Travertine Talk With BuildDirect

Travertine is formed when layers of calcium carbonate and other minerals build up in layers in subterranean springs, underground rivers and lakes over thousands of years. The stone which is produced is smooth and very hard with a porous surface. These pores are the result of gases escaping as the travertine is formed. By the time it is quarried, travertine is naturally beautiful a smooth, dense stone that exhibits a notable creamy color that evokes a certain old-world refinement.

Travertine is available in a variety of colors and finishes. The most common travertine colors are Light, or cream, Beige, Gold, Walnut and Chocolate (Noce). Light is the lightest color with Chocolate being the darkest. Gold is a unique color with extreme variation within ranging from yellows to rust colors to an almost purplish brown color and everything in between.

We begin with the quarry walls as you can see in these pictures. This particular quarry has 2 levels. The lower level is a beige travertine, while the upper level is a light travertine.

Travertine is taken from the rock bed in large blocks, before being cut into more manageable sizes. To cut the large blocks, we drill down from the top and in from the bottom front until the two drill holes meet. A diamond cable cutter is inserted to cut through the stone and once the stone is cut loose from the wall, the stone is cut into blocks.

Read more details about how a travertine quarry operates in Marc's post Getting the stone out on Travertine Dream

The blocks are cut again with the diamond cable cutter into sizes that can be managed by a tractor which hauls them up to the storage area.

After the travertine has been quarried, it undergoes a sorting process. The blocks are all catalogued by the expected color they will produce. However, because this is a natural stone, you don't actually know what you are going to get until it is cut.

There are a number of approaches when it comes to cutting travertine into slabs:

Cross-cut - This means that the travertine is cut on the same layer as it has been formed, with the grain. This allows for a more tonally unified block of travertine.

Vein-cut - To contrast, this means that the travertine is cut as a cross-section of several layers of stone, which renders a more mottled, tiger-stripe effect.

At the end, what you are left with are rough cut raw slabs. The size of the rough cut varies depending on the size of tile it is going to become. They come out in 3cm thickness which is then split in half creating 2 tiles from one rough slab.

Colosseum in Rome -- The outer wall is estimated to have required over 100,000 cubic meters (131,000 cu yd) of travertine stone which were set without mortar held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.

Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris - Sacré-Coeur is built of travertine stone quarried in Château-Landon (Seine-et-Marne), France. This stone constantly exudes calcite, which ensures that the basilica remains white even with weathering and pollution.

The Getty Center in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA. - The travertine - 1.2 million square feet of it - is one of the most remarkable elements of the complex. This beige-colored, cleft-cut, textured, fossilized travertine catches the bright Southern California light, reflecting sharply during morning hours, and emitting a honeyed warmth in the afternoon. The architect chose stone for this project because it is often associated with public architecture and expresses qualities the Getty Center celebrates: permanence, solidity, simplicity, warmth, and craftsmanship.

UCLA Medical Center - Architect Welton Becket designed the entire first floor of the UCLA Medical Center with thick travertine walls.

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