The short answer to the question "Are travertine tiles good for a floor?" is yes, but. Travertine tiles have been used for flooring for centuries. In fact, if you have an iconic picture of an old style Roman bath in your mind then you are probably picturing travertine. Many people are of the mistaken assumption that most everything in Ancient Rome was made of marble but this is just not the case. Marble was reserved for statuary, civic buildings, and temples. The average construction material was actually travertine stone which at the time was quarried not 60 miles from Rome.

Many of the buildings that were constructed with travertine are still standing so you can see that it is a very long lasting building material. Travertine flooring is becoming very popular in the US, and for good reason. It is very beautiful and easy to install but there is one aspect that you need to be aware of.

Travertine floor tiles are made out of a sedimentary rock unlike marble which is a formed metamorphic rock. What this means is marble has been heated and compressed under the ground for thousands of years and its mineral structure has been changed. Marble originally started as a sediment but the intense pressure and temperatures bonded the molecules in a way that makes the stone very hard, dense, and impermeable.

Sedimentary stones, on the other hand, are not as dense and they usually have very small pockets and voids which were formed by air pockets. These voids give these tiles their light weight but they also allow liquids to enter. If a colored liquid is spilled on one of these tiles then it most likely with cause a stain if the tile surface is not sealed. This is not a big deal and sealing every few years can be done in a few hours.

Another way to solve this problem is to use filled travertine tiles. These tiles actually have a man made material injected into the voids which closes them off to contamination. The material is a light tan so it blends well with the tile colors since they are usually composed of light brown earth tones.

If you are thinking of tiling an entryway, a kitchen, or a bathroom then these tiles can give a very nice old world appeal. Another popular use is to tile the entire shower area with this stone. It really makes you feel like you are in a Roman bath from Italy. Whatever use you decide for these cut stone tiles, there are some tips you need to make your project work out to perfection.