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Travertine for pool decks

We are a specialty travertine paver installer. We install travertine pavers in Ohio. We also install in Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan for projects over 1,000 sq ft and beyond for projects over 5,000 sq ft.

For travertine installation, Contact us here. If you’re looking to purchase high quality travertine pavers, click here.

Travertine is the perfect choice for any pool deck. In the last few years, we have been installing more and more travertine pavers around swimming pools which is an absolutely beautiful look.

Before 9/11/2011, 90% of travertine was imported from Italy and the price wasn’t as attractive as it is now. Soon after the 9/11 attack, President Bush dropped the Embargo with Turkey, gave Turkey 20 billion dollars and lowered tariffs (to have military based in Turkey). Now, almost all of Travertine is imported from Turkey and it’s cost is very attractive. You can also find travertine imported from Brazil and India, however, not only is it a lower quality we choose not to purchase travertine imported from these countries because they don’t follow child labor laws.

Travertine Pavers for Pool
travertine pool pavers

Why is travertine good for pool decks

Other than aesthetics, there are many other characteristics that make travertine great for pool decks; its resistance to heat, mold and that it’s slip resistant are just a few. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is a federal code that requires a static coefficient of friction of 0.05. Travertine ranges from 0.06-0.07. To put it into perspective, most concrete pavers rate a 0.07. It’s travertines dimples and cavities that makes it slip resistant. If you plan on sealing your travertine, we recommend that you use a water based sealer and only apply one coat.

Travertine Pavers are able to withstand cold weather conditions given that they have been properly installed and are premium grade. They are not only able to withstand freeze-thaw cycles but also extreme heat, their natural coolness provides an excellent walking surface for bare feet.

Travertine will initially cost more than concrete pavers. However, travertine will keep it’s color indefinitely, compared to other options like stamped concrete or even concrete pavers which will all fade in time.

Travertine Pavers are highly durable; they have been in nature for thousands of years and in freezing temperatures. It is the highest in compressive strength at over 17,000 psi; compared to stamped concrete which is typically 4,000 psi and concrete pavers which range from 7,000 psi – 10,000 psi.

Not all travertine is the same

Different grades

Premium Grade Travertine  – This grade of travertine are selected to have consistent coloring throughout the crates, and the only limitation about holes (again this varies by producer) is either “no large holes” or “no holes/fill all the way through each tile.” They will also specify no chipped or cracked edges, and that the tiles/slabs be the same thickness throughout. It’s important to understand that the dimples and cavities in travertine is natural; you just want to stay away from excessive holes, especially the ones that go all the way through the stone.

Standard Grade Travertine – The definitions are similar to first grade, but each supplier uses looser language. They generally call for consistent color; one advertises “double-filling,” but doesn’t specify if the second fill is done by hand, as is done with their first grade of travertine.  Large filled holes are allowed;  some filled holes through full thickness allowed. This grade is typically what you will buy from most online suppliers even though they claim it to be premium grade because there is no published “official” documentation about grades of travertine therefore the grades are just a matter of opinion.

Commercial Grade –Wide light/dark color variation, with gray or black inclusions allowed. Defects in honing and sizing allowed. Small unfilled holes allowed; no hand filling, large filled voids allowed, non-stop holes allowed (from the bottom to surface). Cracked and broken edges permitted. Delivered without any color selection or sorting.

Typically, the cost of premium travertine delivered will run between $5-$6 per sq ft. Chances are, if you’re paying less than this than you’re probably not getting premium grade travertine. Be weary of the ‘Free’ samples. Often times online suppliers will sort out the best of the best and set those pieces aside for samples. If you’d like to know where we get our travertine, click here.

As you can see, travertine pavers are heat resistant, they won’t burn your feet in hot summer months, they absorb water to help prevent slips and also help prevent flooding – AND THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL especially around pool decks.

