Travertine tiles belong to the high-end class of flooring material that is more expensive than granite. If you want your house to have that classy and “expensive” look, you should consider installing them. But how good of a material is travertine? In this article, we’re going to talk more about travertine tiles and whether you should use them to tile your home.
Travertine tiles are cut from travertine, a limestone that is usually found in hot springs. They were first used by the Romans in their heyday but their magic still works until today. Untreated, travertine is actually fibrous and comes in different earthy shades of cream, white, tan and rust.
As a flooring material, travertine tiles are NOT for everyone. If they are unpolished, they can easily trap dirt and are difficult to clean, however, they have good traction and you won’t ever have to worry about slipping on the floor. If they are polished, they are slippery, although they look more vibrant because of their patina. Thus said, if you have pets or young children at home, you should NOT install travertine tiles. Find other flooring material to use.
Travertine tiles, however, do lend themselves well to mosaics and their beauty is really par for the course. (They’re not more expensive than granite for nothing.)
If you’re going to use travertine tiles for your floor, prepare yourself for the cost involved in installing it, and the work needed to maintain it. These tiles are not cheap and we have seen websites that sell 1×1 tiles for $31 per piece, although we have seen websites that sell them for $15 per piece.
Aside from being sold in polished and unpolished form, travertine tiles also come in tumbled form. Tumbled tiles have a fatter patina, making the colours look more subdued, giving them an antique look. They also have rounded edges and corners, and are not slippery.
Travertine tiles can have a matte or shiny finish, depending on the process involved in treating the stone. If you want a more natural-looking appearance, you should use tumbled travertine tiles.
There’s another type of travertine tiles that have a very distinctive look called the saturnia travertine tiles. These tiles are cut against the grain. The result is a tile that has a cross-cut pattern.
There are many online suppliers of travertine tiles and it is entirely possible to get those tiles for even less than $15 each, just Google “cheap travertine tiles.” But even if you can find cheap tiles, please take note that each tile can weigh up to five pounds each, and you might need to pay more money to have them installed.
It’s important to note that travertine tiles can easily be ruined by acids.
That said, buy only sealed tiles if you’re going to tile your kitchen. Other than that, you should work with an interior designer to decide on a floor design that’s unique to only you.
There are many homeowners out there who love the look of travertine but opt for travertine laminates instead. This is quite understandable considering that the real thing is expensive, heavy and difficult to maintain – unless if you buy a filled tile that doesn’t trap dirt. Travertine laminates are fibre boards that are “printed” with a travertine design.
However, as it is right now, these travertine laminates pale in comparison to the real tiles and your floor will only like travertine FROM A DISTANCE, which really does not say much about the aesthetics of using laminate tiles on your floor.