Travertine

Travertine is a sedimentary limestone formed where mineral-rich water deposits calcium carbonate, usually at a hot spring. The gas escaping during that process leaves the voids that define the material — the pitting you can see and feel across the face.

Those voids are the specification. Travertine is sold filled or unfilled, and cut in two directions, and those two decisions change the material more than the colour does.

Where it performs

• Exterior paving, pool decks and patios, where light-coloured stone stays cooler underfoot than a dark one
• Interior flooring in residential and hospitality work
• Wall cladding and feature walls
• Bathroom surrounds, where the surface is not exposed to acid

What to watch

• **Vein-cut against cross-cut is a real decision.** Cut across the bedding, travertine reads as linear bands; cut with it, it reads as open, cloudier rosettes. They look like two different materials. Specify which, and see a slab of it.
• **Filled or unfilled changes maintenance.** Filler is resin or cement and it is not permanent — it can pop out under traffic, and it takes polish differently to the stone around it. Unfilled holds dirt and needs a different cleaning regime.
• It is a carbonate and it etches. Acid will mark it, and it is porous enough to stain without a sealer.
• Colour varies substantially by quarry and by lot. On a run of any size, reserve together.

Finishes

Honed is the most common and the most forgiving. Tumbled softens the edges and suits a rustic or exterior specification. Brushed adds texture and slip resistance. Polished is available but shows etching plainly and is uncommon on floors.

Thickness

2cm and 3cm in slab. Travertine is also widely sold as tile and as paver, in which case thickness follows the tile format rather than the slab convention.