i have travertine flooring in the kitchen, hallway, foyer, laundry room and all the bathrooms. I only used hot water and a mop or by hand for the first four years or so. i never felt like the floor was clean, so i started to use just a drop of floor cleaner, and just a drop, and this probably made no difference in cleaning the floor. We had the floor resealed a year ago; i'm on the fence about how often to have this done; I hear so many different stories. My friend bought the Shark Steam Mop and after four months of debating whether to buy it or not, i did and it really cleans the floors well. After mopping it four times, over 3 weeks, the pads are not as black anymore. The only problem is that I have streaks and I'm not sure if it's because of the stone; my friend has tile and never has streaks and we both use distilled water.

As far as pitting, it's been almost six years that we had the floor installed and we are just now starting to see pitting. I was told this will happen over time. We have the stone that is very smooth (honed?) and the holes had been filled in and over time, they start to pit.

krad,

Thank you for the info. I'll suggest a steam mop to her. Her stone is smooth too, but has rather large pitting. I think it gives the floor character IMO.
She is concerned about "cleaning" the floor with more than water as she has an abundant amt. of this stone flooring and attempting to use hot water for the entire mopping process is difficult.
Oh, what is the approx. cost of a steam mop? Thanks!

I agree that the pitting gives character, but I also look at it and think I have holes in my floor! My husband said he can easily patch it up with some grout stuff. of course that will never happen!

i bought the Shark Steam Mop @ Kohl's on sale for 71.99 (reg price 79.99); plus Kohl's always has coupons! I love it for the travertine and i've been noticing the streaks fade. Last week my son dropped an entire jar of Salsa on the floor; you know those large plastic bottles from Costco! i wasn't home and he cleaned it all up and had sense enough to use rags from the laundry room. The salso left a mark on the floor (anything with acid will do it) but i moved the dog bed to that spot so my husband wouldn't notice and i've been steam mopping it and it's really faded; you have to really look to see it. I think our floor is Durango and I love it; when it's not clean (in between mopping) you can't really notice the dirt marks! - Karen

I was told by a travertine store owner to only use PH balanced products. He preferes Simple Green.

We were told to never ever use steam on the tiles. Maybe check on this. They will look cloudy and the shine will be uneven.
Also no vinegar or acidic substances