Thompsons water seal on slate?

[xtramike]

Hello
I'm just about to lay 35m of rustic multicoloured slate. Has anyone any experience of using Thompsons as a sealant?
Thanks in advance

 

[kilty55]

erm,isnt that waterseal for brickwork mate?

 

[xtramike]

Yes, but will it work as a sealant?
Tile sealant seems to be about £10.00 a litre; Thompsons is £12.00 for 5 litres.

 

[kilty55]

there is no doubt a very good reason for the difference in price,one is for brick work and one is for high quality tile materials to be sealed with,i have necer used thompsons as a sealer for tiles and i never will.

35m square of slate must have been expensive mike and using this brick sealer to save 30 quid and the chance it may have of ruining your job doesnt add up mate.

think how upset you will be if it goes wrong

 

[xtramike]

Ok
What about using motar as an adhesive?

 

[kilty55]

hiya mike,can we have some info please as to what the slate is going to be tiled onto,,what is the substrate? can advise you better and i wouldnt use mortar or thompsons water seal mate

 

[aqua blue]

Hi xtramike, I agree with kitty55 this will effect future cleaning/maintenance with appropriate cleaners long term.

 

[xtramike]

Substrate is concrete. I'm just to save a bit of money!!

 

[aqua blue]

If the concrete is sound and level I would personally use BAL Rapidset flexible and
BAL Flexgrout.

​

 

[Perry]

Use blue tack it cheaper put a small piece in the centre of the tile and hope :yikes:

 

[DHTiling]

Substrate is concrete. I'm just to save a bit of money!!

We do not cut corners on here..

That sealer is no good for protection needed indoors .. it is basicly a water repellent and no good for fat spills etc etc..

 

[Terry Cottar]

Thomsons water seal is great for block paved drives and concrete etc. It is absolutely next to useless on Slate as Dave has already said. Furthermore the last time I priced it up it was closer to £25 not £12 however, you probably have a cheap supplier. Aqua Mix do a 3.785 Litre bottle of Penetrating Sealer for £22.99 + VAT. Spend the extra tenner would be my answer.

tel

 

[White Room]

Is this a wind up

 

[Nigel Witham]

I think the use of Thompson's Water Seal (TSW) is worth considering. Here's why.

The active ingredient in mouthwash is sodium fluoride. My densist tells me it needs to be at a concentration of .05 %. I can buy own brand mouthwash that meets this specification for 49p in Tesco or pay ten times as much for a branded product. The only difference in composition is in non-active ingedients that change the smell or sensation. I prefer not to pay for these since the add neither function nor enjoyment.

Likewise, I can buy tile cleaner from any tile store for around £10 per 500ml squirty bottle. This will be either a weak solution of phosphoric or hydrochloric acid. Both industrial chemicals produced in huge volumes and not scarce. I can also buy brick or patio cleaner for around £5 for 5L in any builders merchants. This is also a weak solution of hydrocholric acid so of course it removes cement and grout from tiles effectively. In Travis Perkins I can buy water-based masonry stabilising solution (which turns out to be a weak solution of common or garden PVA) for around £20 for 5L. I could make the same for a fraction of the cost by stirring a small bottle of woodworking glue into a bucket of warm water.

So what about slate impregnators? Well they are all silicon based compounds in a solvent. In some the solvent is water and in others it is a spirit base but in all the active ingredients are the silicon waxes that close pores and seal the substrate. That's what Thompson's Water Seal does too. I downloaded the spec sheet from Thompson's website and it confirms that it may be used on slate. I tried it on a sample slate yesterday, two coats then I wiped of the excess with a cloth. Left outside in the rain overnight it looks fine and is repelling water. I'll try it with other contaminents too. I will be surprised if it doesn't work becuase there have always been snake oil salesmen and always will be.

 

[Perry]

i have used it on slate many years ago if you pay me i will tell if it works
i have always used brick cleaner to clean tiles as well
but i wouldn't use tomsons water seal
thats because of experience

 

[Nigel Witham]

You want to be paid for sharing your experience on a forum. Are you teasing or just plain mean?

 

[Perry]

You want to be paid for sharing your experience on a forum. Are you teasing or just plain mean?

both rrr:

 

[Mike]

You want to be paid for sharing your experience on a forum. Are you teasing or just plain mean?

teasing i'm sure mate. nobody pays for info on here, kudos is enough of a payment

 

[Nigel Witham]

That's a relief. So what happened with your TSW on slate? (mine is working fine).

 

[Perry]

i have used it on slate many years ago if you pay me i will tell if it works
i have always used brick cleaner to clean tiles as well
but i wouldn't use tomsons water seal
thats because of experience

but you can pay me if you like

 

[Nigel Witham]

Ha! Do you have a side by side test conducted in a lab? If so happy to pay. If not please share your anecdote freely. I'm itching to learn.

 

[DHTiling]

So what is the acidic reaction time with TWS then..?


Always seal natural stone with products designed for the job...IMO..

 

[Nigel Witham]

Interesting question but not an answer to the one I asked, which was what happened in your experience.

 

[Perry]

never sealed it stained in a very little time did warn the customer at the time but he supplied the materials and insisted i used it but this was 25 years ago

 

[Nigel Witham]

Time for a proper side by side test then. We need up to date facts.