Hallo everybody,
Roger schrieb:
- How strong is it? (It is, after all, full of holes....)
- Should we fill the holes? With what?
- How slippery is it?
- Are there different qualities (grades) of travertine? How to
judge?
- Would travertine be a good candidate for electric radiant heating?
- Any other particulars that we should be aware of?
Not very strong, has to be laid by an expert for full support, to prevent
cracking. Porous, attracts mould, soft, scratches easily. Basically a
calcite/gypsum hot spring or cave deposit. I would suggest another material
for areas that get wet. Travertine can be a beautiful floor, but would
rather see it in hallways or away from heavy traffic and moisture.
Have you considered cork? Not a good conductor, for radiant heating, but
very good for the warm springy feel under bare feet.
If you go with stone or tile, marble is a bit more durable than travertine,
and things like granite and gneiss are super hard and waterproof.
We choose tiles in "cream" for our house, "Feinsteinzeug" from Cotto
DŽEste (
www.cottodeste.it). The tiles are calibrated, which means they
are cut again after burning for exact fitting. You can place them with
almost no space between the rows, so it looks similar to real stonefloors.
We are very happy with that decision.
Excuse pidging-english
Karin