Gulf Stone Quartz Tiles

[jay]

hi any chance of some pics of tiles with haze and job might help :20:

 

[SueK]

Oh dear. Their work is meticulous, actually. Tricky one.
Don't know how to upload photos onto this site, and am not sure how much they would help. You can see the haze but can't feel it, as though it's gone into the tile. It's from where they immediately wiped off their fingerprints from placing the tile, having been advised that no sealer was necessary.

My impression has been that no-one - manufacturer, supplier, tiler, adhesive expert - knows what they are talking about with these particular tiles, but of course they're all trying to protect their rear ends. My bathroom has ended up being an expensive laboratory guinea pig.

I'm still gunning for the suppliers as the source of all advice, but of course I have to remain clear-eyed about my lovely tilers - who do have insurance.....

 

[basshunter]

"These moulds are prepared in advance by spreading a non-stick paste over them, which helps in removing the slab and make the moulds re-usable."

just had a quick skim through a quartz stone suppliers website.Maybe this could be why they have debonded....as for the grout haze,if they are off the wall it could be to your advantage.Letting named products dwell on the surface will help imo

Nanoscrub + hdtgc

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm?id=ZAWYA20060107034607

 

[lucius]

Hi Sue i think its just a case that your tradesman are old school and have not kept up with the times, marine ply is not a sutible material for a wet area this day and age that is why cement board is made, the last post is interesting as the releasing agent used in production may well need removing before fixing as for epoxy grout i thought that was for comercial work surfaces.
Lucius

 

[UKTT Darren]

Apoxy adhesives and grouts are really for any place that has to be sanitised properly, when the mad cows disease was about, the slaughter houses and farms were redoing there buildings with epoxy adhesives and grouts so they could be chemically cleaned at the end of the day, likewise in hospitals and catering kitchens, epoxy grouts are sometimes used in power showers to stop the water aborbing through the grout line into the substrate as its non absorbant and also offers more flexability than a normal cementous grout

 

[SueK]

Thanks, Darren, that's what another pro tiler told me a few weeks ago. Why on earth would the adhesive experts have recommended it for fixing in a small bathroom?

I can take on board that my men were working with a new tile etc, which is why they were dependent upon instructions from the suppliers - not ideal maybe, but they weren't just flying by the seats of their pants. What gets me is that the suppliers passed on all the adhesive firm's instructions but are now trying to wriggle out of what they said. If my guys were at fault, eg using marine ply, tiles too heavy etc, we'll sort it out between us, but I don't think it's as simple as that, especially as the suppliers never raised an eyebrow when we went back and said Rapidset hadn't worked - and they had all the details re location and substrate. They went straight into sending us onto epoxy grout as a sticker, saying my chap had been given the wrong stuff in the first place. Gotta be a case.

 

[SueK]

Thank you, all you luvverly tiler chaps, for your advice and information. I now feel better equipped to challenge both tilers and tile suppliers and sort out liability - meetings this week.

I now have to make a practical decision: do I have all the grout hazed tiles broken off the walls and start again, or is there any possibility of rescuing them without damaging the tiles? Advice so far has been that the usual Aquimix and Bal epoxy grout haze removers might damage the tiles, which have mirror pieces in them.

This is my last question to all of you. All help gratefully received.

Thanks again - Sue FOB

 

[Gazzer]

Get another tile and replicate the problem of grout haze. Then try to clean it with different methods to see what will happen.
I havent heard of any of these issues with these tiles but saying that i havent used them myself. I know of another tiler who has used them and had no problems at all.

 

[faithhealer]

Laid these a couple of times a couple of yrs ago, had no problems with grout haze, can't remember waht grout now though but nothing 'special'.

 

[SueK]

Perhaps that was because you weren't told by the suppliers to use epoxy grout as an adhesive, rather than the usual cement adhesive. That's where our problems began. Since the tilers were also told that sealant was not necessary, despite their care we've ended up with some epoxy grout haze. They haven't even got to the actual grouting stage!