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catdavis_gw

Travertine coping HELP!

catdavis
12 years ago

We are building a raised edge pool with Turkish travertine on the elevated edge. The coping the PB has is a 2" thick Mexican travertine. At first the color looked much different that the Turkish. After sitting in the 100 degree Texas sun a few days, it is much more similar to the Turkish in appearance. My concern is this- is Turkish travertine superior to Mexican? The distributor was there today feeding me a line about what part of the mountain it is quarried from.. blah blah blah... Initially the PB said Turkish was the way to go

If any one has had problems with Mexican travertine as coping or has any input, I would appreciate it.

Comments (4)

  • kspoolman
    12 years ago

    I think the initial line about Turkish stone being the way to go was where the bs was flying.

    My experience is that Turkish and Mexican are pretty close in quality. Some of the Mexican stone from a quarry near Torreon is particularly good.

    If I had to rank em, the Italian stone is best, followed by Persian, then on equal footing, Turkish and Mexican.
    Normally I would take a little drop in overall quality by using Turkish or Mexican for a BIG drop in pricing.
    I can buy twice as much stone and cull out the junk.

    Its true that the portion of the quarry the stone is cut from will have some bearing on quality. Typically its more about density and lack of voids in the stone than overall quality, but there is some validity to that statement.

    Hope that helps.

  • catdavis
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks kspoolman. That is good information. The quality of the stone in person looks similar. They are talking about acid washing the Turkish to get the color closer to the Mexican. Apparently, the Mexican coping is acid washed before it is shipped. The acid wash sample they did this pm does darken it nicely.

    Any experience with acid washing?
    What part of the country are you in? We are in Texas and most PBs here use the Turkish or Mexican travertine... Maybe they just enjoy the bigger profit margin ;)

  • kspoolman
    12 years ago

    Sure, a light acid wash is ok.

    Just make sure its rinsed well. Any remaining acid will eat up the travertine.

    So use a LIGHT acid to water ratio, then HEAVY rinsing.

    If that doesnt get it, there are some good stone enhancers that darken up the stone a bit. I always test a few pieces to make sure they will absorb the enhancer. It needs to penetrate, not sit on the surface of the stone.

    I am in Texas as well. Houston area.

    And yeah, your PB is probably getting a better margin using these stones, but probably not much. When i use them, my margin doesnt really increase all that much, it just allows me more leeway to cull out the less attractive pieces without having to charge more for all the waste.

  • catdavis
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks again kspoolman. This travertine seems to change day by day. We are waiting until everything is completed and washed down and cleaned off before deciding to go with acid washing.