Mining Travertine Tile: From Quarry to your Home

Have you ever wondered where that beautiful Travertine comes from and how it becomes a series of tiles that you can use for a kitchen backsplash, a shower or a floor?

Here’s a brief overview of the Travertine mining process and the steps that go into bringing Travertine tile to TOA so you can bring your dream project to life.

Travertine Tile: A Type of Limestone

From 13 Facts About Travertine Tile, you know that Travertine is a type of limestone that forms in hot mineral springs around the world. Furthermore, the majority of Travertine imported to the US comes from quarries in Italy, Iran, Mexico, Turkey, and Peru, where this natural stone is quarried.

These quarries produce Travertine that varies based on factors such as color, quality, depth of vein – all a result of the geological variations associated with each quarry.

How Is Travertine Tile Mined?

Travertine is mined using one of four primary methods: Channeling machines, Wire Saws, Chain Saws and Water-Jet Cutting machines.

• Channeling Machines have a series of drill bits for making vertical and horizontal holes. Wedges are then placed in the horizontal holes until the block separates and can be removed from the quarry wall. During the winter, freezing water is sometimes used to separate the block.

• Chain Saws are similar in concept to the portable ones used for trimming trees. Quarry Chainsaws are much larger and have special diamond blades designed for cutting stone.

• Wire Saws are commonly used to cut stone into manageable blocks for transport to a mill or warehouse. Access holes are drilled and the diamond impregnated cables (sometimes called blades) are pulled through and attached to the saw. The saws used for this kind of work are huge and are either continuous or oscillating (reciprocating). Once the bottom of the slab is cut, the back can be drilled cut or blasted free.

• Water-Jet Cutting Machines or water-jet cutter accelerates the natural process of erosion. Water jet machines use tremendously high powered jets of water or water and an abrasive grit of some kind to cut through metal, travertine, granite and many other substances.

From Travertine Quarry to Travertine Tile In Your Home

Once the Travertine is removed from the quarry, it is either stored in a warehouse or taken to a mill or production facility where it is cut into slabs [similar to slicing up a loaf of bread]. At this point, specialized cutting equipment is used to cut the slabs down to as many sizes as needed.

The resulting Travertine pieces are sanded to a uniform thickness and then sent through different processes depending on the type of finish desired [see Travertine Tile Finishes: honed, tumbled, polished, saw cut and chiseled edge]. They are then shipped to stores such as Tile Outlets of America where you can select the right look and size for your project.

For additional perspective on mining Travertine Tile, check out BuildDirect’s article on how Travertine is made – which includes several descriptive videos of Travertine being mined from a Turkish quarry and then finished.

This 3 min video from Armenian Travertine Mining Company shows the entire process:

Have you ever visited a Travertine quarry or seen Travertine Tile manufactured? What did you think about the experience?