Marble sealant advice required

[hungover]

There are products that can stick tile to pretty much anything, but Silicon instead of adhesive and sealer to act as a waterproof barrier just isn't the way to go.

Tiles are there for easy cleaning and for their looks, and shouldn't be treated as a waterproof barrier. If you want to waterproof and area of a room, or a room, you do that before tiling and then the adhesive and grout (that will absorb water) are only holding the tiles on, it allows water to pass through the products but never break them down (causing failure).

What you've done there is use products sensitive to water, to try and waterproof an area. It was set to fail on day one.

The fact it was a maul to do only suggests it should have been done right the first time as I'm sure I'm telling you to suck eggs when I say spending time attempting to repair it, several times, is just costing a lot more time than it would have taken to do it right the first time.

You need to get the failed tiles up fully, clean them up, clean the substrate up, use the right products, and re-tile the area. And then seal it if required only to seal the tile surface for the required effect the customer wants. And you need to use a proper marble sealer product from a proper sealer company.

Not too sure what you wanted us to say mate to be honest.

Thanks Dan

Yep- I'd like to use the correct products. This is costing me buckets loads.

Following your post I appreciate that I was expecting too much and should have said no when asked to do it (given my limited experience). The fact remains that I have 4 strips of marble sitting on a bath. Are you able to recommend suitable products or are you saying that it is impossible to have a marbled top bath that will be subjected to water?

I know that no product is 100% waterproof but stoopibly though that sealed marble would be showerproof.

Cheers

 

[hungover]

No way - just re-read and caught up on this. You're tiling the actual enamelled bath?!

Yes, the top only, the client wanted something that looked like an under-mount bath The tile supplier insisted that it had have joins given how thin the sections would be.

 

[hungover]

I still need a stone sealant that prevents polished marble tiles from darkening when one showers

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Thanks dave,

That reply was more helpful.

If we put my current problem to one side- the client has two other tiled showers, not done by me, but both of which suffer from the lower tiles turning dark as the water is absorbed. Can you recommend a sealant that will be superior to the White spirit based ones?

you've hit the nail on the head there. now you have to figure out where the water is ingressing that is causing the tiles to absorb the water. sealing over the tiles isn't going to solve the problem, merely mask it.

 

[hungover]

you've hit the nail on the head there. now you have to figure out where the water is ingressing that is causing the tiles to absorb the water. sealing over the tiles isn't going to solve the problem, merely mask it.

???

One shower has travertine tiles that were very absorbant, possibly fitted 5 years ago. The client asked me to seal them and resilicone the tray. I used the crap wb stuff. The Silicon is starting to blacken on the tile reverse side. There are no leaks. The water ingress is from the face of the tile when showering.

The second shower is marble. It too has no leaks. The lower 2 rows of tiles darken when showering.



In the bathroom I am working in, there are no leaks at all (for now). Where water bounces off the tiles for a prolonged period, they too darken.

 

[Deleted member 9966]

usually when tiles darken after being subject to a water showering, as you point out, this is cause by water being absorbed. my own experience is only of ceramic tiles which are glazed to prevent water absorbing into the biscuit.

I cannot see how sealing travertine tiles is going to stop them from absorbing water. However I am not a professional tiler and somebody out there might know of some cure that will help your situation. And as for the marble, I wouldn't expect should a tough stone to be absorbant. Are you sure the tiles are marble and not just marble effect?

 

[Dan]

You can find what you need here mate: Identify Your Surface | LTP Online | Tile Cleaning, Sealing and Maintenance Products

Choose the tile and follow the instructions.

 

[Tony73]

hi Dan,

Thanks for the reply.

The client wanted the bath to sit about 60mm away from the wall on the long side so I hot melt glued/CT1'd 3x2" PAR to the long side of the bath. Other than that the two short lengths are buried in the wall.

The bath is pressed steel so I figured that Silicon would allow for greater movement than the cement based adhesive that I used on the walls.

The client wanted the gaps between the bath top marble to be as inconspicuous as possible so I used Silicon between the joints and then coloured styrene resin filler.

I then finished the last row of the wall tiles down to the bath top, grouted and then ran a Silicon seal.



TBH removing the marble top is a real pain in the rear. The marble top has a pull out shower. To remove the pull out shower head I have to remove the solid slab bath panel to get to the fittings. Removing the bath panel involves removing the adjacent vanity unit with its plumbing and electrical fittings. Then I have to use a very long knife to cut through the Silicon holding the marble top down and the Silicon seals where it meets the wall tiles.



I am more than happy to accept that I may have used the wrong products. What would you recommend for the bathtop marble given that 90% of it is fixed to enameled steel?


Even if the underside Silicon had not failed I suspect that the wall tile to bathtop Silicon would have failed in time, it came away much easier than it should. This I put down to the fact that the tiles are absorbing too much water when the main showerhead is being used. Regardless I still need a decent stone sealant. leaks aside, the client doesn't want the tiles to darken each time he showers. The waterbased stuff was expensive and crap the White Spirit based stuff from the local tile shop was only £25 f0r 1L and is better but after 4 coats it is still not waterproof.

Tnx

Hi, I have fitted alot of bath tops, vanity tops etc. allways on clear Silicon and never had a problem. first Silicon between bath and wall, than fit bath top, tiles on top( with 2mm gap between bath top and tiles) and Silicon again. Do you have any pictures?

 

[hungover]

Hi, I have fitted alot of bath tops, vanity tops etc. allways on clear Silicon and never had a problem. first Silicon between bath and wall, than fit bath top, tiles on top( with 2mm gap between bath top and tiles) and Silicon again. Do you have any pictures?

Hi Tony

I don't have photos at the moment but will see I can swing by on saturday.

The marble suppliers recommended Silicon and (evidently) I too assumed that it would be ok.

I am confused, you say that it is ok but the general consensus here thus far is that you should never use Silicon as an "adhesive" and that you should never apply directly to the top of the bath.

Incidentally have you ever experienced the underside of marble becoming "slimy"? I assumed that it was a result of the amount of water being absorbed by the marble "sweating" out.

When I removed the marble i could see that there was a tiny gap under one of the joins where the baton on the edge of the bath was. The failure of the Silicon at the butted faces and the small hole directly beneath allowed the water through. I used the same techniques as you.

After removing the marble I siliconed the whole length of baton. I then dot and dabbed with both Silicon and plumbers gold (working on the assumption that the latter might act as a failsafe if the former fails).

Until my original post here, I had hoped that preventing the marble faces from absorbing so much water would prevent the Silicon from failing.

 

[Tony73]

Did you do Silicon inside the bath, between bath and marble top all the way round? And i know Silicon is ok to use, just google , shipshape construction 95% of tiling stone fitting etc. is my work, also worked as sub. for Ideal Stone Interiors for about 7 years, fitting bath tops, vanity tops, kitchen worktops etc. :smilewinkgrin: . Pictures would be realy helpfull