Travertine is a limestone-type natural stone formed when hot mineral spring water filters through the stone. This formation process produces holes and voids in the stone, giving it a unique look. Travertine tiles are a specific-sized natural stone material made from giant blocks cut in vein-cut and cross-cut types. Ideal for indoor and outdoor usage at homes and offices, these tiles get a smoother surface through fillers. This guide highlights almost all aspects of travertine tiles, including their unique features, types, usages, colors, finishes, sizes, patterns, and technical specifications. These details will help travertine enthusiasts better understand the unique natural stone.
What is Travertine Tile?
A travertine tile is a natural stone tile formed by the precipitation of calcium carbonate minerals from mineral-rich waters, typically found in limestone caves, hot springs, or geothermal regions. Known for its unique veining and texture, travertine tiles are prized for their timeless elegance and durability, making them a popular choice for both indoor and outdoor flooring, countertops, and wall cladding.
Unique Features of Travertine Tiles
Travertine stone, composed of calcite and gypsum, is usually light in appearance. There are also some dark varieties available in brown and even black. About 99% of the minerals that form it are colorless. On the other hand, the remaining 1% shows signs of brown iron, yellow sulfur, and organic pigments. These elements render a soft tonal range to the stone in honey, beige, or pink hues.
Apart from color features, this stone is also known for its fibrous and porous texture. The stone gets this sort of texture due to gas bubbles trapped between the layers of stone. These bubbles create spherical hollows, pores, or cavities. Resistance, durability, ease of cleaning, and aesthetics are other characteristics of the stone than colors and texture. Travertine stone has great durability and long-lasting ability.
Travertine stone tile resists bending and external agents. These agents can be abrasion, humidity, thermal shock, or aggressive agents. You can easily see this stone mounted on centuries-old buildings. Moreover, it does not deteriorate over time. It is easy to clean with little effort. You cannot raise a question concerning the elegance and personality of travertine stone. You can expect exclusive and peaceful environments in areas where it is installed.
Interesting Facts About Travertine Tiles
1 – Travertine tile is a type of limestone (sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate) formed in hot mineral springs worldwide.
2 – Another Name for Travertine is ‘Lapis Tiburtinus,” derived from Tibur, now Tivoli, the name of the ancient Italian city Tibur, now Tivoli, with roots beyond Roman times.
3 – Travertine comes from natural stone quarries in Turkey, China, and the Middle East.
4 – Travertine blocks are mined using a variety of methods.
5 – Travertine stone comes with naturally occurring holes and troughs. These unique elements make travertine tile unique.
6 – Travertine experts can fill these holes and toughs. Travertine can also be left unfilled to give the stone a natural look
7 – You will find travertine stone widely used across Europe, back into history
8 – It is widely available in a variety of colors and hues.
9 – It is also produced in a variety of styles.
10 – It is easy to find travertine tiles in an extensive size range.
11 – You can use travertine for indoor and outdoor purposes.
12 – North America’s most notable Travertine formation is Yellowstone National Park.
Travertine Tile Technical Specifications
The following table depicts standard data and information about the technical aspects of travertine tiles. ASTM International provides some minimum or maximum ranges of value.
| Physical properties | Range of value |
| Compressive Strength (C170) lbs/in² | 5,000 -10,500 (5,000 interior and 7,500 exterior) |
| Flexural Strength (C880) lbs/in² | 600-1,500 (500 interior and 500 exterior) |
| Modulus of Elasticity (in millions) lbs/in² | 2.0-15.0 |
| Density, lb/ft3 (C97) | 140-165; Recommended (min): 144 |
| Modulus of Rupture (C99) lbs/in² | 500-1,500 Recommended (min): 700 (interior) and 700 (exterior) |
| Absorption, by weight % (C97) | 0.10-2.5 Recommended (max): 2.5 |
| Abrasion Resistance (C241) (Ha) | 7-25 Recommended (min): 10 |
Places to Use Travertine Tile
Stone experts make a travertine tile ready to use at travertine factories through cleaning, finishing, and polishing. Then, it becomes useful for outdoor and indoor purposes; you can easily see them installed on façades, wall cladding, and flooring in different colors and patterns. They are widely used for domestic and commercial indoor and outdoor projects. Indoor travertine projects include floors, showers, kitchens, walls and ceilings. On the other hand, outdoor travertine projects include pool decks, patio areas, driveways, walkways, and facades.
