[GregPhil]

Grout release for travertine? 

At my sister's place we just finished installing about 40sf of 2" tumbled travertine for her backsplash. Some of it extends all the way to the ceiling in the area where the range hood will go. We did a test with the grout and found that much of the color was reduced because of how much the grout filled in the surface of the travertine. This stone has a pretty good variety of colors and we'd like to keep it that way as much as possible.

Anyone have any experience with grout release that's applied before the grout and is supposed to help clean the tiles up better after grouting?

The picture is a bit dark so hard to see much detail. The few, much darker tiles are actually glass tiles that we have inserted. But you can see the general color variation that's desired.

[GregPhil]

Re: Grout release for travertine? 

Didn't get an answer to the grout release question, but went ahead and gave it 2 coats of sealer before grouting. It helped a lot, because sample we did first without sealer basically made all tiles the color of the grout.

[RubrikGreen]

you were right... travertine, marble, etc. are porous, and without using sealant, you'd just've filled the pores w/grout.

Good on you trusting your instincts like that!