Is this ok? Natural stone floor not level after tiling

[One Day]

What about products like Universeal rapid all in one? Ive had great results using it on damp stone. Ok it's solvent based and you really need a vapour mask using it, but it hands down beats any water based sealers I've used.

 

[Concrete guy]

What about products like Universeal rapid all in one? Ive had great results using it on damp stone. Ok it's solvent based and you really need a vapour mask using it, but it hands down beats any water based sealers I've used.

Products may have moved on in the 10 years since I was importing Stone.

That said, I find it difficult to grasp how you seal something that's wet. The fact it's wet means it won't absorb a great deal more fluid no matter if it's water or solvent based, that's a simple physics issue not a technical product issue.

 

[hmtiling]

What about products like Universeal rapid all in one? Ive had great results using it on damp stone. Ok it's solvent based and you really need a vapour mask using it, but it hands down beats any water based sealers I've used.

Never even heard of that one impish. Offers longer protection than dry treat too. You rate it then?

 

[One Day]

Products may have moved on in the 10 years since I was importing Stone.

That said, I find it difficult to grasp how you seal something that's wet. The fact it's wet means it won't absorb a great deal more fluid no matter if it's water or solvent based, that's a simple physics issue not a technical product issue.

I'm no chemist but a light solvent can displace larger water molecules can't it? If so, it'll drive water out and leave those c6 molecules sat nicely in the stone.

 

[One Day]

Never even heard of that one impish. Offers longer protection than dry treat too. You rate it then?

Honestly, yes. Superb product. Just make sure the vapour won't or can't be an issue. If it is an issue, stick with a water based sealer.

 

[widler]

I like solvent based sealers , takes me back to my teens

 

[J Sid]

For a number of years before I sold tooling I owned a stone import business. We predominantly imported marble and limestone from Portugal and Spain and without exception every crate or box of tiles we ever handled would have been packed at the production factory whilst it was still wet.

This is the main reason why it's not generally sensible to seal any of these products in any way before they are fitted and allowed to dry naturally. As in most cases you're trapping in production moisture on top of moisture being drawn in from whatever adhesive is being used.

Also consider that an already moist stone is not going to absorb any form of sealant to a degree that will allow it to perform to it's design standard.

Products may have moved on in the 10 years since I was importing Stone.

That said, I find it difficult to grasp how you seal something that's wet. The fact it's wet means it won't absorb a great deal more fluid no matter if it's water or solvent based, that's a simple physics issue not a technical product issue.

I'm not entirely convinced the problem here is with the tiler. I feel it's a colour expectiation from a natural product that hasn't been explained particularly well.

Another common problem is whoever did the tiling display in the Fired Earth Showroom may have done so with a particularly white or clean batch of Carrara mosaic that maybe isn't representative of what is supplied.

I have 30mm Carrara Marble worktops in my kitchen, I had to search high and low to find a nice white slab that I was happy with. Much of the Carrara now being imported into the UK is a dirty grey with the odd splash of white, rather than a crisp white with a splash of grey.

at last some sense being spoken

 

[J Sid]

What about products like Universeal rapid all in one? Ive had great results using it on damp stone. Ok it's solvent based and you really need a vapour mask using it, but it hands down beats any water based sealers I've used.

they make some big claims impish, to good to be true! Definitely hard to believe

 

[Lithofin BOB]

The test was to determine the colour change without any moisture from the install bring present, I would advise this test on an unlaid tile prior to impregnating the main area on any floor, most products will state to test for suitabilty and to access colour change.
Next test could be to strip out the impregnator on these spare tiles,dry and test a water based as these quite often will not change or highlight the colour( test)

 

[hmtiling]

These are fired earth ' Hampton' sealed with stain stop and grouted with 110 ucp. I had the luxury of long drying times as they're was 5 more wet rooms to di in the house. They definitely went slightly darker and richer in colour but the client and myself thought they looked good. I've no before sealant photos though I'm afraid

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Just to be clear - and everyone can have their own procedure - all stone is different .