Perfect Areas for Travertine Tile Usage
Whether you opt for commercial or domestic décor projects, you can use travertine stone. Some perfect areas for travertine tile usage are:
- Commercial dining floor
- Commercial floor
- Covered exterior floor in freezing and non-freezing climates
- Covered exterior wall freezing and non-freezing climates
- Fireplace facade
- Kitchen counter
- Pool deck
- Residential and commercial wall
- Residential floor
- Shower floor
- Shower wall
- Stove area
- Uncovered exterior floor in non-freezing climates
- Uncovered exterior walls in non-freezing climates
Not to Use Travertine Stone Areas
There are also some areas where travertine stone may not overcome your expectations. It may happen due to extreme weather conditions and other technical factors. Avoiding these areas while planning to décor your home or office with travertine is good.
- Inside pool
- Pool waterline
- SPA / hot tub
- Steam shower
- Uncovered exterior floor freezing climates
- Uncovered exterior wall freezing climates
- UV/ sun exposure sensitive
You can also get help from travertine experts to better understand where to use travertine tiles and where not to use them.
Natural vs Faux Travertine Tile
Sometimes, travertine sounds like marble, but the story is different. Antique marble gets a superb surface after processing at natural stone factories, with a new finish, edges, and mechanical treatment. Geologically, limestone and travertine are almost the same, but marble is different.
You may also get a travertine stone with marble-like features and characters. It may happen due to the presence of veins, swirls, and waves exposed on the stone’s surface after a complete treatment process. Natural stone experts can easily help you find a suitable natural stone, not faux.
Faux travertine tiles are made from residues of travertine stone and other materials using adhesives. This process also takes time and gives you a perfect and pre-fixed look.
Common Travertine Tile Types
In the open market, you can choose a travertine tile based on its color, size, design, pattern, or price range. When it comes to knowing more about common types of travertine stone tiles, indoor and outdoor are the two broad categories. These categories let you know where to use the stone for interior and exterior decoration. This natural stone makes its presence felt from floors to walls and patio to bathroom. Indoor travertine tile includes floor tile, kitchen tile, fireplace tile, bathroom tile, backsplash tile, and accent tile. On the other hand, outdoor travertine tile can be placed at and around patios, walkways, pavers, and pools.
Travertine tiles for Indoor
- Backsplash tile
- Travertine bathroom tile
- Travertine fireplace tile
- Travertine kitchen tile
- Travertine patio tile
- Travertine tile fireplace
- Travertine tile floor
- Travertine tile patio
Travertine tiles for Outdoor
- Accent tile
- Backsplash
- Pavers
- Shower
- Tiles around pools
- Travertine tile for pool deck
Naturally-refined Travertine Tile Colors
Like marble and granite, travertine also comes in a wide range of light to dark colors. Owing to the varying amounts of iron oxides, travertine gets tan, brown, and red shades. Iron staining also gives a unique color variation to travertine rocks. Travertine also gets other color types due to the inclusion of minerals and variations in banding colors. It also changes the volume and conduits, chemistry of invading fluids, and alternating wet and dry climatic cycles. The following are some popular and in-demand colors for travertine tiles.
- Silver, ivory, and white travertine tile
- Dark and light-toned travertine tiles
- Beige, black, and noce travertine tiles
- Walnut, gold, brown, and red travertine tiles
These colors are ideal for adding a rustic or classic style and sophistication to all indoor and outdoor spaces.
Travertine Tile Finishes for Character
You cannot install a rough and natural travertine stone directly from the quarry until it is adequately finished at travertine factories. All travertine surfaces are not the same, and the same happens due to tile finish types, including tumbled, polished, honed, chiseled, fluted, and bullnose travertine tile. Although a long list of travertine tile finishes is available for residential and commercial applications, the following five typical finish types catch all eyes.
Polished: It is the most common finish type, giving a glossy surface to travertine tile and countertops. Ultimately, this finish brings out the full character and color of the travertine.
Honed: After a polished finish, the honed finish catches all eyes, providing a satin smooth surface with little or no gloss.
Smooth: When you are interested in having an even, flat, level finish where you find no bumps or roughness on the surface, a smooth finish comes to your rescue.
Sawn: If you are attracted to the natural elements of the travertine stone, then the swan finish gives you a rough surface. Swan finish is known for delivering a comparatively rough surface. For an original look, you can opt for chat, shot, sand, or diamond-sawn in this category.
Filled or Unfilled: When natural stone is used for horizontal applications, filled or unfilled finishes are given higher value. Travertine stone for horizontal applications is filled with an epoxy or cementitious fill similar in color to the background color of the travertine.
Popular Travertine Sizes for Tiles
Travertine is a natural stone product with many varieties. Every stone product is readily available and possesses varying characteristics. Stone experts can add more perfection to stone surfaces at travertine processing units. When it comes to choosing a particular travertine stone, the size of the stone becomes a pivotal factor. The size and length of tiles available in the competitive market largely depend upon the changing needs of buyers.
