limestone tiles turning orange

[kbaby]

Hi,

Hope you can help.

Last year we installed limstone tiles on the floor of our bathroom. We were advised by the store(porcelanosa) that the tiles were already sealed. How ever not long after installing them my child was sick on the floor and even though it didnt stain it seemed to have taken the shine off the tiles in the area.
This week ive now noticed that there is a corner of the room where the tiles are turning an orange colour and the top of the tile seems to have chalky powder on it.

Does anyone know why this is happening and is there anything I can do to prevent it happening in other places and remove the orange colour. When the tile is wet the orange colour seems to go.

 

[mikethetile]

others with nore experince with cleaning and sealing tiles will be able to advise you on this , they will be on this evening

vomit is acidic and will have lifted the seal , the area should have been resealed , the tiler should have left you with an aftercare leaflet or explained sealing to you

as for the orange , this could be several things , did you use marine ply under the tiles

 

[kbaby]

Sorry I dont know what marine ply is.

We used a tile adhesive and grout recommended to us from the tile store as they advised they would only guarentee any defects if we used their adhesive etc. I know the adhesive wouldve been laid onto the concrete floor of the house. We used Butec oneflex and super-one n gris for the floor tiles

 

[Gazzer]

The tiles should have been sealed more than once. 3 times is my preference

 

[kbaby]

ive just taken some photos to show you. Theres one showing the parts of the floor where it appears something has taken splashed the floor and after marked it, another where at the edge of doorway the tiles have some chalk growing on them(i cleaned it off yesterday so this is just whats appeared today) I removed the floor bar to get a better photo and the last one where the tiles are stained. i dont know what has stained them as its in a corner of the room where water wouldnt drip down.

Hope this helps
chalky appearence by the door | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
stained corner | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
splash marks on the 2nd tile left hand side | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[jay]

recomend you contact the supplier and ask them to have a look also ask if tiles need further maintanance (re sealing) and what sealer was used originally so you can use the same or you may get a reaction the white residue looks like calcium or effluressence

 

[kilty55]

in your pictures,the orange stain is that anywhere near a water erea like a sink or the bath or shower? or even where water may pool from someone coming out the bath?

the reason i ask is where your wall and floor tiles meet there should be a siliocne joint this will seal this area,it doesnt look like anything is there at all? can you confirm

 

[kilty55]

kbaby,what is that to the left of the orange mark in the picture? my initial guess is that the orange stain is water damage geting under the tile.maybe from the fact there seems to be no silicone joint or the fact there may be pipes in that area possibly with aleak?

 

[mikethetile]

if you have laid on a concrete sub floor then staining from ply can be ruled out

looks like water staining to me, cleaning and resealing should sort it out, does water land here when your showering

 

[kbaby]

yes the stain is in a corner of the room, It has the shower above it(in the bath) but a glass shower screen above which is sealed so ive never noticed water pooling on the floor in that area, it has a wall to the left hand side and a bath panel to the top of the the stain, the bath panel isnt sealed down in case we ever needed to take it off but I think the tiles run all the way under the bath right to the far side of the wall. I know that there are hot water pipes running up the wall behind the wall tiles. I guess I wouldnt know if there was a leak unless I took the tiles off.

Do you definetly think its water damage? if so I will hve to find the cause .

Will I be able to get rid of the orange stain?

What could be causing the patch with the calcium on?

Thanks

 

[Pebbs]

The stain is water for sure but before you go tearing the whole floor up and ripping out the bath, just double check that that there isent any spray coming down from the shower, or running down the side of the bath. That is what Im hoping it is instead of a leak under the floor. The calcuim patch looks like efflorescence this is where the mineral salts rise to the top of the limestone, you can buy a treatment for this, strip the sealer of the tile apply the treatment and when this is completed and the tile is dry re-seal the tile.

Pebbs

 

[david campbell]

maybe the water is coming from when the shower screen is opened and dripping due to the tiles not being sealed,even if a supplier tells me tiles are sealed i would still at least apply a coat before and after grouting

 

[DHTiling]

Even if they were pre-sealed .. cleaning habits can reduce the life of this sealer, they need a good clean back and re-seal.. the use of an efflorescence remover as well..

The stain could be copper based( leak ) or shower gels etc... but deffo looks like water staining.. and the splash marks are lack of sealer..

Are you in a hard water area as well..?

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Don't know about the tile problem ...... but the cakes look great!

 

[DHTiling]

OOO Yes John.. very nice cakes..

The tractor cake | Flickr - Photo Sharing!