Joe,

 

I’ve been out of town for the past 6 days with limited internet service, I reviewed my emails and cannot find  any pictures to go along with this, can you resend them to me so I could offer my option and comments.

John E. Freitag

President/Director

The Stone and Tile School

Office 407-567-7652

Cell 407-615-0134

jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com

 

 

www.thestoneandtileschool.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clients expectations are high …..and the home is new. I’ve considered sanding along the wood trim with a orbital sander, then blend. Each area is 32” x 32” or less. I could use a rotary floor machine and cut the velocity pads (aka:  Turbo, Twister, Monkey-pad, Alpha-pad, ect.) down to fit a 10” drive pad. I think a 800 grit (white) followed by a 1500 grit (yellow) velocity pad would do the trick. The smaller areas along walls could be worked with a sanding block. Cutting the velocity pads down would provide a smaller foot print and allow the machine to avoid the lippage as much as possible. I don’t think leveling the floor would be a good idea, the wood trim is not flush with the tile surface now and leveling could make it worse.

I’m encouraging the homeowner to have the wood trim removed and replaced. The trim is faded in areas, I think the grout acted as a poultice and pulled some of the color out. The grout is powdery and cracking along the trim. I assume the wood absorbed the water and the grout did not cure correctly. The trim also has sealer/enhancer along the edges. I don’t thinks it’s worth salvaging ……. If people want to use wood with stone, they should attach it with Velcro!

The job is located about 300 miles away, so I’ve only had one opportunity to evaluate the floor. The owner does not want to do mockup, in case they decide not to go forward. I don’t want to turn any work away …….. revenue is way down.

Not sure how to price the job …… On average I can complete (clean, seal & hone/polish) about 300 sq ft of Travertine a day. In this situation I don’t think I could complete more than 100 – 150 sq ft a day with the trim removed. I spoke to the owners yesterday and their eagerly awaiting a proposal.

Joe

 

 

 

 

This one is going  to be good- I can’t wait to see all the replies and I will add – all are probably very good ideas, depends on your skill and what the client’s expectations are.

 

Get carbide grit screens and try simply sand the sealer and dirt off. It is sold in various grits. You can probably rent one from a local shop, it also has a vacuum attachment so no mess.  But the client will have to accept a slightly rounded edge on the tiles and wood.

 

If , like some of my clients, want a flat floor, then you may not have a choice to do it as you said, but I have done stone insertions laid as your photo with wood inlays.   I made certain the voids between the wood and travertine were filled.  You  then concentrate on the travertine, do a first pass with your preferred diamonds to clean off the film, on travertine I like baby rocks, they are a circular abrasive formation metal bond.  Be sure to have someone close to pick up the water fast concentrating on the joints of the wood inlays.   And you just grind as you normally wood, trying to avoid the wood, but don’t make a headache from it.  Once your done completely to the desired grit you let it all dry, may take a few days, check with a moisture meter.

      The wood should lift in some areas, Then complete the work using the carbide grit screens to get the wood down to the travertine floor finishing at the desired grit.

 

Then all can be resealed and wood varnished as desired

 

 

 

I got a client who just built a new home. They installed 1100 sq ft of travertine combined with wood trim (see photo).  They bought the materials through or from Direct Buy and used Direct Buy’s installation contractor.  Anyway …… the installer didn’t have a clue they used a sponge to  apply Aqua Mix Enrich N Seal and never cleaned up the residue. According to the home owner the installer never cleaned the floor and they can see grout and dirt under the sealer/enhancer as well as foot prints. The owner wants the floor fixed ………. Any ideas on how to work around the wood trim, pricing, ect ? I was thinking about having the wood trim and baseboards removed. The trim has sealer/enhancer on it and I think it would cost less to replace the trim than pay me to work around it. I’ll probably have to level, fill and hone the floor. I was thinking about skipping from area - area with a 13 “ Hawk or would  a DS 301 Planetary Polisher be more effective? Any ideas on pricing ?  Thanks in advance for any help …..

 

Joe

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