Seal Travertine Worktops With Fila MP90 in 6 Steps for 30% Less Staining

What MP90 does inside open travertine

Travertine is a calcareous stone formed from precipitated calcium carbonate. Its natural voids remain part of the material even after filling and honing, and those voids are the reason an unsealed honed slab darkens quickly when liquid lands on it. Fila MP90 is a deep-penetrating impregnator designed to enter the pore network and line the pore walls below the visible surface, so a spill has a longer path before it reaches the stone body.

Fila Solutions of Italy lists MP90 for granite, marble, agglomerates, and natural stone with a calcareous matrix. That range covers most travertine sold for worktops.

The practical result is extra time. On a sealed surface, a drop of balsamic vinegar or lemon juice can rest for a measurable interval before staining starts, which gives a cleaner chance of wiping it away. Independent stone-trade testing and supplier coverage of impregnating sealers report stain-resistance gains in the broad range of 25 to 50 percent against oil and water-based agents, with the result varying by stone density and number of coats.

MP90 does not change the colour or the matte finish of honed travertine. That is why it is often specified where a film-forming sealer would leave a visible sheen. Acid still dulls calcite, even when the stone has been sealed. The sealer slows pigment ingress while leaving the calcite vulnerable to acid.

Stage one: strip, wash, and let the slab dry

A new sealer needs clean stone. Fila publishes a companion degreaser, Fila PS87 PRO, diluted at around 1 part product to 5 parts water for routine cleaning and mixed stronger for ingrained residue. Work it across the full worktop, lift the residue with clean water, and remove every trace of detergent film.

Wax, polish, and previous topical coatings have to come off before MP90 is applied. A surface film blocks the pore network, leaving the impregnator sitting on top where it fails to cure properly.

Drying is the stage many installers compress. Travertine can hold moisture in its voids long after the face feels dry to the hand. Fila specifies completely dry stone before application, and a freshly cleaned or freshly installed slab commonly needs 24 to 48 hours in a ventilated room at normal indoor temperature.

Trapped water occupies the same pore space the sealer needs to enter. A moisture meter gives the cleanest reading. A simpler check is to tape a square of clear plastic to the surface overnight and look for condensation underneath the next day. MP90 applied to damp travertine gives poor coverage, a stalled cure, and patchy protection.

Stages two, three, and four: apply wet, feed open areas, then buff dry

MP90 goes on neat and undiluted. Decant a small pool into a clean tray, then spread it with a flat brush, a wool applicator, or a lint-free cloth. Work in sections of roughly half a square metre so the surface stays controllable.

The target is a uniform wet film over the whole area. Include the edges and the front bullnose, because unsealed edges are where many worktop stains begin.

Let the product dwell. Fila gives a working interval in the region of a few minutes for the impregnator to draw into the stone before surplus material is removed. Dense travertine drinks less and leaves more product pooled on top. Open, vug-heavy travertine can absorb the first pass quickly, and the same section should receive a second pass while the first is still wet.

That wet-on-wet second pass is stage three. It has an outsized effect on final stain resistance because the pore walls need enough product present to become fully lined. Starved sections may look treated at first, yet still darken fast during the later water test.

Stage four is surplus removal. Before MP90 dries on the face of the worktop, buff the treated section with a clean dry cloth until the surface looks matte and dry, with no filmy residue left behind. Impregnator left on top dries to a dull haze that later has to be lifted with PS87 PRO. The useful material is inside the stone; material left on the face is excess that must be removed with a cloth now or with solvent and effort later.

Coverage maths for a real kitchen

Take an L-shaped travertine run of 3.6 metres by 0.65 metres plus a return of 1.8 metres by 0.65 metres. The two sections are 2.34 and 1.17 square metres, making 3.51 square metres of horizontal surface before the front edges and any splashback are counted.

At MP90’s stated coverage of 20 to 30 square metres per litre on dense stone, a single coat across that area uses about 120 to 175 millilitres. Honed travertine sits at the absorbent end of the range, so the lower coverage figure is the safer planning basis. Add a second wet-on-wet pass and total use moves to roughly 300 millilitres for the full job. A one-litre tin covers this kitchen with a generous margin and leaves enough for a touch-up coat a year later.

Edges deserve more product than their area suggests. A 25 millimetre bullnose along 5.4 metres of front edge adds only about 0.14 square metres, but it is fully exposed end-grain stone and takes proportionally more sealer. Brush it generously, using a separate allowance from the flat worktop surface.

Stage five: the 24-hour cure

Keep the worktop dry for 24 hours after application. During that cure period, keep water, cooking spills, and wet objects away from the slab.

MP90 reaches functional resistance once the solvent carrier has fully left the pore network. Fila’s guidance puts normal use at around 24 hours, with full chemical resistance developing over the days that follow. A cup of coffee placed on the treated stone at hour six can compromise the section it lands on.

Stage six: verify with water

Run a water test after the cure. Drip clean water at three or four points across the slab, including a visible vug and the front edge. On a properly sealed surface, the water sits as discrete domes and the stone underneath does not darken over several minutes.

Where the water flattens and the stone darkens, that patch absorbed too little product. Let the area dry again, then treat it with another application using the same dwell-and-buff sequence. The darkening test is the only honest confirmation that the sealer took, because coverage figures assume even absorption and real travertine rarely behaves that evenly.

When MP90 gives little return

A polished travertine top with a tight, low-porosity surface absorbs almost nothing and gains little from an impregnator. In that case, most of the useful work goes into the joints and edges. Heavily filled commercial travertine behaves more like the resin in its voids than the stone around it.

Reseal intervals and reapplication

Impregnating sealers wear from the surface down under repeated cleaning and abrasion. Resealing is timed by the water-drop test at the busiest zones, typically in front of the sink and beside the hob where cleaning frequency is highest. When the domes start to flatten and the stone darkens within a minute, that zone has lost its protection. On a domestic worktop, that usually happens somewhere between twelve and twenty-four months, depending on traffic and how often acidic cleaners reach the stone.

Reapplication does not require stripping the old sealer, because MP90 has impregnated the travertine. Clean with PS87 PRO, allow the full 24 to 48 hours of drying, and apply a single fresh coat through the same dwell-and-buff sequence. After buffing, the surface should return to the same dry honed look it had before treatment.