What is the best sealer to seal my porcelain floor tiles is one of the most frequently asked questions I hear. The answer can depend on the finish of the porcelain; for example, it could be a standard, smooth finish, it could be slightly textured (like a faux slate) or heavily textured, perhaps for anti-slip purposes. However, by far the most common question I receive is in relation to ‘polished’ porcelain.
There are still some high-quality porcelain tiles out there that do not require sealing. If you are lucky enough to have one of those then you are not going to need to do too much to keep it clean and looking good. Unfortunately, more and more of the porcelain sold here is of a somewhat more unpredictable quality, at least in terms of porosity and susceptibility to sub-surface staining. If you suspect that your porcelain might need sealing there are couple of ways you can check:
1. Do a water drop test – put some water on the tile and leave it for about 20 minutes then wipe off. If there is any darkening of the surface, showing that some water has penetrated the tile, then it will benefit from being sealed.
2. You can do the same thing with oils (warm engine oil off your car’s dipstick, cooking oil etc)
3. Or, for the ultimate test, use a highly penetrative chemical like a solvent; a permanent ink marker pen is perfect – needles to say, do this test on a spare off-cut, not on your floor!
Having determined that your porcelain needs sealing, which sealer should you use? First of all, the ‘type’ of sealer you will need is known as an ‘impregnating sealer’, as the name implies, it is a sealer that penetrates the tile and lies just below the surface, acting like a safety net to contain contaminants and keep them at the surface until they can be cleaned.
There are many impregnators out there and the old adage of “you get what you pay for” is certainly applicable here. Next question is what is best, solvent-based or water-based? Well this is one of the very few situations nowadays where I would still favour a solvent based one, not because water based is not up to the job, quite the contrary, some modern water-based sealers can out-perform the best solvents, but simply because porcelain has a very dense surface and a solvent-based impregnator will penetrate it more easily.
So, having decided that a solvent based sealer is required, ideally we are looking for a high performance one that is as kind to the user and the environment as a solvent sealer can be, so check the labels, there are some better products available these days with less pungent odours than in days gone by. However make sure work with plenty of ventilation..
What if I want to use a water-based sealer? – No problem, you can, go for a premium water based sealer; just adapt the application a little: allow a liberal quantity of the sealer to dwell on the surface for a little longer. Then rub in the sealer with absorbent cotton or paper towels, leaving the surface of the tiles dry and free of sealer residue as per normal.
Is there anyway of darkening the porcelain? – This question sometimes arises, in particular with polished black porcelain. In some cases, solvent-based impregnators do darken the tile, but only marginally. There are some enhancing sealer s that can do a very good job, provided they can get into the porcelain, I have had some success with Enhance ‘N’ Seal on black polished porcelain, making a slightly greyed-out looking tile pure black. It won’t work on every tile, so you will need to be prepared to test, and it is expensive, but you will not need much of it as it goes such a long way.
I will come back to this topic later and discuss how to pre-seal a textured porcelain to aid the grouting process.
Copyright Ian Taylor and The Tile and Stone Blog.co.uk, 2013. See copyright notice above.
hello i would like to know how often do you have to seal the floor we are a family of five and we have a lot of foot trafic so if i where to use any type of sealer do i have to seal it from time to time.as someone told me you seal it once and its done for life no need to repeat the sealer which i find hard to belive if you can answer my questions i would be gratefull thank you anna sammon
Hi, I have a big problem. My tiler has just started to grout the lovely porcelain tiles in my new kitchen using dark grout on the pale tiles. But the grout has stained the tiles! On close inspection the box of the tiles says they should be sealed and the company accepts no responsibility. Can I get the dark grout out of the tiles? We have already tried HG Cement Grout film remover. Thanks, Chris…
Hi Chris, this is a very common problem, and I have covered it several times, but as it keeps coming up I want to go over it again only I think it will be better if I put up an entire post about it- I’ll get on with it right now so it should be up today.
Hi Anna, apologies, for not answering you sooner, the blog has been up for a while but I am only just getting the hang of the comments!
bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question but you are absolutely correct, no sealer can last indefinitely. As you have not told me what type of sealer or anything about the type of stone, you cleaning regime etc. I can only make vague generalizations but here goes.
There are two broad types of sealer: coating and impregnating. Coating sealers are visible coatings, often with some degree of intentional shine or finish. They are on top of the stone and so will be subject to wear – all that foot traffic you mention. They are also more prone to the effects of strong cleaners.
most coating sealers can last anywhere between 3 to 6 months for the ‘lesser’ quality ones and 6 months to 3 years for the better ones
Impregnators, as the are below the surface, do not suffer from wear in quite the same way and as a result, some can last upwards of 15 years or even longer.
The things to bear in mind, if you have a high foot traffic and the stone is cleaned aggressively with strong alkaline cleaners/bleaches – your sealer will not last anywhere near its potential life expectancy – in some cases a coating sealer may be stripped straight back off again, while Impregnators will rapidly degrade under such circumstances.
