-level pavers, cracked pavers, settled and shifting pavers and many other repairs. We can address these concerns and repair them correctly.

Hiring Shine and Shield is easy

It’s very easy – Just takes 3 easy steps:

Step 1. Call us 813-600-9490 or share your contact info with us here so that we can contact you to discuss your project and schedule an estimate.

Step 2. We’ll visit your home, walk the project with you and discuss what you can expect from our process.

Step 3. We will provide an on-site estimate and discuss scheduling options so that we can get your travertine looking great again as quickly as possible.

That’s it, the next step is for our crew to arrive to begin your project. Our process on travertine takes 2 days. We need to let the travertine dry out for a day after we clean before coming back to seal and install the joint sand with ASTM-C144 gradation back in to the joints for stabilization, properly and seal with a premium proprietary sealer we specifically developed travertine sealing. An impregnating blend to fill to capillaries of the porous stone and repel water, while mitigating organic growth.

Our service area includes: the Tampa Bay area, Lutz, Westchase, Carrolwood, Northdale, Citrus Park, Odessa, Land O Lakes, Temple Terrace, Wesley Chapel, West Tampa, South Tampa, New Tampa, Tampa Palms, Riverview, New Tampa, Seffner, Brandon, Apollo Beach, Valrico, Fish Hawk, Bloomingdale, and more.