sealing travertine

[Mike]

do you recommend sealing travertine before or after grouting? i usually seal before but i seen some of you seal after so the grout can fill the pores and then seal it in. i got a trav border to grout wednesday, cheers

[doug boardley]

I seal after grouting Mike, otherwise the grout doesn't grab into the pits for any durable length of time.

[whitebeam]

Same as Doug, seal after grouting.

[hillhead]

I laid 32m2 trav last week on a floor, grouted then sealed the evening after for first coat. Second coat Friday morning.Works well and my customer was delighted.

[Mike]

i seen you do it doug, i think i'll seal it after and see how it goes. the tiles are very porous. cheers

[Stewart]

As above, but if the grout is not one to match the trav border, such as white, then I would seal first.......

[doug boardley]

]i seen you do it doug,[/I] i think i'll seal it after and see how it goes. the tiles are very porous. cheers

where, when?? have I got a stalker??

[Mike]

it's a mapei jasmine stew, should match up fine ta

[Mike]

where, when?? have I got a stalker??

i meant i seen your post on another thread last week, ha ha

[Bri]

Honed and filled I do before and after grouting. Unfilled I do twice after grouting for the reasons mentioned above. It's always nice to get a coat on before grouting as it helps when cleaning up, not possible really with the unfilled.

[Thespanishtiler]

Unfilled trav should imo not be filled with grout on the faces, the joints should be taped up to then grouted.

The small pores of unfilled trav are part of the beauty ot that stone.

Any voids in stone should be filled with resin filler, not grout.

As for sealing, you can tell or test how dense/porus a stone is and make your own call.

[Bri]

I agree with what you say Spanish but if it's on a floor the pores/holes are going to be full of dirt and grime after a short period of time.

[Thespanishtiler]

Bri

unfilled is not subtable for use on floors imo, if it was then we would not be considering how best to fill the holes.

if it was to be specified for floor use then I would wexa, seal, epoxy, wexa and seal again.

[Mike]

it would be impacticle and time consuming to mask the joints on a travertine border as i've just tiled, i understand what you mean if it were large field tiles though

[Rich]

Which Mapei grout are you using Mike? I have found that Ultracolor can be bit course for filling in tiny holes and gaps as it is only recommended for a min 2mm joint. Just to give you a heads up.

[Thespanishtiler]

it would be impacticle and time consuming to mask the joints on a travertine border as i've just tiled, i understand what you mean if it were large field tiles though

In that instance I would use a marshall town grout bag to only fill the joints.

[Mike]

i used mapei ultracolour grout, worked fine, all done, cleaned and sealed