One more thing to consider is the stone itself; a soft stone or tile like some limestones and terracotta will wear comparably fast themselves, and as they wear, they take the sealer with them.
There are lots of things you can do to prolong the life of your sealer, like reducing the amount of grit that gets onto the floor with dust mats, and use neutral cleaners for regular washing. But I would suggest that for Impregnators you do a water test once a year (see article above)- as soon as you detect a deterioration, in the sealer, you can usually top it up with another coat. Coating sealers are rather easier to see as they loose their ‘finish’ so there are visible signs.
Hope that helps, sorry it was so late
Ian
Hello… I just had porcelain tile installed in my kitchen and living room. Most of the tiles have a slight texture to them but a handful of them are shiny and it is a very noticable difference. They look like different teils altogether! Is there anything you can think of to help fix this? We are going to try vinegar and water to see if it is a grout haze problem.. but we don’t think this is the case. Thanks for your help! Michelle
Hi Michelle,
Not completely sure about this one, it is worth trying to eliminate grout haze as you say. I must just say that I am amazed at the number of people who talk about using vinegar and water – I know it can be a good thing to use ‘home remedies’ and it seems to be very fashionable, especially on the US side of the pond but I think it is ‘bad advice’ – often given out by tv programmes and other web sites. The reason I don’t favour it is that it contains an acid (acetic) – admittedly in very small quantities but more than enough to do permanent damage to acid sensitive surfaces such as pigmented grout, and any calcium based stone. Not an issue here in your case but on the other hand, where an acid is required (and safe to use, like on porcelain) it is nowhere near strong enough.
So, to eliminate the grout haze try some proprietary grout haze acid cleaner, based on phosphoric acid or equivalent (on no account use muriatic or hydrochloric). If it is a polymer modified grout, you may also need to use a solvent type cleaner – I have covered this else where so won’t repeat now.
Ok, if you eliminate grout haze as the problem, what else could it be? – Well it could actually be a manufacturing fault. Without seeing pictures or knowing more about the tile it is hard to advise, it could be as simple as different batches. You don’t say if the tiles are supposed to be textured or smooth, I am assuming that they are supposed to be textured, and it is the shiny ones that are out of place? This, if it is the case, it very odd, it could be something as simple as the wrong tiles mixed up with yours but unlikely. Any chance you could post some pictures – or send them to me by email?
Hi..We had matt porcelain tiles laid in our new kitchen four months ago. No matter how often we clean them they just seem to absorb any type of liquid spilt on them. At the time they were laid i’d complained to the fitter that a tea stain had failed to be removed upon vigorous cleaning and asked if the tiles needed sealing. He replied, no!
My five month old floor now looks much older and hasn’t even seen a winter yet. Are there any recommendations about what to do from here? I’m guessing i need to get the floor as clean as possible then seal it.
Thx
Jeni
Hi Jeni,
It is less usual to have an ongoing staining issue with matt porcelain rather than polished. It is the polishing process that opens up pores. However I have seen some matt finish porcelain that were quite porous. Sometimes the tile is just poor quality I am afraid and has an absorbent body, but more often than not it is down to surface texture.
What appears to be matt to the naked eye can often be quite textured under a low powered microscope. The type of die and press used in some factories creates a kind of orange-peel texture. This texture really grabs hold of dirt, so the apparent ‘stain’ is able to cling stubbornly to the micro texture. In this case sealing may not help much (as there is no porous tile to seal) it can come down to using a more efficient cleaning method which may involve much more frequent scrubbing with a textured pad or nylon scrubbing brush.
I would first try a deep clean with something like Heavy Duty Tile and Grout Cleaner, with the addition of Nanoscrub by Aqua Mix. If you are able to get them clean, then you may have found the answer for the ongoing maintenance. I would then do a test – use something like a permanent marker on a spare tile, if it appears to stain the tile (leaves a race when you wipe it away) then the tile may benefit from sealing. I would suggest something like Ultra Solv.
Hope this helps
Ian
Hi Ian. Have read your comments with great interest as i seriously need help with tiles laid in my conservatory. They are like a black uneven textured slate. we used grey grouting and a very good but inexperienced tiler. The tiles were laid brilliantly but they are covered in grout residue and look dusty and powdery. The tiler came back and spent about two hours cleaning the tiles with an industrial grout remover but they still dont look good and we want to seal them with something that gives them the black back. Would Ultrasolv be what we are looking for? We dont mind if we have to seal the tiles with the grout residue in them,, we really just want the tiles looking better than they do now. Appreciate any help you can give.
Hi Carole,
I would consider trying again to remove as much of the grout residue as you can. I know this can be tedious but it really is better than sealing over it. Suggest you use a mild phosphoric acid-based cleaner. These are safe and designed to work a little bit at a time – so it can take several attempts to clear it all.
