Hi all, Just tiled a bathroom 20m2 with black slate, what a pain on the rooster. Anyway, the customer wants white grout, and I know this seems okay but i'll need to clean the slate really really well as its a bit flacky and package marked by polystyrene. I dont want to put a metal scraper to it but thats what its like. Is white grout really an ok choice for slate, should I seal it twice before grouting maybe?...

Advice needed plz.

I would be trying to convince the customer to use a light grey, Never heard of white grout for slate, Was this a sudden choice

i wanted them to go for grey, but all trim work is white, sealant will be white and ceiling white, so its been an asthetic choice from the start, ive went along with it. Oh the slate is on the walls, sorry never mentioned that, theres also about 3m2 to go on the floor (grey grout).

If you do white I would seal the grout to stop any muck getting into it, Would have tried to explain from the start why they should'nt have it

A picture i took when doing the job

Does a flexable white grout not act as a self-sealing grout? always seems to look like its sealed when its dry.

Originally Posted by Rab78

Does a flexable white grout not act as a self-sealing grout? always seems to look like its sealed when its dry.

Nope.....

white will be fine rab......try to grout only the joints and not the face of the tile.......

firstly though...mke sure the tiles are clean and dry....depending on what finish the customer wnats..... i.e. natural look or shiny/semi gloss then seal with an impregnator or a topical sealer before grouting...

Lithofin stainstop mn or lithofin slate seal are 2 good ones....but only seal when the stone is dry..

Sorry mate I thought we was talking floors

recently done a slate job and cleaned all packing,transport marks off with my orbital sander with a felt buffing pad, sealed them,fixed them,
then prior to grouting washed down and buffed again,same after grouting, they came up absolutely spot on

Originally Posted by whitebeam

Sorry mate I thought we was talking floors

Thats okay that was my bad, didnt mention til my 2nd post.

I'll be using dunlop flexi floor and wall grout in white, ill be staying near the grout lines and cleaning quite promptly!...

Customer has supplie HG natural stone/slate sealer. Ive got enought to do 2 coats before grouting and one coat after.

Is it okay to seal after everything is clean and dry (after all grouting)?...

Originally Posted by doug boardley

recently done a slate job and cleaned all packing,transport marks off with my orbital sander with a felt buffing pad, sealed them,fixed them,
then prior to grouting washed down and buffed again,same after grouting, they came up absolutely spot on

Well I wish I had a buffer like that, this is only my 2nd big slate job... so I dont really bother with those... I wonder where I could pick one up.?

Could help for all the natural stone thats coming into play these days.

Yep Rab

Originally Posted by Rab78

Well I wish I had a buffer like that, this is only my 2nd big slate job... so I dont really bother with those... I wonder where I could pick one up.?

Could help for all the natural stone thats coming into play these days.

its just a 150mm bosch random orbital sander, about £120

ok ill scope one out in the morn...