Travertine is an Italian building material made from limestone. It has many uses in the modern world, from flooring and bathrooms to stone cladding. It is one of the most versatile of all the building materials being used in the current construction industry. Travertine is imported here by both big industry and small family companies, so it is worthwhile shopping around for the best deal on travertine cladding.

Although Travertine is very popular as a building material, it has a number of flaws that can result in it being costly to use as cladding. Since Travertine is a natural rock, it often contains voids and holes, caused by vegetation trapped between layers of sediment and then rotting away. In order to make it suitable for use in the modern construction industry, any voids have to be resin surface filled.
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In addition, modern cutting of Travertine has favored the Classico, or face bedded cut, rather than the traditional vein cut. While the former has proven to provide strong and durable Travertine, the Classico cut has been much less successful, sometimes leading to the collapse of the Travertine surface. Travertine may need to have ongoing re-sealing treatments, which are not cheap, and has less resistance than other cladding materials, such as granite or slate. ​