Regarding sealing, Ultra Solv would not be my choice. It is an impregnating sealer but it does not intentionally enhance the colour. I would say you have a couple of choices; either go for a colour-enhancing impregnate such as Enrich n Seal, or go for a coating sealer such as Seal & finish low Sheen. The coating sealer will add a bit of a wet look, that in itself will bring out some of the colour/black but the down side is that a coating sealer will wear, and so will need much more frequent re-application. The Enrich n Seal will really darken the stone and last much longer, but it is matt, so will not add a shine, and you would not be able to add a shine coat on top (the sealer would repel it) – so it is a choice you have to make.
Hope that helps
Ian
Thanks so much for your help. Will try again with removing the grout. I am not worried about having a shine on the tiles and quite like the idea of a matt finish so just one last qusetion-where do i get the products you mentioned?
Hi, try the link on the top right hand side of the blog “Buy Aqua Mix Products here”
Thanks
Ian
Thanks again for all your help!
Ian, We purchased a polished porcelain tile from what we thought was a very reputable place. It was not cheap. Upon sitting with them we explained that we wanted an ease of maintenance lifestyle. They showed us a polished porcelain tile and we bought it for the entire downstairs of our home. To our dismay, the tile absorbs any liquid that sits on it for several minutes..tea, coffee, juice etc. At no time did the Tile sellers mention the need to seal the tile. We are heartsick because from what I am reading the sealing should have been done prior to grouting and is a high maintenance process.. We are considering a lawsuit…can you tell us if there is any hope without having to remove this tile? Thank you, Deb
i have recently laid black porceline tiles right through the ground floor. though it looks brilliant, it seems to be always covered in dust, can i do anything to prevent this?
Hi Ron,
I think we can do many things, but preventing dust from landing on a floor is not really one of them. Bear in mind if you have switched from carpet to tiles, or from a mat-finish floor to the high-shine black polished porcelain – then you are going to see the dust and dirt more easily – it is no different to any other surface – think of a rough textured wall Vs a glass window pane- the more uniform and reflective the surface and the smoother, more perfect/polished it is, the more any kind of dirt/dust will show. This is one of the advantages over carpet – the same dust hides in the fibres and then when you clean the carpet once per year the water comes out black. At least with your floor you can see it and if this means you have to sweep/vacuum more frequently to keep it perfect looking then personally I think this is a good thing. Compared to having lots of dust and dirt in the carpet that you just cannot see?
hope this helps
Ian
Hi
I have grey polished porcelain tiles and no matter how much I clean them they never look clean. They always seem to what looks like water stain on them. Any ideas?
Thanks
Aine
Hi Aine,
Could be a couple of things; it could be traces of transit wax still on the tiles that are causing the problem – you could try an alkaline cleaner to remove it.
However, it could just be a result of the tiles being highly polished – in other words, imagine you had glass on the floor – it would show water marks and streaks, this is why when washing windows on buildings and cars, the best way is to use a chamois leather cloth to buff them dry afterwards.
Unlike other flooring, such as unpolished tiles or stone the highly polished surface will show any and every thing that is left on it. If you live in a hard water area (I am guessing you are in central Ireland? – which I believe has relatively hard water). The the water you use to wash the floor is not pure water, it contains traces of dissolved calcium. When the water is left to dry, the water evaporates and leaves behind the feint traces of calcium, to form a very fine film on the surface – so water splashes etc can appear as apparent stains. If the porcelain is a dark colour then these will be more visible.
One way to avoid this is to use a towel to buff the floor dry, after moping and rinsing
let me know if this helps
Ian
Hi Ian! I am hoping you can help me with a recommendation. We have 20×20 glazed porcelain tile throughout our home. On the manufacturer’s website, it lists the tile’s properties as C.O.F. DRY 0.86, C.O.F WET 0.62
and a P.E.I. Rating of 4. Not sure what this all means. It does not have any texture, it is smooth. The tiles have NOT been sealed, nor has the grout. This tile drives me CRAZY. When looking at it at an angle, it always looks smudgy, smeary, etc. I use a Hoover Floormate to clean it once a week, and it looks okay after cleaning, but as soon as someone walks on it barefooted, or if anything is spilled and wiped, it looks like greasy and smudgy. This is not user friendly tile for me at ALL since I have two very small children who are always crawling around and spilling things as well. What can I apply to this tile to make it more user friendly? A sealer? Some sort of gloss coat? I don’t want it to be super shiny, but this smudgy smeary appearance it driving me nuts. Thank you!
Hi Michelle,
First of all, the COF (coefficient of friction) figures are just an indication of how the tile surface performs, in both wet and dry conditions, in terms of slip resistance. I do not know what the American standards call for but here in the UK, it is a bit vague, but the preferred official test method does not call COF, rather it calls for PTV or pendulum test value. However, 0.62 wet is a good result generally speaking but it has little to do with the situation you describe.
The PEI value of 4 (also known as Grade 4) relates to the ability of the glaze to resist wear – it is abrasion resistance and here in Europe anything below a grade 4 would be considered for light traffic areas only – so bathrooms etc. – but Grade 4 and above is good for general rooms like kitchens and hallways as well.
So this is nothing to do with your issue either.
