Time to grout and seal travertine..

[fd3typer2]

Hi,

this is a follow on room another post but I thought it might be more useful to put this in another post. BTW, thanks to all who have helped me so far.

The tiling is nearly finished now, it's looking great and it's good to know the work we have done behind the tiles is sound thanks to the advice from the forum.

Just have a few questions..

1. I plan to clean, grout and then seal the tiles. Would that be the right order? I think I have seen that some tilers tile, clean, seal, grout (Then seal again?)

2. Are there any tips to cleaning the tiles really well? I have only used sponge/bucket/washboy and paper towel buff in the past ceramic tile jobs..

3. I would like to give my client some aftercare advice for cleaning and possible resealing in the future. I'm going to use FILA sealer impregnator. What tips can I give for routine maintenance and after how long would you estimate (if ever) a re seal would be needed for a light use bathroom.

4. Would only 1 coat of sealant be enough?

Many many thanks in advance!

 

[Homefront Tiler]

The purpose of sealing any stone is to stop impurities compromising the stone either esthetically or mechanically. Stone has a high porous rate when un treated. For that reason we always use a flexible rapid set adhesive in white or grey, which ever is closest to the stone colour. This gives the stone less chance to absorb contamination from the adhesive. Different grouts have different chemical make up.........epoxy etc. Grouts also take varying times to cure. Due to the delayed curing in grouts a very porous stone, such as lime stone, will absorb the moisture in grout joints to the surrounding tile around it. If your using a colour match grout, Mapei Jasmine works great with Travertine, then you won't have any problems. A customer made the mistake of putting me a cup of coffee on her nice new limestone floor...............................the ring is still there!??

It is best to use a good quality impregnator such as Litholin prior to grouting as good practice and disregard the grout colour. This will always result in a good stone finish, then grout, then apply another coat of impregnator. That will protect the stone for many many years, can't remember what it says on the tin, 6 years i think, but I would recommend a coating of litholin stain stop every 12 month to keep the stone in tip top condition.


Hope this helps,


Pete.
Homefront Bathrooms

 

[Homefront Tiler]

Sorry missed point 2, never use acidic products, Heavy alkaline products, Conceantrated detergents or abraisives when cleaning the stone. It's also worth baring in mind grout stick to stone like sh*t to bed sheets so clean your wash boy water every 6m or so then go over it all again with fresh water. Trust me you don't want to be trying to remove cured grout off traverine. If you ever have to HG cement and grout film remover works well.

Pete.
Homefront Bathrooms.