Polished Porcelain Queries

[kaharrison9]

Evening All
Will be starting some polished porcelain tomorrow and was wondering is this transit wax very obvious or can it be transluscent.The tiles appear wax free and very shiney.
Also the tile retailer has told the customer they don't need sealing,do you simple accept this or do seal to make sure and possibly run the risk of damaging the origional seal
Cheers All.
Kev

 

[DHTiling]

Hi k ev.. if they are very shiny, then i can safely assume they are wax free..

As for sealing, be careful, best not to mix sealers.. if worried then contact the manufacturer..

 

[david campbell]

as above
i.e-b&q's 600mm2 look dull and dirty until stripped and sealed

 

[lcjohno]

The wax is invisible if you ask me. I had a right nightmare a few weeks back trying to seal some polished porcelain. I cleaned the tiles tiles twice with a wax remover which still didn't get it all off. This caused the sealer to sit on the tile and leave an oily look to it. I ended up using a really heavy duty cleaner to get the sealer and wax off and started again then the sealer did take.

I would speak to the tile retailer myself and ask them how they know there sealed already, some do come sealed. Might be worth contacting the manufacturer of the tiles to check if there sealed.

 

[DHTiling]

The wax is invisible if you ask me. I had a right nightmare a few weeks back trying to seal some polished porcelain. I cleaned the tiles tiles twice with a wax remover which still didn't get it all off. This caused the sealer to sit on the tile and leave an oily look to it. I ended up using a really heavy duty cleaner to get the sealer and wax off and started again then the sealer did take.

I would speak to the tile retailer myself and ask them how they know there sealed already, some do come sealed. Might be worth contacting the manufacturer of the tiles to check if there sealed.

Might not have been transit wax, they could just have been pre-sealed..

 

[kaharrison9]

I thought mixing sealers could be risky.
A little bit sceptical what the tile retailer says as he initialy was telling the customer there would be no problems installing Quartz onto a wet underfoor heating.
Cheers

 

[lcjohno]

Might not have been transit wax, they could just have been pre-sealed..

From b and q though, box said they must be sealed prior to grouting. They looked really shiny when cleaned but the seal would not take. It drove me mad. I put a post on here to ask if anyone else had had the same problem. Dont think the wax had been removed properly but i couldn't see it. They were black 600x600 so you see any little imperfection on the tile.

 

[DHTiling]

Were they very shiny from the box though..?

 

[doug boardley]

what's the foolproof way of telling if it's polished porc then?

 

[lcjohno]

Yeah

That shiny i was tempted to grout without sealing. I've used the b & q tiles before in beige and i know what you mean, they came up shiny once the wax was removed but these black ones looked spot on. Weird!

 

[kaharrison9]

Looking at the box and the tiles are R.A.K.Ceramics from United Arab Emirates with there phone number on.
Hope they don't put us on wait if i ring from my mobile!

 

[jackal792]

If its the same as these guys there's a UK number.

Contact RAK Ceramics UK

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Hi Kev.

Just a reminder that if you are dealing with polished porcelain tiles that we supply the diamond core drills to bore all the holes you need into them.

Kit contains seven pieces in five sizes.

Will drill out all your holes for shower rose, the radiator pipes (left) and the fixings to put up the shelf as well as the raditor etc etc

Perfect holes into granite hard black porcelain tiles

 

[beekae]

Its worth mentioning that these tiles are not porcelain in the true sense.Porcelain is non porous and never requires sealing.
They will stain if unsealed,and due to the polishing process have millions of microscopic pinholes in the surface.The sealer will also fill these.
Ive seen unsealed floors laid with this,that show the squeegee marks from grouting,as the grout beds into these holes,and cannot be removed.

 

[Brian the Tile]

i was lookingat the black tiles in b&q and decided against them they look like they have been brushed with varnish what will get that off my wife would like them on our floor but isaid no because of this