Travertine is a natural stone, prized for its rustic beauty as well as for its strength. Although porous and subject to staining, travertine is one of the most popular materials used for tiles, mosaics, and inserts. This stone is rather inexpensive to extract from quarries, but purchasing it at an affordable price means ordering in bulk.
Stonexchange is a direct importer and distributor of flooring tile products. We supply contractors, retail flooring companies, and home improvement centers with natural stone tile including several types of travertine. For those interested in purchasing large quantities of this beautiful limestone material, consider ordering at discount prices from Stonexchange.
Travertine is widely used in both residential and commercial buildings. It can be honed, tumbled, chiseled, or brushed. The actual color shade varies according to the deposit from which it was quarried as well as the amount and type of contaminants present in the rock itself. When used as a flooring or wall tile, travertine gives the room interior a look of authenticity and exudes a feeling of fine taste.
What Customers Can Expect
As stated above, travertine tiles vary in color. This stone is formed when water, usually that from a hot spring or geyser, percolates through a soft soil layer. The water contains contaminant minerals that give this sedimentary rock its unique texture and color patterns.
Travertine is cut into large slabs using cable saws. The sheets are taken to a manufacturing facility that produces tiles, pencils, mosaic pieces, and specially cut inserts. Travertine is rather brittle in appearance, but once installed, this stone is very resistant to scuffing, impacts, and humidity/pressure changes.
Choosing the color of travertine involves an understanding of the variation in shade from one tile to another. A dark shade such as noche will still vary somewhat in color. However, the overall appearance of a floor or wall covered in travertine will reflect the average shade of a multitude of tiles.
Travertine is sold in three different grades. The first is called Premium, and this grade is actually a selection of similar color shades. The tiles are separated according to color shade, and similar pieces are packed together for shipment. Premium grade travertine has been double-filled, first by machinery and then by hand.
Standard grade travertine is also rather consistent in color shade, but may have large holes that remain unfilled. The colors vary from light noche to a dark gray. The tiles may contain some swirls or striation patterns not seen in Premium grade.
Commercial grade travertine contains unfilled holes, and the tiles may have some dark gray or black mottling. The sides of these tiles may be non-uniform, with slight cracking around the edges.
Premium grade travertine offers buyers the greatest choice of placement patterns because of the similarity in color from one tile to the next. The overall color is very consistent. This grade of travertine is the most expensive, but commercial clients can save money by ordering their product in bulk from a direct importer such as Stonexchange.
Careful Manufacturing Procedure
Because of its porous nature, travertine is easily stained. However, modern milling techniques are now being used to battle this problem. Premium grade travertine has been sealed at the manufacturing plant, and the result is a very smooth or brushed surface that does not readily absorb moisture.
Travertine tiles are shaped using several different types of machinery. One of these is similar to a wood planer. The slabs are smoothed into thinner sheets before being cut into individual tiles.
Travertine is often sold in larger sizes. Sheets that are 2ft. X 3ft. can easily be cut into 12-inch tiles at a job site. The standard thickness is 5/8-inch, but thicker slabs are often sold direct to commercial clients by an import company.
Small pieces of travertine are often put into a tumbler. This gives the stone a truly rustic look. These pieces are often used to create pencils, mosaics, or wall inserts. Travertine inserts can be of just about any design and are often used in bathrooms as part of the wall decor. They can also be placed at intervals on the floor, spaced between the standard 12-inch tiles.
Discount Prices on Travertine Tiles
Travertine is expensive when purchased in small amounts. Even retailers must pay a pretty penny for this product unless they buy it from a direct importer. The density of the stone means rather expensive shipping costs. Most travertine is shipped across the Atlantic from the southern part of Europe, or is sent by ship from South America to the United States.
Unless the crates containing this product are completely full, the per-piece cost is prohibitive. This is because shipping companies charge for the crate space, not the amount of product in each container. Stonexchange imports travertine in very large quantities, and we guarantee some of the lowest prices in the industry.
Travertine is often used to decorate an entire office floor, outdoor patio area, or the wall facades of office building atriums. Therefore, commercial customers needing large quantities of this material will be able to save money if they purchase a full crate load from Stonexchange. Our clients can expect Premium grade material at a fraction of retail cost.
Licensed flooring installers often have difficulty locating a substantial supply of travertine tiles at the local retail outlet. These companies depend on plenty of business from local contractors and therefore will benefit from keeping a good supply of natural stone tiles on hand. The good news is that retailers can save a great deal of money by placing a large order with Stonexchange. Our company keeps a full warehouse of travertine products, and we can ship directly to any location in the continental United States.
We Guarantee Quality Material
Unlike marble or granite, travertine is highly susceptible to breakage during transit. Travertine sheets are packed tightly together in large containers made of wood or composite material. Air pillows or Styrofoam is rarely used. Instead, the full crate is strapped, wrapped, and loaded directly onto delivery vans.
A small amount of breakage – perhaps five percent – is certainly acceptable. Customer orders are usually revised slightly to take this expected damage into account. However, we at Stonexchange are not satisfied with five percent breakage on any of our flooring products. We have a team of quality control specialists that ensure quality packing, and our deliveries are themselves insured.
Ordering in bulk means that the installer will have plenty of choices when it comes to placement patterns. Premium grade travertine does not contain long striations or swirls, but several different placement arrangements must be experimented with in order to achieve a look that does not appear to dark or light in one section of the floor.
If the installer has to place travertine on the floor of several different rooms or has more than one project underway calling for the same grade of material, the job becomes much easier when a full crate load of travertine is delivered. Getting the placement just right means all the difference when it comes to satisfying the end-user. This is why full crate orders are preferred by commercial clients, assuming of course that the price reflects a wholesale discount.
A Steady Supply of Product
Many of Stonexchange’s customers are large retail chains that specialize in home improvement, flooring products, and interior decoration. These merchants stock a wide variety of floor tiles including marble, granite, and travertine. Some of our clients have a recurring order schedule for certain products, especially those being purchased in large quantities by construction contractors.
Many of our commercial customers are installers who work on expansive development projects. Sometimes the materials needed for the job at hand will change during the construction phases. We are ready to supply our customers with exactly the right color shade of travertine tiles, and we do not charge extra for order changes.
Non-standard orders for larger or smaller sheets of material may require a special manufacturing operation. This might or might not involve ordering well ahead of time. We may have to put through a special order to our manufacturer and allow up to two months lead time for processing and delivery. However, we can make this type of order recurring as well.
Ask the Experts
For exceptional quality, reliable delivery, and guaranteed low pricing, contact us through our company website. Our expert sales reps will answer any and all questions regarding order size, color choices, and delivery schedules. Our company is dedicated to maintaining an honest business relationship with commercial clients, and we offer our high-quality travertine tiles at such affordable prices that most of our new clients wonder why they didn’t know about us before.