Although they share a similar appearance, granite and travertine are two extremely different building materials.
Granite is suited for some applications that travertine is not, and vice versa. Let's go through some of the benefits of each building material to help you decide how to use each stone.
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Travertine is a sedimentary stone and granite is formed by cooling lava, or magma to be more precise. By nature sedimentary stone is much softer than igneous rocks like granite.
What does this mean for your home?
Anyplace in your home that is at risk of falling objects is not a well suited application for travertine. Travertine can be fairly easily scratched or dented.
Take for example a countertop. Granite makes a better kitchen countertop than travertine. You can't cut or chop on a travertine countertop like you can a granite one.
Travertine is a very porous stone. The pores are often quite large and add to the beauty of the stone.
The downfall of a porous stone is that it stains easily, making for a poor countertop. Sure, you can fill the pores and apply sealant but you better not forget this regular maintenance. Without a good coat of sealant your countertop will be at risk of staining, especially to acidic foods like lemons and tomatoes.
Granite, on the other hand, resists staining quite well. You'll have to apply a sealer every 18 months or so, but that's a far cry from how often you'll be sealing travertine that is installed in high risk areas.
As you can see, there really is no comparing granite vs travertine when it comes to kitchen countertops.
This is actually quite an advantage for travertine in many in one of it's most popular applications. Wall cladding.
Using travertine tiles or slabs on a wall is a beautiful application, and the lighter weight on travertine makes it easier to adhere to walls.
It's no secret that travertine is one of the oldest building materials on earth. Some of our most iconic buildings are clad or built entirely out of travertine.
When you compare granite vs travertine you'll see that the look of travertine fills a void that granite cannot. Brand new pieces of travertine can look rustic even if they are only days old.