As the tiles are glazed they effectively have a thin layer of glass on the surface (just like a china teacup). That layer of glass in most cases is impervious and will not allow any kind of sealer to penetrate. The best analogy I can give you for what is happening is this: if you place your hand on a clean window, you leave a smear, if it were feasible to walk on the glass, whether barefoot or in stocking or sock-clad feet – you would also expect to leave some marks. If you were to wash the windows and not carefully rinse then, and even polish them dry with a chamois-leather or a squeegee – you would expect to see water-marks on the glass once they had dried right? This is due to impurities in the water (such as calcium deposits, general specs of dirt or residue of the detergent you use being left behind by the water once it has dried).
The completely ‘sealed’ nature of the glazed surface means that nothing can soak in – just like glass. Consider this, if you had a carpet instead, or a dull, textured hard floor, the tiny bits of grease, or grit or whatever else is left behind, would fall into the texture, or be absorbed by the fibres of the carpet – so at first you would not see anything, however, over time this would lead to a grubby looking floor that needed deep cleaning. The fact that your hard, impenetrable glazed surface shows everything as soon as it is there, is simply down to the nature of the beast – and some would argue that showing every mark, allows you to keep it cleaner.
Generally speaking, the smother, shinier, more impervious a surface (whether windows, floors, brass ornaments, jewellery or anything else) the more readily it will show marks like foot/fingerprints, water marks and the like.
Can you put a sealer on it? – Not really, yes there are coating sealers that will stick to glazed tiles, but they require regular (like weekly or more) upkeep, re-application etc. (and they are normally quite glossy in nature). Even the sealers that don’t require weekly re-application, will not last for long and will dull-down and wear. You are also not adding anything, the tiles seem easy to clean, so no benefit to having a sealer – (As sealers are often used to make a hard-to-clean tile easier to wipe off but yours is easy to clean). If you think about it, you would be replacing one smooth impenetrable surface with another, and one that requires more upkeep.
Not what you want to hear I think but unfortunately that is the situation. One thing that may help is to keep a dry floor mop with a microfiber cloth head nearby so you can quickly wipe away any smears as you see them appear, in between regular vacuuming and washing.
Hope that helps a bit.
Ian
I have dark grey unpolished porcelian tiles which i have just cleaned with patio cleaner to remove a white residue that formed on the tiles after i sealed them. I now need to seal them again but can you advise the best sealant to use. The one used previously was LTP Mattstone Natural Stone Sealer
Hi Simone,
The first question Iwould ask is: Does the porcelain need sealing at all? A good quality porcelain typically does not require sealing if it is not polished. In deed, many of the better ones are so dense that they will not let a sealer in and this could easily explain why the sealer you used left a residue. I would do a little test on a spare tile like this:
Take one spare tile, make sure it is free of any protective film/transit wax (a good scrub with an alkaline detergent should do this). Then put some water onto it, leave for 10 minutes, wipe the water up – if there is no darkening of the tile and any ‘wet shadow’ disapeapers in a few moments then it is not letting any water in. If this is the case then no water-bourne contaminant is going to get in either. Then try some solvent (clear nail varnish remover works well) and also try a permanent marker pen – try to wipe them off and see if they leave a stain. The permanant marker can leave a mark as that is what it is designed to do but take some nail varnish remover on a cloth and wipe – if it comes clean off, then it is not really possible or required, to seal the tiles.
If you do find some porosity exists then ok, re seal the tiles using a good quality solvent-based impregnator (only recommending the solvent as it is a very dense tile) something like Ultra Solv is good as as it is a great sealer, with a much more user-friendly solvent base).
To avoid a re-occurrance of the residue – apply the sealer with a paint pad, in thin even coats, leave to penetrate for about 5 minutes BUT DO NOT allow to dry on the surface. Wipe any remaining sealer away BEFORE it dries, buff it with a clean micro-fibre cloth. You should not use a lot of sealer and it may seem that you are wiping more off than you are putting on, but that is the nature of the tile – you are only filling a few tiny micro pores, so a little sealer will go a long way.
I may be wrong, but I think the brand you used recommends a longer penetration time – this is fine, as it is their instructions, but, regardless of their instructions, if a sealer dries in that time, you will have residue – so just watch it and buff off as soon as you feel it is drying.
Hope that helps
Ian
Hello Ian,
I need to seal the grout on our kitchen floor. The tile is glazed porcelain and I need a recommendation for the grout sealer. Thank you and have a great day.
Rene’
Hi Rene,
You really only need a good quality grout sealer, but you could equally use a premium impregnating sealer too. YOu could check out ‘Grout Sealer by Aqua Mix but there are planty of others too.
Hope this helps
Ian
Hi
Could I use a sealant such as Ultra Solv in order to seal the porcelain tile and then Aqua Seal Floor Shine & Hardener in order to give the tiles a “sheen” look? This does say it needsw to be applied to a Sealed floor. Many thanks for any help you can give
Hi Andy,
Yes to the frst question, but as to using floor shine & hardener after, no, not really.