Travertine Installation

We offer an installation process that works with the climates found in the midwest. Since most of the travertine enters the US in Florida, most of the published installation procedures are based on that climate. If you’re interested in speaking with us regarding the installation of travertine around your pool deck, we would be happy to help. We primarily offer installation in the Ohio area (Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus), however, we also often install outside of this area for larger projects (1,000 sq ft +). For larger projects we are able to travel to Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana. If you’re project is really large (5,000 sq ft +) we will consider traveling further.

Please contact us here for travertine installation.

If you’re looking to buy high quality travertine pavers, click here for our travertine supplier.


Up and coming trends: Travertine Patios

We install Travertine Patios in Dayton, Mason, and Columbus, Ohio

If you don’t live in our service area (Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus Ohio), we would be happy to share our travertine supplier with you. They have the highest quality travertine pavers, and we’ve tried it all.

Over the past year, we’ve seen a spike in the mid to high end project with travertine. Travertine has been popular for many years indoors, but recently it’s been making it’s way into outdoor living spaces as well.

Here are a couple travertine patios we’ve installed recently.

Travertine Patio in Upper Arlington, OH
Travertine Patio in Upper Arlington, OH
Custom Travertine Patio with Fireplace in Columbus, OH
Check out the travertien acccent border!
Outdoor Fireplace with Travertine Patio in Dublin, OH
Outdoor Fireplace with Travertine Patio in Upper Arlington, OH

Is Travertine Affordable?

Travertine is a beautiful natural stone that is quite affordable compared to other types of natural stone. In fact, it is very comparable to a middle range concrete paver.  Although there are a few places in the world where travertine is imported, the best sources are located in Turkey.

The Travertines in Turkey
The Travertines in Turkey

Travertine comes in a few different color options. Here are just a few. We have others, just don’t have pictures yet.

Popular Travertine Colors
Popular Travertine Colors

Benefits of Travertine Pavers:

Freeze-Thaw Resistant

Travertine Pavers and Tile allow moisture to migrate vertically through the stone, making them ideal for exterior installations in all types of climates.

Strength & Durability

More than twice the strength of concrete.

Cool Under Foot

Even in direct sunlight, Travertine Pavers and Tile stay cooler than other types of man-made and stone paver materials.

No Efflorescence

Unlike cementitious products, Travertine Pavers and Tile are not subject to efflorescence.

Non-Fading

Since Travertine is a natural stone, it is not subject to color fading inherent in other types of man-made pavers.If you would like to explore the idea of a travertine patio with us, we’re ready.

Leave us a comment!


Oklahoma Stone

I wanted to share with you this beautiful Oklahoma Sandstone that our stone guy took pictures of while visiting the quarry. It’s beautiful and does great in this Ohio climate. It will make a great looking patio or pool deck.

read more


Where to buy Travertine pavers

I thought I would blog about a question we’ve been receiving calls about on a daily basis lately. That question is, “where to buy travertine pavers”. I’m sure you can imagine why we’re not chomping at the bit to share our sources – at least not in areas we install travertine. If you’ve done your research then I’m sure you’re aware there is a substantial difference between the different quality grades of travertine. The higher grades are RARELY sold through online suppliers as these suppliers know that people buy from them because they have the cheapest prices. In order to have the cheapest prices, you typically don’t have the best quality – at least in the natural stone world. This makes it very difficult to find high quality travertine in areas like Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, etc. Basically, most of the US.

We’re offering travertine installation in South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina during the months of December, January and February.

It’s taken us some time to search out and find the best sources for turkish travertine pavers. It’s certainly not the cheapest, but definitely among the highest quality travertine you’ll find anywhere in the states. This being said, we’re very hesitant to give out our sources to anyone located within our working area. If you’re located outside of the Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio vicinity we would be happy to help you buy travertine through our sources, however, we currently don’t have the capability to assist via telephone which is why I’m doing this in an attempt to cut back on the calls.

Here’s what we’re willing to do. So that we can verify that you’re not located in our region, please give us your contact information below and we’ll reply with our suppliers information.

