Porcelain tile help

[David-M.]

schutler

Thanks

I'm guessing he'll start at the step and do the edge of a full tile, but what I was meaning was, the step is about 3 tiles wide, so there'll be 2 or so lines of grout running up to the step which will just wear away and come loose? I think I'd prefer a nice metal trim, I'll get looking now.

P.S. Whatever you do, don't search google or google images for schutler!

 

[squeaky]

they have some stair trims on this site if it helps Boltseal Tile Trims Sealants Tools Drills Tile Care

 

[David-M.]

The Grimex and MPG arrived today, but unfortunately, the Grimex doesn't have any effect on the sealer that comes already applied to the tiles.

I've gone from 1 part Grimex to 10 parts water to neat Grimex and it's having no effect whatsoever. Tried using a scouring pad, tried leaving it to soak, but it is like trying to remove enamel with water (well, kinda).

I'm a bit stumped now as this stuff came highly recommended. Any thoughts?

 

[David-M.]

Just got off the phone to LTP, spoke to a nice lady who is sending me out a couple of samples of grout stain remover and I think the other one was called power stripper.

She said that Grimex will work on 90% of the tiles they've tested it on, but sods law, they haven't tried it on tiles from Al-Murad which is where I got mine from! :lol:

 

[astechsolutions]

in a hurry so maybe missed theis in earlier replies, going back to the first blog it was mentioned about a tranisient wax on the tiles that needed to be removed before sealing. How can you tell if this wax is present, there is nothing on the box?

 

[David-M.]

Just to update further on this:

The Power stripper and grout stain remover samples arrived and neither of those had any effect whatsoever.

I'm fairly certain now that this isn't transit wax, but a pre applied sealer. Speaking to LTP again today, they say that they've never come across even a sealer that is impervious to all their chemicals, and just to confirm this, they asked me to do the permanent marker test on one of the tiles I'd not used any chemicals on and it just pooled and wiped straight off. They are keen to get hold of a sample of these tiles, so I'm sending them my offcuts and hopefully that will help anyone else that has the same problem as me.

The problem that I do still have is that the tiles look fine, but they do have a slight haze to them, and while I can live with that, it is the sealer that they've used for sure, and the reason that I know this is that I spent an hour with a pan scourer yesterday and managed to partially remove some of it, but it's very tough!

 

[David-M.]

You can just about see the abrasions from the pan scrubbers.

 

[tfs]

what is the name of that tile mate?

 

[David-M.]

Not sure mate, here's the box if that helps?

 

[tfs]

it says the tiles are presealed, it may be the nano seal that I mentioned previously. If this is the case then this type of seal is made to last. Nanotechnolegy (to the best of my knowledge) is a permenant seal. These tiles usualy have a very oily/ waxy finnish to the tile. This should have come off with an intensive cleaner (obviously this did not work though)

My first thought would be that the tile has been Nano-sealed but, I would be very keen to hear what LTP have to say after there tests.

You could try contacting the tile manufacturer?

 

[David-M.]

I rang Al-Murad today and they are going to look into it and get back to me on Monday. To be honest, if they say that that is the finish and that's how they are supposed to look, then, that's fine, I just didn't want to have them all stained by grout or whatever and have to all come back up again.

LTP said also that they'd been checking out Nano-sealed tiles and found that they benefit from a coat of MPG, or at least some of them did. All very confusing for a novice like me.

Regarding the waxy oily surface, there's none of that, it's dry and it's hard, just as you'd expect it to be if there was no sealer or wax on there, but there is that kind of haze that looks as though it should come off if that makes sense?

 

[tfs]

I rang Al-Murad today and they are going to look into it and get back to me on Monday. To be honest, if they say that that is the finish and that's how they are supposed to look, then, that's fine, I just didn't want to have them all stained by grout or whatever and have to all come back up again.

LTP said also that they'd been checking out Nano-sealed tiles and found that they benefit from a coat of MPG, or at least some of them did. All very confusing for a novice like me.

Regarding the waxy oily surface, there's none of that, it's dry and it's hard, just as you'd expect it to be if there was no sealer or wax on there, but there is that kind of haze that looks as though it should come off if that makes sense?

Trust me bud, it is very confusing to most of us. No presealed tile should absorb grout anyway.

goodluck, I hope someone comes up with an effective solution for you. Let us know how you get on.

 

[David-M.]

Actually mate, now you've said that, I do feel a little less suspect of the tilers that I've seen that didn't know about all this stuff, I mean, if I'd have gone with the Pilkington's ones that looked pretty much identical, only shinier and about £150 more, there would have been none of this, and I suppose that's what many of the fitters must do. get decent tiles and be free (ish) of all this nonsense?

Cheers

 

[David-M.]

Another update, I just noticed a small ID label that says "superblacknano", so I'm guessing that's what all this is then :lol:

 

[DHTiling]

These updates have been very useful and a BIG thanks to LTP for helping you out..

 

[David-M.]

I forgot to mention that I've done a box of the tiles with MPG to see how they went, as LTP mentioned that nano tiles may benefit from it. So far so good, but I'm runnng out of micro-fibre cloths (15 in all) after just 8 tiles.

Would I be better off with a drill attachment for buffing them up, and if so, could you recommend one as I've got 88 more tiles to do and at this rate it's going to cost me more in cloths

Thanks.

 

[DHTiling]

Paper towel rolls..

 

[David-M.]

Kitchen roll?

 

[DHTiling]

You can yes.. But i am talking about Trade paper towel rolls..

i get mine from Eurocell plastics.

 

[David-M.]

OK cheers Dave.

I've found that kitchen roll sticks to it pretty quickly, so 3 buffs with that and then a final one with the microfibre does the trick. It's hard work though. Only 70 or so to go.

 

[Scott]

You will find that the one Dave is using is a really tough paper and doesnt break down in water. Its used by the window fitters etc.

I sealed a polished porcelain floor yesterday and took some cloths with me but ended up having to scrounge some old ones from the customer as it used loads to get the smear free finish. You need to keep turning the cloth over because as soon as its got some of the excess sealer on it it then goes smeary.

 

[David-M.]

Another update:

Al-Murad rang back and they claim that the tiles are not glazed in any way and had never heard of nano glazing. They also went on to say that to remove the hazy coating, you simply rub in some grout and it should come away.

Has anyone ever heard of this, or are they feeding me a crock of kack? You see, when I was buying the tiles, they insisted that I needed the spray sealer to stop the grout staining, but now they are saying that grout should be rubbed in to remove the coating of hazy stuff. Sounds fishy to me.

Cheers

 

[DHTiling]

The transit wax is temporary but grout will not remove it IMO.. needs to be dissolved..

 

[David-M.]

You are right, it didn't work.

Just got one box of 8 tiles left out of 96 to buff off the MPG and I'm done. The tiler is coming to lay them in the morning, so fingers crossed it'll be a decent job.

Used less than a 1/3rd of a bottle of MPG do do all 17sq/m, applied with a sponge, but it doesn't seem to soak in, so most of it ended up drying, so it's been a hard job cause it's a pig to buff off if there's a lot on the surface, which obviously there was as it didn't sink in much! The vapours are potent, even in a well ventilated room, but on the plus side, it's quite a funky, mellow kind of stoned

.

Found a nice stainless steel trim, made by Genesis, looks to be of decent quality and I got it from Boltseal for around £22 inc delivery.

Thanks for all the help, I'll be back with pics of the job done on Friday, all being well

 

[DHTiling]

Look forward to them... As mentioned the sealer is just to seal the open pores from polishing process, so goes along way on less absorbent tiles like those..