Whilst it does say the floor needs to be sealed before you can use FS&H – it is refering really to using it ontop of a coating sealer, like Sealer & Finish Low Sheen. It is a topical coating and it needs a porous and/or textured surface as does the coating sealer. Yur porcelain may or maynot have sufficient texture but it will not be porous enough. Also, if it is porous enough to take an impregnating sealer like Ultra Solv, then that sealer is going to repell the FS&H.
Basically it is designed for porous textured materials like terracotta, some slate and quarry tiles.
Unfortunately the only way to make porcelain ‘shine’ effectively is to by polished porcelain in the first place.
Sorry if that is not the answer you wanted
Hope it helps though
Ian
Hi Ian, Have read most of the above blog and am confused as to which category my porcelain tiles fall into. They have a gloss finish and are chocolate brown colour – they are not a plain tile, having a slight sort of honeycomb pattern. Evry drop of water dries in and leaves a mark. They are laid in my kitchen so I continually drip water around sink area. I have a cloth on the floor and if I dry it quickly there is no mark left. It is spoiling the pleasure of my new kitchen and floor.
Will sealing them be the answer.
Thanks for any advice
Jean
Have greatly enjoyed reading all these posts but don’t think I have found the answer to my problem. Ian, you sound like the ‘go to guy’ for porcelain tile problems.
We had a high quality porcelain laid in the front entrance. I applied Aqua Mix High Gloss Sealer using a sponge brush – which made a mess. It is foggy, streaked and looks awful. The majority of the area was applied with a cloth and looks beautiful. How do I remove the sealer that looks awful and what is the best method of applying Aqua Mix? I am looking for a high gloss finish for this area of our home and would really like it to look like ‘glass’ if possible. Thank you for your advise.
Hi Jean,
OK, if it is a high gloss finish, but water drops are soaking in then I thnk we can rule out glazed porcelain and assume it is a polished porcelain (so it is the actual surface of the tile that is mechanically polished to the high shine – just like stone).
The pattern you describe must therefore be in the intricate way in which the different colour clays have been applied (they are very clever these days).
So it sounds as though the tile has a small degree of surface porosity – and so yes I think in your case, it may well be worth trying a sealer. You will need an impregnating sealer that has been designed for the job, this is one of the cases where a solvent based sealer may still be a better option over a water based one – purely because of the relatively thinner natue of the solvent. It may not seal in exactly the same way as a sealer on a porous stone, but it will still get into any micro pores that it can and this will help to keep water out. You could see if you can get a product called Ultra Solv (click the All for Stone link on the top right)
What it will not do is stop water splashes from drying on the surface. Water often has impuirites in it – soap/detergent, dirt/grease or just caclium from plain clean water (worse in hard water areas but present nearly everywhere) so, even plain water from the tap, will leave a ‘mark’ this can just be the tiniest amounts of calcium being left behind by the water when it evaporates – so it leaves a dull spot. This is always worse (or more noticeable) on polished surfaces and in fact is just the same as water streaking on glass – when we wash windows in the sun, but forget to squeegee them dry – we get the exact same thing – rapid drying of the water leaving behind, whatever was being carried in the water (detergent/dirt and calcium).
So sealing may help prevent the problem from becoming ingrained ‘in’ the surface, but it won’t stop it from hapeing ‘on’ the surface. One way to keep this at bay is to occasionaly dry the floor (like we do with glass) after washing
Hope this helps
Ian
Hi Sharon,
OK, first of all, you may not be able to achieve what you are looking for, without trying to sound harsh, if you had wanted a high shine (like glass) then you may have purchased the wrong tile. What I mean by this is that you can buy highly polished porcelain in the fisrt place.
The sealer you have used is ok, but it needs texture and to some degree some porosity. If you have purcased a tile with sufficient texture to make the sealer work/bond then I think you must have bought one that is quite far away from your ideal, if you did buy a polished tile and you want it to be even more glossy, or you perhaps bought a smooth but not shiny tile, then neither will have enough texture for the sealer to bond. Also, the finish from this sealer is never going to match the natural gloss of a polished porcelain.
If you have managed to get a nice finish over most of the floor, then either – the tile has enough texture, or, and you may not like this, it is only going to last a very short time – only time will tell on this. In terms of application, if you have managed a nice finish with a cloth then I would try that again. Certainly a songe brush creates too many bubbles, this type of product needs to be pulled out quite thin and not messed with too much. Prefered applicators are paint pads, lambswool applicators, and floor-finish mops – large flat mops that have closed loops. But, your cloth method seems to have worked so why not stick with that?
As far as removing it from the bad areas, this type of product may come off easily with a high alkaline stripper/degreaser – mix it strong, leave it to dwell for 15 minites and scrub with a white pad. Pick up the solution, rinse with clean water then dry. May need repeating. If this does not work, then try a solvent stripper like Sealer and Adhesive remover. Make sure to rinse the floor thoroughly and allow it to dry before reapplying the sealer.
