A Hayden homeowner thought her travertine shower was beyond saving — here's what actually happened.
A homeowner in Hayden called us last fall about her travertine shower. The stone had been in the home for fifteen years with no professional care, and she described it as 'completely destroyed' — covered in hard water buildup, the silicone moldy and failing, the glass cloudy, and large areas of the stone visibly stained. She had been getting quotes to demo the whole shower and start over at around $18,000. She called us as a last check before committing. The shower was completely salvageable. Restoration took two days, cost a fraction of replacement, and the shower now looks better than it had in years. This is the kind of job that defines what specialist stone restoration actually does in North Idaho. Here is the full story.
The shower was a large walk-in with travertine tile floor and walls extending up to the ceiling, a frameless glass enclosure with two fixed panels and a hinged door, brushed nickel fixtures, and a built-in bench. The original installation had been quality work fifteen years prior. The problem was that nothing had been done to maintain it since.
The glass was so heavily coated with calcium that it was nearly opaque in the lower two feet — the area that gets the most water contact. The upper sections were clearer but still noticeably hazy. The homeowner thought the glass was permanently etched. It was not — it was heavy mineral buildup, the kind that takes years to accumulate.
The travertine tile walls had two distinct problems. First, hard water mineral deposits had built up on the surface, particularly in the lower walls and floor where water hits constantly. Second, several areas of the floor and lower walls had developed dark stained patches — body oils and soap residue that had soaked into the porous travertine over the years and discolored the stone.
The silicone caulk at every joint — corners, the bench, the floor-to-wall transitions — was moldy, discolored, and pulling away from the substrate in several places. This was probably a five-year-old condition that had gone unaddressed.
The grout lines were darker than original and had clearly never been resealed. Some grout was crumbling. The travertine itself had natural voids that had collected debris over the years and looked like dark pits across the wall surface.
We sat down with the homeowner after walking through the shower. She had two quotes from contractors who had said the only answer was demolition and a complete rebuild. One quote was $17,500, the other $19,200. The new shower would be different stone (the original travertine type was no longer available in matching color), the project would take 4 to 6 weeks, and she would lose her primary bathroom for the duration.
We told her honestly what we saw: the travertine itself was sound. No structural damage, no broken tile, no failed substrate. Everything wrong with the shower was surface-level or replaceable. The mineral buildup was removable. The stained areas were treatable. The silicone needed full replacement, which is normal at fifteen years and not something restoration could shortcut. The grout would benefit from professional cleaning and resealing. The glass would restore beautifully.
We quoted full restoration including all the above for a fraction of either contractor quote. The work would take two days. She would lose the shower for those two days plus a 48-hour cure period — about four days total instead of four to six weeks.
She asked us directly: is this going to actually work, or am I going to spend this money and end up needing the demo job anyway? We told her the honest answer was that we expected the restoration to bring the shower back to excellent condition. We could not promise it would look identical to new fifteen-year-old travertine, but we could promise it would look dramatically better than it currently did, and that the underlying stone was good enough to support the work. We told her if anything came up during the job that suggested we could not get the result she wanted, we would stop and talk about it before continuing.
We arrived early Monday morning and spent the first hour preparing. Removed all hardware that needed to come off, masked surrounding walls and the bathroom floor, hung plastic sheeting to contain spray, set up our water management and slurry pickup equipment.
First task was removing the old silicone caulk. All of it. Every joint, every corner, the bench seams, the floor-to-wall transitions. The silicone came out using specialty removal tools that do not damage the substrate. Once removed, we cleaned the joint areas with a solvent to remove residual silicone film and any mold that had been hiding under the caulk.
Next we treated the stained areas of the travertine. Body oil and soap residue stains require poulticing — applying an absorbent paste loaded with the right chemistry to draw the staining material out of the stone over time. We mixed the poultice, applied it to the stained areas, covered with plastic, and let it work while we moved to the glass.
The glass restoration took the bulk of the afternoon. We worked panel by panel using progressive chemistry and polishing pads. The first pass dissolved and removed the bulk of the surface buildup. The second pass addressed the heavier areas and the bonded deposits closer to the glass surface. The third pass polished the glass and prepared it for the ceramic coating that would be applied at the end of the job. Each pass involved careful rinsing and neutralization to protect the surrounding stone.
By end of day Monday, the silicone was out and prepped for fresh caulk the next day, the stained travertine had been poulticed and the poultice was still working, and the glass was substantially restored — already looking dramatically different than when we arrived. We covered everything for overnight, locked up, and headed home.
Day two started with the travertine restoration. We removed the poultice from the previously stained areas and confirmed the staining had pulled significantly lighter. A second poultice on one stubborn area to finish the job, then we moved to surface restoration.
Travertine restoration on showers requires careful technique. The natural voids in the stone collect mineral deposits and need to be cleaned thoroughly. The polished or honed surface needs to be re-developed without damaging the voids further. We worked across the walls and floor systematically, removing the mineral buildup, addressing dull patches, and developing a uniform finish.
After the travertine work was complete, we cleaned the grout lines thoroughly — both for appearance and to prepare them for resealing. We applied a fresh penetrating grout sealer that would protect against future mineral buildup and staining.
Next, the silicone replacement. We applied fresh premium silicone caulk at every joint — corners, the bench, the floor-to-wall transitions, and around the fixtures. Silicone needs to cure for 24 hours before water contact, so this set the post-job cure period.
Final step on day two was the ceramic glass coating. The restored glass got a thin polymer coating that makes water bead and slide off instead of evaporating in place. This coating is what makes the restoration durable — without it, mineral buildup would start to redevelop within months.
We completed final cleanup, removed all masking and plastic, reinstalled the hardware we had removed at the start, and walked the homeowner through the shower one last time before leaving. We left her with a written care guide specific to her travertine and instructions for letting the silicone cure 48 hours before first use.
She sent us photos a few weeks later. The glass was still crystal clear. The travertine had developed a beautiful soft sheen. The grout lines were clean and uniform. The silicone was fresh and tight. The stained areas had pulled completely. The shower had not looked this good in many years.
She started a maintenance plan with us — annual visits to refresh the ceramic coating, do light grout work, and address anything that needs attention before it becomes a problem. The investment in maintenance is small compared to what we just did, and it will keep the shower looking like it does now for many years.
She also sent us a note. The two contractor quotes for replacement totaled over $36,000. The restoration we did cost a meaningful fraction of one of those quotes. The decision to call a specialist before committing to demolition saved her over $15,000 and four weeks of disruption. This is what specialization actually accomplishes — not magic, just the right diagnosis and the right work by people whose only trade is this work.
Stone, tile, and glass restoration is what we do. It is the only thing we do. We serve North Idaho — Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Post Falls, Rathdrum — and we have been doing this in our family for over 35 years. If you are facing a quote for shower demolition, kitchen replacement, or any other 'just replace the stone' recommendation, get a second opinion from the people who specialize in restoration first. That is the call this homeowner made, and it changed the outcome completely.
Tell us what you need restored — we respond within a few hours. No pressure, no obligation.