Granite tiles pitting

[bennettp23]

Hi,

I have purchased some 600x600 star galaxy 12mm floor tiles. When I got them hom and opened them from the cardboard packaging I seen that many of them have masking tape on them pointint to small pits and blemishes in the smooth poliched surface. It is not staining because you can feel them. They range from a couple of mm to a couple of cm. Each one has about one pitting blemish. It looks like the tape was put on by the polishing person/company??? Are they seconds??

So my question is, I know stone is a natural product but is this acceptable??? If they are on the floor and the ligh moves on them you can see the pitting blemishes. I don't think this is acceptable but wanted an expert opinion. Could someone please clarify?

Thanks,

Paul.

 

[Concrete guy]

Galaxy is a naturally pitted stone. Most commonly it's epoxy polished in the final stages of line polishing with resins that fill the surface pitting.

What is unusual is the tape situation with your particular batch. Ask the supplier.

 

[Ian]

Hello Paul, can you post a couple of pictures for us to see please. It's hard to give an opinion based on your description.

 

[kilty55]

sounds odd to me as above please post pics

 

[bennettp23]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Photos attached. They are big tiles 610 x 610. I'm starting to think they are seconds. There are two tiles in the picture overlapping.

Thanks,

Paul.

 

[White Room]

There not hiding the fact there pitted but as already been stated a chat with tile shop would be in order...

 

[Concrete guy]

Questions.

Approx what percentage of the tiles have these markings?

Did you stick the tape on or write "blemish" on the tape - or have they arrived with you like that?

These are markings that are consistent with the material. The gold fleck in the granite is a copper pyrite.

As the slab is cut, sometimes it's going to catch the other materials bound within the granite and they will break out of the slab leaving small pits in the surface, this is the bit that's often epoxy filled.

If it's only a small percentage of tiles, pick them out, put them to one side and use them for cuts or hidden areas, such under appliances.

If it's large amount of tile in this condition, or they have arrived with you with the tape and writing, then have a chat with the supplier.

Granite tiles are generally produced from blocks that don't make the grade for slab material, this is usually for geological reasons such as shakes or vents appearing in the blocks that renders them undesirable for slab use. This doesn't make it a lower quality, it simply gets cut to tile, which are smaller units of size and allows the imperfect areas of the block to be removed with less wastage.

Some assume these blocks are lower quality, that's not the case, they just are suited to a different use. Then the cutting and polishing needs to be considered along with the fact this is a natural product and not man made.

Still if you're not happy with what you've got, go and have a friendly chat with the store and see what their take on it is.

 

[bennettp23]

Questions.

Approx what percentage of the tiles have these markings?

Did you stick the tape on or write "blemish" on the tape - or have they arrived with you like that?

These are markings that are consistent with the material. The gold fleck in the granite is a copper pyrite.

As the slab is cut, sometimes it's going to catch the other materials bound within the granite and they will break out of the slab leaving small pits in the surface, this is the bit that's often epoxy filled.

If it's only a small percentage of tiles, pick them out, put them to one side and use them for cuts or hidden areas, such under appliances.

If it's large amount of tile in this condition, or they have arrived with you with the tape and writing, then have a chat with the supplier.

Granite tiles are generally produced from blocks that don't make the grade for slab material, this is usually for geological reasons such as shakes or vents appearing in the blocks that renders them undesirable for slab use. This doesn't make it a lower quality, it simply gets cut to tile, which are smaller units of size and allows the imperfect areas of the block to be removed with less wastage.

Some assume these blocks are lower quality, that's not the case, they just are suited to a different use. Then the cutting and polishing needs to be considered along with the fact this is a natural product and not man made.

Still if you're not happy with what you've got, go and have a friendly chat with the store and see what their take on it is.

Hi

Thanks for the reply. The tape was on them when I opened the box. Appears to be about 80% of the tiles.


Its a pain because I borrowed a van to transport them home and now I have to manually load them up again and transport them back. The supplier more or less says tough about the transport and inconvenience. I hope they have a better attitude to taking them back.

 

[Concrete guy]

Keep us updated, it sounds like you've been given a batch that has been graded. How much did you pay per m2?

 

[bennettp23]

Well it appears they were returned by someone and they just wheeled them back out to me in 'error'.

Got some more but still 30% of them are pitted so I have to go back once more to look through the tiles.

I'll get there in the end.

Thanks for all the replies!