Now having fixed a few stone floors over the years I'd put my 6d worth in.
White Limestone, Terracotta and Encaustics I always seal as I take them out of the crate. Honed stones I work clean ( not as clean as my son apparently) and seal when fully dry 48 hours later.
This particular marble I would have worked clean but sealed before grouting.
Not that anyone listens to old people these days.

And seal when fully dry!

For a number of years before I sold tooling I owned a stone import business. We predominantly imported marble and limestone from Portugal and Spain and without exception every crate or box of tiles we ever handled would have been packed at the production factory whilst it was still wet.

This is the main reason why it's not generally sensible to seal any of these products in any way before they are fitted and allowed to dry naturally. As in most cases you're trapping in production moisture on top of moisture being drawn in from whatever adhesive is being used.

Also consider that an already moist stone is not going to absorb any form of sealant to a degree that will allow it to perform to it's design standard.

Imho - if you know your stone you will not have the issues!

 

[WaltWhite]

So to recap, my 7 months pregnant wife ordered the tiles over the phone from Fired Earth. She wasn't given any guidance at all about the nature of the stone we were using. Of course the email confirming the order did say "check the terms and conditions". The website showing the bridghampton tiles says in a small box "Extreme Variation" : I would have no idea this meant more variation than you would normally expect with a natural stone, being our first time ever buying these sort of tiles.
Fired Earth are have told me they would not normally give guidance to customers other than this as they have been told this is rude by previous customers in the past. There is also guidance on the invoice but in very small writing which we were not directed to, again we are novices at this but would have appreciated a little bit more help here. They also say because we ordered samples from the website they would have assumed we did not need any guidance when actually ordering. Hmmmm.

Our tiler did not indicate any problems with working with these tiles, he says he opened 4 of the six boxes and mixed them up. He also refuses to believe this is a moisture issue, and says it is colour variation as some other tilers I have asked believe. As when he finished he did not clean the tiles, I'm wondering if excess sealant was left on the tiles, which could have darkened them. But it does appear to be in places whole sheets that are darker.

If particular sheets of the tiles were darker the tiler did not ask us if we were Ok to use these. He said he thought that was the mix.

I'm really annoyed with the attitude of Fired Earth, I have asked if someone could come and look at the floor and they have refused. We had the tiles unopened for quite a while, we were delayed with our renovation and had the small matter of my wife being knocked down to contend with so this delayed our project. I feel let down by the installation and frankly the attitude of this company (Topps Tiles better customer service in my opinion)

I still owe the tiler a third of the money. He feels he is being criticised because of Fired Earth's lack of help with this, and that he should be paid all of his money. I asked him to come back and improve the floor. He has offered to cut out the darker sheets and put the unused sheets in but offers no guarantees it would be better (thinking he would use a disk cutter, difficult to do neatly?). Im not sure exactly how he can do this with hexagon tiles and it look ok?

Regarding the earlier photos of the "Hamptons " floor ( that looks brilliant btw) this is also classed as Extreme Variation but looks very similar to fired earth photos and their samples. As opposed to what we have.

Our baby is due this week so could do without this hassle!
Sorry for long message but that is the current state of play.....

 

[WaltWhite]

BTW some people are saying the floor looks OK, I dont know.....

 

[WaltWhite]

Found these photos a couple of hours after they had been sealed. Floor is not clean mayb the application of the stainstop is the problem

 

[RealEarth]

that mosaic looks absolutely nothing like they advertise on their website. Yes.. there is scope for 'natural variation' in stone - but that's ridiculous.
Have we established that the tiler hasn't used a grey adhesive? (sorry.. i've not read every post on this thread) - that would be a major contributing factor to the greyness in the tiles.

This is Hampton Marble hexagon mosaic I supplied recently.. together with matching brick on the walls. This was from Silver Lion Trading (not Fired Earth) - but essentially the same product. Never had any issues with them ever.



It's saddening to hear of the end users being brushed off with small print, hoping that they'll go away and stop bothering them - but sometimes problems need to be addressed and put to bed in a professional manner that you would expect from a high end brand such as theirs. It would be worth going straight to the top with your complaint and asking the question as to what they would consider acceptable to their samples / website image and what you have received. I would be interested to hear their response.
Good luck.