Hope this helps
I have a showroom with polished porcelain black tiles. I have used an anti slip product supplied by one of our tile distributors this seems to have gone inside the tile and I am now left with “mop marks” you can see it under the tile where I have “mopped” the solution on. The supplier has told me this is due to salt residue in the tile and it will go in 14 days. i am up to day 11 now and the floor is no different. He came to look at it today and said it could take 20 weeks! The solution was supposed to do 10mtrs you used it as it came in the bottle is was not diluted. i used it until it ran out which was more than 10mtrs they are now saying this is the problem! surely if I had spread it too thinly it just would not have worked properly. My arguement is that where I started on the floor this was not spread too thinly and this looks the same as when I finished the floor?? I just want my tiles back to how they were but I am really worried that this solution has totally impregnated the tile and is not going to come out. Have you any ideas on solutions that could resolve my problem
Hi Karen,
I am not sure exactly what has happened, there are different types of anti slip treatments and some are more harmful than others. Can you tell me exactly what they used? Email me on the contact form if you would rather not publicise the product name
Hope this helps
Ian
The product is FSI anti slip. You use a cleaner and degreaser first which you add water to. This is then mopped with clean water. You then put the anti slip in a mop bucket and mop it on taking care not to let it dry out. I covered the floor with it near the door then I went over the rest of the floor until I had used all of the product. It says the product is for 10sq mtrs and I have covered more of an area than this. The floor actually looks worse where I have started it compared to where the product was running out. The rep has told me this is why the floor looks in this condition as I have used it in more than 10sq mtrs. I dont understand how this could be surely this would just effect the performance of the anti slip?? The rep yesterday did not really know the reason why the floor had seemed to absorb the solution in this way and when he told me it would probably eventually come out he could not even give me any guidelines as to the length of time this would take I knew he did not know what he was talking about. I need to know if there is a product that would draw out what seems to be in the tile at the moment it looks like a floor that has been mopped with too much cleaner in and left to dry but you would expect that if you rubbed the surface it would come off but there is nothing on the surface. thanks Karen
Hello – hope you can help
Our tiler has just laid porcelain tiles outside on our terrace.
We want to seal them but as they have already been grouted what is the best procedure.
I would have thought an impregnating sealer would be best but if we also want to seal the grout do we use a different sealer for that first?
Thanks
Judith
Hi Judith,
If they are grouted and clean then just check to see if they have any traces of transit wax still on them. Give the a good clean with a high alkaline cleaner, rinse and let them dry thoroughly (assuimg the grout is now fully cured).
Then yes, a good impregnating sealer would be fine, it would seal the grout also, in fact it will most likely be of greater benefit to the grout than to the tile itself
Hope this helps
Ian
Hi Ian
Currently have matt porcelain cream tiles (£60 sq/m) which are very easy to care for. Soon going to extend the kitchen so they will have to be replaced and electric under floor heating installed. New tiles will be light grey matt porcelain tile but hopefully nearer to £30 sq/m, and will extend into the hall and cloakroom. In order to have an easy to maintain/clean tile what questions should I be asking about the tiles and underfloor heating I purchase?
Any help gratefully received
Carol
Hello, i was talked into cream porcelain tiles by topps tiles, they told me i needed different adhesive to ceramic but did not mention sealing. So when i had them laid the tiler asked if i needed then sealing i said i didnt know. We tested with water and it didnt seam to make a difference. So he laid them, grouted them and sealed the grout with some spray stuff, (because the grout is light at well) from the very first day i used my kitchen after, the floor has looked filthy stains that i have no idea about, mopping doesnt get any dirt up i have to get on my hands and knees and scrub, sometimes with bicarb soda to get some stains up, my hands are killing me and its only been a week. can i seal them now the gout has been sealed. they are rough textured tiles so i guess they must be poor quality. Gutted.
Thank you.
Helen
Hi Carol,
First of all, we see far fewer issues with ‘matt’ finish porcelain than we do polished.That being said, there can be issues. Some can look and feel matt, but very smooth to the touch, however, under a microscope, they may have a fine, microspoic texture. This can be an issue if the texture is pronounced in that it can help to trap fine dirt particles. The only answer to this type of issue is to have to use something like a scrubbing brush occasionally to help clean the floor. There is not real way of checking this, as the shop selling the tiles is not guranteed to know the answer, usually you only find this out in use. One way to check is to buy/borrow a sample and tread on it with dirty shoes, bare feet, stocking feet, rub your hands over it, rub dirt on it etc – and see if any gets trapped or if it wipes clean really easily. If you have this issue, sealing will not really do anything to help.
Occasionally you can get a matt porcelain with a slightly porous surface – that can stain if strong liquid contaminants are left on it (red wine, beetroot, tea/coffee etc.) Sealing with a good impregnating sealer may help here.
So, you can check it is a good quality tile, by asking “is it from a trusted factory that you know?” for example, and just by doing the tests above, you can ask to see the tech data (water absorption figures for example – they should be <0.5).
With regard to under floor heating, there is not much to worry about, pretty much all the major brands are fine. there are no maintenance issues really. there are different systems: loose wires, wires in netting and newer, thinner foils and ribbon types that take up less room (thickness)
Main things to remember are that you should use insulating boards beneath to improve the efficiency and don't spend money heating up the concrete, make sure you have sufficient space for the insulation boards, the heating mat/system and the tiles and adhesive.