Our supplier is willing to direct ship to the following areas: Chicago IL and most of Illinois, Detroit MI and most of Michigan, Toledo OH, Cleveland OH, St Louis MO and most of Missouri, Indianapolis IN and most of Indiana, Milwaukee WI and most of Wisconsin, Minneapolis MN and most of Minnesota, Wichita KS and most of Kansas, Louisville KY and most of Kentucky,  Charleston WV and most of West Virginia, Pittsburgh PA and most of Pennsylvania, Baltimore MD and most of Maryland, Charlotte NC and most of North Carolina, Columbia SC and most of South Carolina, Atlanta GA and most of Georgia, Memphis TN and most of Tennessee, Dallas TX and most of Texas. If you’re city or area isn’t listed, it’s just because our supplier doesn’t have calculated rates for your area. They can still ship to you, they just won’t get as good of a freight rate as the areas listed above.

If you would like to know how to install travertine pavers, click here.

 


How to install travertine pavers

We receive calls on a regular basis asking how to install travertine pavers. There is a lot of controversy floating around the internet about how travertine pavers should be installed in cold climates. Through lot’s of trial and error, we’ve come up with an installation system that has held up great.

Travertine Paver Installation Problems

When we first began installing travertine, we tried to use the same techniques we used to install pavers – gravel base with a sand setting bed. Although this worked ok, we found that over time the sand bed would work its way back up the joints, and although it was in small amounts, it was enough to cause unevenness between each paver. You see, travertine pavers are laid very close together and because they’re so smooth on top, you see every height difference between one paver to the next.

We also noticed that minor heaves in the base would cause unevenness between the pavers over time as well.

There are also some other problems that go along with installing travertine using this method, but I won’t get into them as they only apply to certain types of installations.

The Solution

  • Every travertine installation we install is over top of a concrete slab, reinforced at least 4″ thick with 6″ of compacted aggregate base beneath of it.
  • Although we still use sand for the setting bed, we mix the sand dry with portland cement before screeding it out. We screed the sand and portland mix dry (no water added). We install the travertine on this dry setting bed, keeping it dry until we’re able to cut in all the edge pieces and compact.
  • We also use a non-woven geotextile filter fabric below the sand bed, but on top of the concrete. This will prevent any of the sand setting bed from sifting through future cracks in the concrete.

how to install travertine

We’ve found this installation procedure works great, hardens everything up while remaining flexible (we mix a low ratio of portland to sand so that it’s just enough to harden while still remaining flexible) and keeps the stones even through our cold winters here in Ohio.

Travertine Installation

Additional Tips

Trust me when I say, the quality of the travertine has a lot to do with the look of the finished product. We used to have clients who would supply the travertine and we would install it – we cut that out real quick. They would purchase the travertine pavers through online suppliers to save money. There would be pieces with holes all the way through the travertine and way more holes than there should be. Holes in travertine are natural, however, in order for travertine to hold up especially in cold climates it must be very dense. The holes are the easiest way to tell how dense travertine is. If there are holes that go through the entire stone, or if there are large holes, or if there are excessive amounts of holes chances are that piece of travertine is not very dense. In the winter, water will freeze inside of the travertine and break if the travertine is not dense enough.

If you’re located in Ohio, or within a 100 mile radius of Cincinnati, Ohio, we would be happy to install your travertine paver pool deck or patio, just click here to contact us.

If you’re not located in Ohio or within a 100 mile radius of Cincinnati, we would be happy to put you in contact with our travertine supplier.

 

Travertine Installation Guide

We’ve also put together an installation guide on how to install travertine pavers, especially in cold climates. Our process was developed in the cold climate of Ohio and we have installations that have been installed for 5 years and look just as good today as they did when we installed them. If you’ve fallen in love with travertine pavers, you’ve probably found that its difficult to find an installer who has any substantial experience installing travertine pavers. Once you have our installation guide, you can share it with a paver installer in your area and they will be able to use their existing skill set with our procedures to install travertine pavers in a way that will last.

If you would like to purchase our guide, simply click the Buy Now button below to pay with a credit card – the cost is $25. The instructions will be delivered to you within a couple hours via email.