The below is an excerpt from an interview with Jason Johonnesson, co-owner of IMS Texas:

Two commonly used natural stones for commercial real estate are travertine and limestone. The main difference between travertine and limestone is that although they’re made up of the exact same stuff they’re formed differently. Limestone is made up obviously of lime, that’s why it’s called limestone.

Travertine is also made up of that, but it’s formed by the precipitation of water, therefore limestone you might often find to be very porous, very absorbent material, requiring some pretty frequent maintenance. A lot of times you see water rings in it because a flood has occurred or a fountain has leaked and the limestone has turned a dark brown with water rings around it and such. It is a very absorbent material. Travertine on the other hand, I hear people call it porous quite often. I have not met porous travertine yet. After two decades of doing stone restoration, I still have not found any porous travertine. This stuff is formed by water. It is extremely dense and resistant to water. That is where it has spent its entire life. I have yet to find a piece of travertine that has been stained. I have seen etched travertine, that’s different, but actually stained, I have not found it. Because of that, because of its resistance to moisture it’s a great stone to use in applications where there’s going to be a lot of moisture, whether it’s a sauna, maybe a swimming pool, a hot tub, a bathroom.

Travertine is a great material to use as opposed to limestone, with a very similar look to limestone. Typically I tell people it has quite a few patches in it. They are surprised to hear it and I say, “no, really.” There might be a hundred patches on that single tile and they think I’m absolutely crazy. If I could ever just flip over the tile and show them then they would see that I am actually telling them the truth. And you could see what it looks like naturally that it actually needs to be patched and filled in order to get a smooth surface. It’s not at all absorbent. It’s a very dense form of limestone. That would be the best way to think about it.

And then the pros and cons to this. The pro is that it is a very easy stone to maintain. Both limestone and travertine, as far as scratch and finish maintenance goes, it’s very soft, it’s not as expensive as marble, definitely not as expensive as granite. It’s a very common material so there are a lot of products on the market to target the maintenance of this type of stone. Matte finish limestone is a great selection when you want that soft matte look in a building, that warm look in a building as opposed to the colder, glossier look that a marble might give you. And then the travertine is great for virtually the same thing and in addition to, around areas where there’s fountains, or any type of moisture being used. Travertine itself does not typically accept a seal, so you don’t ever really need to seal the travertine for the sake of the travertine, but it’s good to go through the motions and seal it so that the filler is sealed and so that the grout is sealed. So if you’ve ever hired anyone to seal your travertine it was a good way to seal the grout.

If you have a travertine, limestone or other natural stone floor and need it polished, finished, maintained or restored, call IMS Texas at (214) 351-9390.