tumbled marble advice please

[kaharrison9]

Evening all
Hoping for any advice on a shower area i'll be tiling very shortly in tumbled marble mosaic.
Was planning to seal after grouting or would it be best before or even before and after grouting?
Also the customer has been recommended to use Lithofin stain stop by the tiling shop,should this be fine in a wet area or would Lithfin splash stop be better(think that's the name)?
Cheers for any thoughts
Kev

[CJ CERAMICS]

i always seal marble tiles before grouting to ensure that the grout itself does not damage or stain the marble. i then stain after grouting to protect the grout aswll as tiles. hope this helps but others may do it diff.
chris

[Matt]

Definitely seal before and after grouting. I'm unfamiliar with Lithofin products, but as long as the one that has been recommended is an impregnating sealer, you will be ok.

[Dave]

Lithofin stainstop is spot on for the job...

[kaharrison9]

Cheers all for your quick responses
Great advice
Kev

[wetdec]

Tumbled marble...............also covers the travertine mosaics.............is it travertine, is it filled or unfilled (does it have holes in it) what colour is it.

The more info the better m8 ............


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[kaharrison9]

Hi Wet Decs
Definetly not travetine i'm also doing a unhoned travetine mosaic border as well outside the shower area.
On the back of the mosaic it describes the stone as tumbled marble,is white/greyish when dry,fairly heavy and more denser than trav.
There are areas of the mosaic that are unhoned.
Have today sealed and grouted the trav and was planning to do the same on Monday with the marble then a second seal to all.
Hope on the right track,all appears to be going well.
Cheers
Kev

[Daz]

My thoughts are similar to Wetdecs, if the tiles are unfilled and have holes or pits in the surface then you don't want to be sealing prior to grouting as the grout will not stay in the holes.

I usually always grout, then apply sealer. There are exceptions where I would seal first but without seeing the some pics of the tile it is hard to give a 100% recommendation.

[timeless john]

Hi kaharrison9.


IMO - even if it has holes I would seal the tumbled 'product' first with a roller on the surface, it makes it an awful lot easier to clean off and the clour doen't change with the grout. The holes tend to be large enough for the grout to hold.

Timeless John.

[kaharrison9]

Cheers for your thoughts
Has left us slightly in a dilema.
Did intially plan to seal the marble after grouting as on pevious posts folk mentioned that the grout may not key the holes as well and with it been in a shower area was concerned if so.
But have read other posts where folk seal before and after grouting to help prevent any staining.
Both make sense so unsure
Kev

[wetdec]

Hi Wet Decs
Definetly not travetine i'm also doing a unhoned travetine mosaic border as well outside the shower area.
On the back of the mosaic it describes the stone as tumbled marble,is white/greyish when dry,fairly heavy and more denser than trav.
There are areas of the mosaic that are unhoned.
Have today sealed and grouted the trav and was planning to do the same on Monday with the marble then a second seal to all.
Hope on the right track,all appears to be going well.
Cheers
Kev

Then its Bianco tumbled marble..............Its dense so seal once after grouting and when dry imo as if you try to overseal your quite likely to get run marks.........

IMO - even if it has holes I would seal the tumbled 'product' first with a roller on the surface, it makes it an awful lot easier to clean off and the clour doen't change with the grout. The holes tend to be large enough for the grout to hold

Not so, to fill holes you should be filling with grout with sealer is not good practice as they eventually get dirty especially the finer ones, the release factor is also a big issue with reduced grab on bigger pores/holes .............





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[Oli]

Remember to post up some pics of the job before and after ones are always nice,

Where's the marble from, what make?

Oli

[kaharrison9]

My computer has been down so apologises for not replying.
Will put up photos very soon.
Kev