Many tilers will tile straight over the mat, I do not recommend this, I always prefer to see a levelling compound used over the mat/heating system first, and allowed to cure as it means the tiler is less likely to damage the matt and also it makes the tiling job much easier.
Apart from that make sure you get the right capacity for the area you are doing, that you have a qualified electrician to actually install the electics (the thermostat and connecting it up to the mains) anyone can physically install the mat in place, but you must have a qualified sparky to connect it up, and many/most require their own RCD/RCCD and or fuse (not my field) - don't let an unqualified tiler/builder/plumber/DIY enthusiast install the electrics.
Laslty, make sure the system is installed and the levelling compound cured and set, then TEST the matt - an electrician can do this for you. it is much easier to rectify/repair faults BEFORE you start tiling.
Hope this helps
Ian.
Hi Helen,
OK, I don’t know your particular tile so I cannot say if they need, or would have benefitted from sealing prior to grouting. It does not sound like there are actual grout stains on your tiles. I am thinking it has more to do with the spray sealer.
I am not a fan of spray sealers, they are a flawed concept in my opinnion – and I used to sell one! let me explain, the idea of a sealer that you can spray, and one that can be applied so soon (many state within 20 minutes to 2 hours of grouting) cannot be applying anywhere near the same amount or quality of sealer as doing it with a conventional sealer, after the grout has cured. They are designed to provide ‘some’ degree of sealing but more importantly they are designed to allow the tiler to seal the same day as grouting – so he can ‘add some value’ to the job, but also, leave the customer with a bit of protection, until he/she can get a proper sealer on the grout, once the grout has had time to cure.
They are also designed for speed and ease of application, ‘no need to wipe away residue’ (well, if they were applying a reasonable amount of sealer, there would be lots of residue or surplus sealer to remove). So the idea is the sealer is sprayed onto the joint, and because there is actually so little sealer there, the little bit that gets on the tile is supposedly so small that it won’t cause an issue. However, in prcatice they are over applied and there WILL BE some dried albeit barely visible, residue on the tiles. It is my guess that this residue is dull, colourless and not that noticeable on its own, but it will attract dirt and over a very short period of time this builds up and produces a dirty appearance.
I would hope that this is what you have, rather than a tile that is staied as that is harder to resolve. I would first try a product called microscrub (see all for stone ad on the blog), pre wet the floor, add a little microscrub and scrub the surface with a nylon brush or pad. If this does not do anything, try a solvent stripper, (you could try a little acetone or clear nail varnish remover – if that works, a solvent stripper should)
Hope this helps
Ian
Thank you
Helen
I read your article with great interest. We have polished Porcelain tile throughout the house. It has been down for about five years now. Our problem is twofold. The first problem was with staining and now after reading your article I can see where we might benefit from sealing the tile. However do I understand that you cannot seal after the tile has been grouted? The second problem is that the tile has gotten very dull after in places after some time. Is there any way to bring this shine back? Will the sealer do this also?
Hi John,
No reason why yoou cannot seal them now, the question is, can you get the stains out before you do. It depends on what they are, if it is grout then it can be tricky, read the other posts on this as I have gone into depth on a method you could try. If it is just general dirt then a good deep clean with an alkaline cleaner may work.
The dullness could be actually a deposit on the tile that you can remove, as opposed to a dulling down of the actual shine through wear and abraison. If it is wear, then the shine has effectviely been worn away and the only way to revive it would be mecahnically re poloshing with professional grinding equipment, possible but tricky and expensive and would need th esurevices of a restoration professional. If it is the former, again a high alkaline cleaner may work. These dull patinas can build up over time from residues of detergent and dirt that is not rinsed away. Using a good cleaner, letting it sit for a while, then scrubbing, then removing (extraction) and the rinsing with water can really help.
Hope this helps
Ian
i have just sealed some matt finish porcelain tiles with spirit marble and tile care water based premium sealer and the sealer has left a smeary look. What can i do to remove this?
Hi Rick,
I am not familiar with that brand but it just sounds like you have left a residue of the sealer on the tile surface. You could contact that company and ask their recommendations for removing it. However normally I would try a number of options, from least aggressive to more aggressive. The objective would be to try remove the residue without removing the sealer from the tile.
First thing I would try is a white nylon emulsifying pad wiht plain water – it may work, it may not. After that I would try a mild abrasive cream such as Microscrub (you appear to be in Australia, so you could get this from http://www.aqua-seal.com.au). Many times just using this with a little water and the same white pad is enough to safely remove any residue but not pull any sealer from the tile.
After that, you are into stripping with a solvent, and this of course will likely mean starting over after.
Hope this helps
Ian
We installed Daltile Continenetal Slate ColorBody procelain tile in the kitchen a few years ago and it is lighter and a little duller looking than I had preferred. I like the look or darker color of it after I wash it and before it drys. Is there any sealer floor finish that I can apply that will brighten the color? Someone had recommended Aqua Mix Floor Shine & Hardner? I don’t want to put something on and ruin the finish. Any suggestions? Thank you
HI,
If it is a porcelain then I would not put the floor shine & hardner on it. It will not be able to bond, it will just wear off as soon as you clean or use the Floor.
