B&Q polished black "porcelain"

[Time's Ran Out]

Hello all!

If I am right the 600x600mm tile from BQ is about £8-50/ metre!
Ratner said it the way it is - he can sell a silver dish for £25 because its ****!
I've fixed this tile on 3 occassions totalling about 50metres and I thought it was exceptional value.
JOHN.

 

[Dan]

This all started with a quote for fixing 16sqm of black granite.
Over a few weeks it degraded into 16sqm of B&Q's finest.

I've got to admit, I seriously thought about walking away from the job once my customer told me that they could save so much money with these over the granite. I had read so much bad press on here about B&Q porcelain!

I kept my fixing costs the same and refused to drop the price, also warned and showed the customer that 1) they aren't square 2) they aren't very black 3) they need sealing before fixing / before grouting / after cleaning.

I started fixing yesterday and whadya know? They aren't too bad! They cut really nicely wet and dry.

I began by levelling the floor with a good SLC - this has allowed me to get a perfectly smooth floor.

Now I'm going to get flamed for this but...I didn't seal them before fixing!

Tested 3 tiles at random with adhesive / slurry / dust and water. They do stain easily but I found that they also clean up very well using the Plasplugs polished porcelain sealer (from B&Q - Naptha based) followed by slightly soapy water. So I figured it would be quicker to clean them all once fixed than seal them all beforehand.

Tomorrow when I start cleaning them properly will be the moment of truth though!

Bad points -
- not square, 1mm out on 2 edges.
- Stain easily (but appear to clean up ok)
- Slurry from cutting stains your skin like you wouldn't believe!

Two things I found out; according to one of our local shops these are made from soluble salts in China - not proper porcelain ingredients, hence the very porous surface. Also B&Q are now putting labels on all packs which state that they must be sealed before fixing / grouting / after cleaning. They've had loads of complaints seemingly.

Apologies for the long and waffley post - I'm knackered tonight!

Hope this is useful info though.

Nice post mate. And nice to see B&Q getting some good out of their cheap chinese buys. We hear so much bad stuff.

I guess it wouldn't be accetable to have 1mm out if it wasn't b&q hey? lol That's a fairly square tile it seems after seaching on here for b&q.

 

[Viceroy]

All the tilers i speak to refuse to work with these now !
One tiler had to seal the tiles 3 times and they still stained !
There is now a piece of paper in stating that you have to also seal the sides of the tile before fixing ! One lady dropped a teabag on one and cannot remove the stain !
Good Old B&Q they might be cheap but not worth the grief from our point of view !

 

[Deleted member 1779]

My neighbour has been over a couple of times to see me about advice on these. We used the forum to pick out the best advice.

Some of the advice seems good but gaps are missing so I might put my thinking cap on (take some pics) and respond with more questions for you guys to the post.

He has questions like:
1) The plasplugs de-waxer that B&Q recommend.... Do you dilute it? The bottle has ml gradients on the side
2) What can happen if you forget to seal the side of tiles.

We are gathering thoughts and info so when this project is near complete I will whip out me camera...

R

 

[Grace'sDad]

I stand by my old post from last year re the 40x40 black which I fixed - they were bearable.
Now though I won't do B&Q polished porcs at all. I've found them to be too much trouble, bearing in mind that 99% of customers who buy these, do so because they are cheap - and that type of customer IS NOT going to appreciate the additional care/work which is required with them

I went out to quote a job last week and the (soon to be) customer had 3 samples of polished ivory porcelain. Two quality ones and one from B&Q.
He himself questioned why they were so much cheaper than the others.
I drew on them all with a blue chinagraph pencil and showed him how they stained - or didn't!
His own conclusion (and I will use this from now on) was that "there are nice jobs, then there is lino and lace curtains!"