B&Q Sicily Tiles - Cleaning

[serena]

I have just had Sicily tiles laid in converted garage room, en-suite, utility and kitchen (beige). They are great in en-suite but dreadful on kitchen floorAAAAAArgh. Said they were Low maintenance in B and Q. Have just written to them, very upset!

 

[gree]

Uh thats a major problem

 

[Unregistered]

I was considering getting these for our bathroom, walls and floor.
They look great but if there an pain to clean looks like I'll have to search again

 

[Unregistered]

we install kitchens and bathrooms for wickes and have just done a bathroom with these tiles, supplied by the customer , they are probably the worst tile we have ever used , even staining when using a wet cutter . They are porous so any grouts etc that are used are absorbed by the tile , apparently they should be sealed but nowhere does it say this consequently customer didn't pay as unhappy with the job , so thanks to b&q for selling seconds!

 

[Unregistered]

I used these tiles in my bathroom, floor and walls. They are as mentioned poor so thank goodness they werent my choice (; such a pain to grout, requiring so many washes over to remove grout staining as mentioned. I ended up using an acid to clean they back. If there is a suitable sealer they will be fine I guess, if not then avoid!

 

[Unregistered]

I have a similar problem with some porcelain tiles I have. They're Spanish, so you can't just blame the Italians (and I didn't get them in B & Q either)!! I have to scrub them with a scourer (I have started a thread about this further up). Haven't tried flash lemon - thanks for tip, I will get some - , but heavy duty grout cleaner won't get it off with just mopping, does have to be scrubbed which is quite labour intensive on 30m2!! I'll also try that Fz thing.

 

[Unregistered]

We have the light beige Sicily tiles in a shower room and yes it took 3 cleans with the tile cleaner to get them cleaned down from grout to a fairly good finish. They do absorb some water and the floor marks easily but we use floor mats to keep it fairly clean. Wish read this before bought them. Have bought some spray Seal Guard grout and tile protector and used 1 coat on an old tile in the shed. It improved the spare tile as the water no longer soaked in when smeared it over. Will try it on the shower area soon and then on the floor. It has not changed the appearance of the tile so here's hoping will work well and sort out the problem of water and dirt.Very poor of B & Q these are ceramic and not supposed to require sealing. Shame because they are a really nice looking tile.

 

[griffiti]

Unforyunately we have just bought some of these tiles for our bathroom before reading these articles. It does say on the box though "new improved finish. not compatible with previous sicily tiles". Does anyone know what has changed. I am hoping they have improved them and maybe we wont get any problems with them.

 

[ishy]

Lifes a risk go for it before you die, if you live till your seventy, counting from birth you have 25550 days on the planet, so deduct 365 days a year off whatever age you are now and that leaves you the amount of days you have left on the planet.

Enjoy your tiles whilst you can they're better than carpet especially wene you get to the stage wene you can't control yourself.

 

[griffiti]

Actually we are really pleased with them. I went to B&Q and got some more. When I was there I noticed they also had boxes of the old design and one was open. Feeling the surface between the new version and old version, they were massively different. The old ones were dusty and rough and the new ones are not dusty at all and are very smooth. It seems as though they have sorted out the issue but strangely the are now dis-continuing them anyway.

Anyway they look great and do not hold any stains. My wife even poured tea on a spare one and left over night and no issues. quick wipe with a cloth and good as new

:drool5:

 

[ishy]

well done, mine are rubbish, but i'm renting my house out.
They're probably discontiuing selling the tile so they can keep up the tradition of selling trash.
Enjoy your tiles before your house gets repossesed in the second ressesion

 

[Unregistered]

I bought a load of these last month and just had a tiler put them on the bathroom wall. After doing a days work and returning back to the house the following day he rang me (I work away) to say that the adhesive had soaked through the tile, fading the area, making it look like a polka dot room. Such a shame as I loved the tiles and got them in clearance sale at B&Q (hmmm now I know why they were cheap!).

I'm still yet to get home to look at it myself.....does anyone know of this problem? Tiler said he had never seen such a reaction on a tile...will it dry out? Clean off? If not Im kicking off with B&Q for selling me a faulty product that they obviously know is rubbish (thus discontinuing it)...do I have ANY chance?! ffs

Interestingly we bought the "new" style version which shouldnt be used with the old style..........I had to buy some loose ones due to the limited a mount of stock and these loose ones have been fine with not discolouring when stuck on the wall

Stressful, annoying and scandalous

 

[Dan]

I don't suppose your tiler has used blobs of adhesive to fix the tiles to the wall rather than troweling the adhesive out properly?

Only you say he sais it looks like a polka dot room now, and that suggests there are blobs of adhesive holding the tiles on the wall instead of having full coverage on the back of the tiles?