travertine or porcelain

[BigDan]

i'm currently umming and aahing about whether to go for travertine or porcelain tile in our bathroom. can anyone tell me what the main differences are here and what the advantage to going with travertine would be?

 

[tpt]

porcelain is generally impervious and extremely hard wearing. most porcelain wont require sealing (except for polished and some others)

Travertine is a natural product and will require sealing or it will stain. you have to be careful what you buy as some very poor quality trav is available.

To be honest, the 'advantage' is your preference!

 

[WillF]

porcelain is generally impervious and extremely hard wearing. most porcelain wont require sealing (except for polished and some others)

Travertine is a natural product and will require sealing or it will stain. you have to be careful what you buy as some very poor quality trav is available.

To be honest, the 'advantage' is your preference!

Agree here, we went with porcelain purely because it didn't require sealing (had some nightmares re sealing in the past). There is a lot of poor quality stuff about. It's tempting to go with something cheaper off the internet but the problem here is you don't get to inspect it until it turns up. We did get ours from http://www.travertinedirect.co.uk/ and it turned out to be okay. Be warned though, order cheap stuff off the net and although you can send it back, it's a lot of hassle

 

[Richard C]

Travertine will require sealing but, as TPT, so does some porcelain particularly polished; a water test will tell you.

Travertine quality varies enormously, cheap unfilled trav is full on holes which will require a lot of maintenance, depending where it’s installed. Porcelain is very hard wearing & glazed porcelain (which I have in my kitchen) is virtually bomb proof when correctly installed. Travertine is not a product I would pick for a floor.