beige polished porcelain floor tiles, didnt seal... HELP!!!

abdul111

I have bought about 100 m2 beige proclein floor tiles from B&Q and the tiler said he was a qualified tiler, we trusted him and not look at instructions. He has laid most of them (without sealing) and we read the instructions and realised that they had to be sealed, so what can we do about it??? we havent started grouting yet, is there any way to seal them now?
it also says we have to seal it AGAIN after grouting... what is the reason behind sealing it again?
if it is possible to seal now how do you apply the sealent?

Yooj_2

Seal it now before grouting with impregnating sealer. And after grouting to seal the grout in order to keep the grout clean also.
Various methods exist for application, i.e. brush, roller, rag etc...refer to sealer manufacturer recommendations.

Alan_M_2

Don't use HG impregnator, it's too thick. You need a specialist sealer from someone like Lithofin.

I was a tiling contractor for quite a few years and I don't truly understand why Porcelain tiles have to be sealed at all. Their main selling point over stone was their zero maintainance. The all of a sudden it has to be treated in the same way a marble is....always seemed odd to me. Especially now as many Porcelain replicas of marble are actually more expensive than marble, then have to be fitted and cared for like marble......errr, I'll take the marble instead thanks.

Anyhow, I would lay these in their raw state, then seal, then grout, then seal again - exactly the same process as Limestone or Marble tiles.

No harm done, don't assume the tiler doesn't know what He's doing, I'd be more inclined to assume the tiles from B&Q are pretty cheap and He may not be used to having to seal Porcelain. A decent quality one shouldn't require any sealant at all.

theonlywayisup

I'm with Alan, you can't beat Lithofin, we use it on our limestone tiles, the sealant had a disgusting smell which hangs around for a while, but it is amazing stuff. Follow their wizzard http://www.lithofin.de/frames.asp?page=loesungen_konfigurator

Doozergirl

I don't know if the same problem still exists with the cheap & cheerful B&Q polished porcelain tiles but they were incredibly porous and needed sealing before laying even as even getting adhesive on them would mark them permanently.

I'd read that you couldn't dot and dab the light coloured ones as the colour would seep through to the front.

God bless you sealing and polishing off 100 square metres. I did just my kitchen, twice, and I was ready to kill.

andyhop

Doozergirl wrote: »

I don't know if the same problem still exists with the cheap & cheerful B&Q polished porcelain tiles but they were incredibly porous and needed sealing before laying even as even getting adhesive on them would mark them permanently.

I'd read that you couldn't dot and dab the light coloured ones as the colour would seep through to the front.

God bless you sealing and polishing off 100 square metres. I did just my kitchen, twice, and I was ready to kill.

Dot and Dab, I am presuming you mean for adhesive, This should not be done anyway, Floors require full adhesive coverage

White adhesive should have been used on the lighter colours, Backskimming the tile to ensure colour remained the same

Would advise that WEXA is used before sealing as these tiles have a transit wax coating that needs to be removed

SamanthaA

I work at a B&Q on flooring & Tiling. And no I don`t have experience of either! My tiling looks more like a mountain range!

The reason for sealing was explained to me thus
`They and natural stone are porous & will absorb water from the adheasive & grout, drawing in the chemicals and possibly the colour.`

How true this is, I don`t know, but we have had people come into store with disaster stories and a couple of tilers who have NEVER sealed and have not had problems.

Alan_M_2

That's the rub, Porcelain tiles are not really meant to be porous, well high quality porcelain tiles.

Their USP is low or zero maintainance....in theory.

abdul111

HI, thanx for replies. it says we have to seal all edges including cuted edges? and then also have to clean it off which is not possible as they are already laid.... do we have to seal the uper surface aswell? how much time will it take apporx? isit best if we do it our self or have it done

Yooj_2

If you are not confident in doing it, or are unsure in any way, I would suggest that you get your tile fitter to do the sealing, purely because you have probably spent a reasonable amount of money getting them installed, and you do not want the tile ruined by incorrectly applied sealer, or the wrong type of sealer, as sealers can change the colour/apperance of tiles.

Polished porcelain tiles from what I understand can have tiny pores opens up during the polishing process, and it is because of this that they require to be sealed.