If you are in the USA, Aqua Mix have another product called High Gloss Sealer that can bond to porcelain PROVIDED there is sufficient texture to the surface, inly a test will tell.This will cast a slight darkening but a high gloos – so you would have to try it to see if you like it. You may also be able to use their enhancing sealer instead – I suggest you call their tech services and see what they say
hope this helps
Ian
Hi Ian,
We are from Sydney. We bought a porcelain tile in a honed matt finish from a reputable tile retailer.
We have laid the tile throughout the ground floor of our house including kitchen. During construction we protected the tiles very carefully but found upon completion that the tiles had what we now believe was a transit wax that occured on each tile and formed a pattern.
We called the tile shop and they sent someone out to clean the marks off with heavy duty cleaners and machinery.Two years on and we are still having issues,not so much with staining but there is cloudiness, footprints, dirt build up that simply does not come off, in short the tiles constantly look filthy. We have followed instructions using PH Neutral cleaners, cleaning with only hot water clean microfibre mop etc.
The suppliers have been out on a number of occasions to inspect and have concluded that the dirt from out side is coming in on shoes and creating buildup. We have had the tiles proffesionally cleaned twice more but the problem keeps reoccuring. They are also saying that it is due to the type of floor cleaner I am using, blaming it for causing the build up. I do not believe this is the case at all because as I mentioned we have used what they recommended.
I beleive we have been sold an inferior quality tile and we are considering our legal options. Are you able to shed some light on what might be causing this build up?, do you think our tile would benefit from yet another clean and seal.Your insight would be very much appreciated.
Best
Con
Hi Con,
from the sound of it, when you get them cleaned, you get results, as you say the problem keeps re-occurring, therefore I assume it looks OK for a while, and that means the cleaning pro’s get it back to clean. If so, there is something going on. These tiles can have a micro texture and they can grip tiny fragments of dirt. It may be that your normal cleaning regime needs to include more frequent scrubbing, as opposed to wiping or mopping. In other words, it might be more to do with technique than ph neutral products versus anything stronger etc.
This may not be what you wish to hear, as it might be that the floor needs more work than you had anticipated. However this may not be a fault with the tile, just the nature of it – and in any case it would be hard to prove. There are things that can be wrong, the pattern you descrtibe could be etched into the surface, this could be a manufacturing fault. However if it looks fine when cleaned but quickly goes back to looking dull I think it is more likely to be a texture issue and as I have said this may, or may not be a fault.
You could try a micro abrasive cream cleaner like Microscrub – this will do some ‘liquid’ scrubbing and you may not need to use it every time.
Can I suggest you contact my good friend A’nge Kokkaliaris at http://www.aqua-seal.com.au – he is very experienced with porcelain issues and can supply you with the Microscrub. Send hims some photos and he may be able to help you in greater detail.
Hope this helps.
Ian
Hi Thanks for that,
that has certainly helped, that is probably the most enlightening information we have received so far.
The microscopic texture makes sense, as I mentioned initially the problem was not dirt and grime build up it was the waxy residue that formed a pattern on each tile. When the suppliers sent in processional cleaners they used heavy duty cleaners and multi layered scourers. The scourers they used have left circular marks that are vaguely visible in certain light, but over the entire surface that they treated. the tiles looked fine for a couple of months then the issue with the dirt build up and foot prints etc began. The tiles do not seem to withstand any kind of traffic. When we have guests the floors are worse off after. My wife started having to vacuum and mop everyday and sometimes twice a day just to have it look mediocre.Could it be that these circular marks are in fact more serious damage than we thought? We specifically told them we wanted low maintenance tiles and that is not what they sold us and also not long after they secured the order for us the manufacturer discontinued the tile.
Sorry to bombard you , its just that you seem to really understand porcelain tile issues. Thanks for the referal also I will give him a buzz.
Best
Con
Hi Con,
I understand what you are saying, I think it very unlikly that normal scourers would scratch a porcelain, especially a matt finish one, unless they were diamond impregnated pads. However perhaps what they did do was only partially remove the transit wax. Sometimes this ‘wax’ can be quite hard, maybe they removed 95% percent of it and the circular marks are the traces of the ‘wax’ still there, these then attract more dirt over time – it is one possible suggestion to look into.
We do see circular marks on some porcelain, but more when it is polished, there can be poor quality polishing with such marks which would in deed be a manufacturing fault. However as your tiles are not polished, it is hard to see this as a possibility
Hard to give you any further advice without seeing them. A tile with a micro texture, will grab dirt (just think of running your thumb over the sandpaper on a matchbox and you will leave greasy/gruybby marks as the textute of the paper pulls oil and anything else, from your skin).
I think if you can get some pics over to the contact I gave you he may be able to offer more help, at least he is in the same time zone so you could call him
Hope this helps
Ian