Although some standard sizes exist, you can opt for cut-to-size stone tiles to satisfy your stone installation needs. One should consult stone experts to clarify the specific size information for a particular stone. Below are some popular Travertine tile size options available for commercial and residential construction usage.
Popular sizes of tiles
- Cut-to-size tiles
- Large format stone tile
- Large travertine tiles
- Small and Medium tiles
- Travertine tile 12×12 and 16×16
- Travertine tile 18×18 and 24×24
- Travertine tile 4×4, 6×6, and 12×12
French, hexagon, herringbone, and Versailles are some of the most common travertine tile patterns.
How to Make Most of Travertine Tile Usage and Variation?
Travertine stone catches all eyes due to its unique features, benefits, and utility for homeowners and commercial establishment owners. Before bringing home loads of tiles to give any space a new look, it is vital to know the right specific application environment with travertine experts.
Tile Usage
Light Duty – Light-duty natural stone products are suitable for interior residential uses, excluding steam showers. Moreover, travertine stones in this category are not recommended for commercial paving applications. But you can use residential pavers to some extent for light use commercial interior vertical applications.
Medium Duty – Medium-duty stones are helpful for all interior residential applications. These applications include flooring, countertops, and patio areas. Travertine stones are also suitable for many commercial applications, including interior and exterior flooring.
Heavy Duty – The third major category is a tough stone equally suitable for light and medium-duty applications, including most interior and exterior commercial applications. Residential and commercial flooring are a part of heavy traffic areas as they require maximum durability.
Note that some medium and heavy-duty stones are unsuitable for exterior applications with prevalent freeze/thaw conditions. It is also likely that some medium-duty stones used as countertops are susceptible to scratching or etching. In addition, light, medium, and heavy traffic denote pedestrian traffic only. The performance of a stone-bearing vehicular traffic is not the same as a stone that bears pedestrian traffic.
Variation and Uniformity Codes
Natural stones are gems of nature coming from travertine quarries in the form of big blocks. Then, blocks are divided into smaller blocks. Travertine factories cut smaller blocks into countertops and tiles as per standard usage. Interestingly, there are no two pieces that are exactly alike. It is the color variation that makes this stone look enticing. Even two blocks from the same quarries can differ in looks, veins, and swirls.
Color variation plays a vital role in giving the stone a unique look. Due to this unique natural variation and inclusion, you will never find samples and photographs of the stone. That is why you should inspect travertine tiles and slabs before installation.
Limited Variation – Travertine stones in this category are relatively uniform in background color, movement, and veining.
Moderate Variation – Stones in this category exhibit some variation in veining, background color, and movement. You are advised to blend stone materials during installation to ensure satisfactory results.
Wide Variation – This travertine category shows a wide range of color variation, movement, and veins. It will be good to blend travertine materials during installation to achieve satisfactory results.
Antique Variation – Finally, the antique variation category includes tumbled stones that exhibit exaggerated color variation with uneven or chipped edges. They may also vary in terms of size and thickness. Again, you can blend these stone materials to achieve a better output.
Travertine Tile vs Marble Tiles
The above passages have clearly shown what travertine tiles are. Before jumping to conclusions, comparing this stone product with other stone options like marble is essential. Travertine has unique features that make it ideal for homes looking for cost-effective flooring solutions. On the other hand, marble is a popular choice, but it can add a burden to your pocket. Simply check stone structure, chemical composition, and mineral facts before choosing a natural stone like travertine and marble. Here is a general comparison between the two stone types.
| Difference Points | Travertine | Marble |
| Color scheme | Light cream to darker beige or brown tones | Light and dark hues and anything in between |
| Stone structure | Porous and soft | Dense and harder |
| Haptic and processing | Tumbled for a velvety feel | Ground or polished for a more defined look. |
| Laying | Thin-bed method (5mm adhesive) for small/medium formats | Thick-bed method (>10mm adhesive) for large formats |
| Cleaning | Mild or alkaline cleaners | Brushing with a soft broom or transparent water |
| Style | Rustic or Mediterranean design | Classical style |
| Heat conduction | Covered interior and exterior areas | Covered as well as uncovered interior and exterior areas |
| Mining areas | Italy, Greece, and Turkey | Italy, India, and Brazil |
Conclusion
Travertine stone tiles are a perfect addition to all indoor and outdoor projects. From style to sophistication to beauty, tiles made of travertine stone make all space go alive. Travertine tiles are suitable for interior and exterior usage due to their inherent physical and chemical features. You can easily buy them from the competitive market. All the details of the stone product discussed in the guide, like unique features, types, usages, colors, finishes, sizes, patterns, and technical specifications, will help travertine lovers better understand it.
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