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Flooring Design Dilemma Before & After

Has anyone tried to darken travertine tile?

5 years ago

We're trying to match our old traverterine floor with new travertine tiles but they are lighter. Ive read some ways online about dying travertine. Has anyone used olive oil, dye, enhanced sealer, or other methods to make travertine darker? Does it even work

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Comments (5)

SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
You might want to try to STRIP the sealer from the OLD travertine to see if it will LIGHTEN the old. Once you have the old products off of the travertine, you can then see how close the two stones really are. Old sealants used to darken over time. This was especially true if the floors were WAXED. Wax slowly turns yellow/orange/dirt-coloured over time. If you remove the wax/sealants you can often LIGHTEN the stone (back to original colour).

Start with two "raw" stones and see how close you can get. Seal both at the same time.
lotuspringsen thanked SJ McCarthy
lotuspringsen
Original Author
5 years ago
Great idea. Thanks!
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lotuspringsen
Original Author
5 years ago
What do you do to lighten the travertine
SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
You bring in a stone specialist to STRIP or GRIND OFF the original finish. Often times they do a bit of both. They then polish up the stone that they have just worked on (fresh, raw stone without any sealant/protection) and then get it ready to receive more sealant.

It normally isn't DIY level. But it is MUCH healthier than attempting to stain a porous stone like travertine (which is almost guaranteed to cause massive upset).
lotuspringsen thanked SJ McCarthy
PRO
Corrados Design Center
5 years ago
Apply a small amount of water to the lighter stone, with a tissue or sponge. If you like how that looks (if it is dark enough) that's how it will look if you apply Miracle 511 Seal and Enhance. We stock and use Miracle products, and highly recommend them. Good luck!

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