Sealing Marble

[goz]

Hi guys, hope your all well. Bit of background on the job. 20m2 of opus marble with travertine border. Everything was laid as per usual no problems, cleaned with grimex before being left to dry. Sealed before grouting using ltp mattstone h20 the water based sealer. Grouted the floor then grimex again. Sealed again last night only to return to shiny patches on the marble. Followed the instructions to the letter, applied with cloth, left for 5-10 mins and buffed up any excess.
Please take a look at pics, it's in certain light you can see it. Tiles the kitchen earlier in the year and sealed with solvent based sealer with no probs, only reason I used water based was because customer didn't like the smell of the solvent based.
Any ideas what's happening?

 

[Dave]

Looks like excess sealer , rub with a cloth damped with the H20 and buff straight away , this will liven the dried sealer , making it easier to buff excess off..

 

[goz]

Thanks Dave for the quick reply, I did try that tonight but To avail, it's strange as I was buffing after sealing fairly quickly almost a flash seal as you do when sealing polished . Can I strip it and reseal with solvent based?
One other thing, on the tin it says apply wet on wet several coats, what's the process of wet on wet?

 

[Dave]

Thanks Dave for the quick reply, I did try that tonight but To avail, it's strange as I was buffing after sealing fairly quickly almost a flash seal as you do when sealing polished . Can I strip it and reseal with solvent based?
One other thing, on the tin it says apply wet on wet several coats, what's the process of wet on wet?

Several coats ?... Im not a fan of the H20 , as imho darkens the stone , its not a water v solvent issue ,

The other small shiny bit looks to be calcareous and this can give the sheen look . Are those areas of stone crystal in texture/look. .

 

[goz]

They are Dave, driving me nuts, I like everything to be uniform, I suppose natural stone does exactly what it says on the tin, it's natural!! Some of the veins in the stone have the shiny texture aswell

 

[Lithofin BOB]

Could try a very heavy diluted wash with a light alkaline cleaner, use a white pad, test one stone - this may knock shiny patches - and not remove impregnator- test water repellance after if good should be ok. 30 second flash clean, clean complete stone ,not just shiny bit

If you want to use a solvent over the top of a water based-not always nessasary to strip , you can test one tile and check for any congealing , saturate one tile, 5 min , then instantly buff with white towel and buff fully dry. Don't let product semi dry then buff , this can cause similar to above..

If it is natural veining in the stone , and not excess impregnator ,these will settle and even out once you / client starts maintaining the floor , might take a few weeks.

 

[goz]

@Lithofin BOB thanks for this advice guys. Really interesting hearing about a solvent going over the water based, just always assumed you couldn't .
Loving the knowledge !

 

[Lithofin BOB]

@Lithofin BOB thanks for this advice guys. Really interesting hearing about a solvent going over the water based, just always assumed you couldn't .
Loving the knowledge !

Always need to test, have had a couple go sticky over the years at test stage ,so you would need to strip these back before re application .