Porcelain tile help

[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..

 

[David-M.]

I have a quick question about grout colour. My tiler reckons that a mid grey grout will look best on the polished black tiles and would look better than charcoal or black grout. Does this sound right, I've never seen any of the shades, so I really don't know what to expect.

Does anyone have any photos of jobs they've done with polished back porcelain tiles that I could have a butcher's at please?

Thanks.

 

[Scott]

Id go anthracite, black or charcoal. It could be he wants to use what he's got in stock, black and really dark grouts can be hard work when cleaning it off. Your the customer so you get what you want!

 

[David-M.]

You were right Scottley, he only had the light/mid grey on the van and just a small amount of charcoal. I mixed a bit up and spread it on a tile to see and to be honest, the grey looked a greeny, sort of Khaki colour, so I went for the charcoal instead, not sure he was too happy about that, but it does look great, so thanks for that!

I have a quick question regarding the sealing of the grout. Am I OK to use MPG on this? If so, what's the best method of application, a little paint brush, or the sponge again?

Cheers

 

[David-M.]

Apologies for not coming back with photos yet, the job went a bit sour.

After the tiler had gone (and been paid), I noticed he'd left a few of the white spacers in the grout and had just snapped them off so there were two prongs of sharp white plastic sticking up, and then I noticed that there were patches of yellow in the grouting.

The yellow in the grouting is a little odd, on closer inspection it's as if the colour in the grouting (it was graphite to start with) has drained away leaving it yellow? I scraped a patch of the yellow to see if it was efflorescence but it seems to be solid patches of it that go as deep as the grout goes? They weren't there to start with, and nothing has been spilled on them, in fact I've kept off them completely and not even mopped, just swept them every couple of days so the tiler couldn't say it was anything I'd done - I was going to seal them, but haven't done yet until I know what's happening with it.

I was wondering if any of you could shed any light on this for me, I realise the tile spacers are going to need digging out, but the grout is the bit that's worrying me the most.

The tiler says he'll come back to fix it, but that was over a week ago and he still hasn't been, supposedly Monday he's coming now.

Will photos of the grout help?

Cheers

 

[David-M.]

 

[ceramic 2 stone]

Hi,

I've just bough some black polished porcelain tiles for my kitchen floor and I'm a little unsure about a few things, so here goes...

When I was buying the tiles today I visited a few different shops, looking at what appeared to be the same tiles, Topps insisted that I needed some sealer at £30 to stop the grout staining the tiles "and nothing more". Another shop claimed the sealer was a one off treatment to prevent stains from liquids and one place (Pilkingtons) said the tiles didn't need any sealer.

So, I'm guessing that I will need the sealer, but is it OK to apply the sealer to the tiles before laying them? That seems like an easier option? Also, I read on here that I may need to remove some kind of coating/wax before applying the sealer? Can anyone recommend a cleaner for this please?

Thanks

Dave.

hi dave, ive never had any probs with black porcelain before. i would use it if you were having cream tiles or a light colour shouldnt worry 2much pal.

 

[Scott]

Im not sure about that grout, you say it goes throught the grout and isnt just ont he surface?

Is tha the section you had a scrape at?

 

[David-M.]

Im not sure about that grout, you say it goes throught the grout and isnt just ont he surface?

Is tha the section you had a scrape at?

Yes mate, it first appears as though someone has dropped plaster or sand and cement or that kind of thing onto the grout, but if you scratch away at it, it goes deep and the only way I could describe it really is that it looks like a small area of the grout has been bleached or lost its pigmentation somehow? I really don't know much about it, so I'm speculating, but that's what it looks like to me.

I can't say as I've ever seen efflorescence on grout, but I have seen it on bricks and plant pots and that always looks like a white powder?

The section I had a scrape at, the photo came out fuzzy, I'll redo it later, but there's not much to see really.

 

[tfs]

Hi mate,

To me, it looks like the grout has been contaminated. This would most likely have happened whilst it was being mixed. There may have been some bebris in the mixing bucket (possibly old grout!). Other than that I cant think of any other reason.

You may have to regrout mate

 

[carpo]

Maybe it's some adhesive that wasn't cleaned out and has set?

Carpo