Good morning All.

Just been having a nose around and must say what a useful forum
I am after some of your expert advise if thats ok as I know nothing about tiles.
I have just had a new kitchen fitted and opted for Azabache-Compac-Quartz-Floor Tiles (600x600mm);



The sample tile that I took home prior to ordering the tiles was very shiny and matched my Quartz worktop surface almost perfectly in terms of content and glaze.......on the back of this, my order was placed.

So the floor tiles were laid on Friday and this morning I gave the tiles their 1st clean just with warm water.....went over them twice replacing the water in between washes.....and was expecting to be left with a hi gloss finish as per the sample obtained from the shop....however as I have tried to illustrate in the following photo's, this has not quite been the case.

I was told that the tiles were pre sealed.

I have attached a couple of photos at the end where I have gone over one tile with a damp mop - this was the kind of gloss appearance that I was expecting.......was I expecting too much?......or is it a case that further cleaning/polishing or a treatment of some kind is required?

I have read a few threads about 'grout haze' and was wondering if this could be my issue?

Apologies for the 101 questions.....here are the pics;









Many Thanks for your time

You could try buffing them up. Use a dry clothe. I use the microfibre ones.

Many thanks Saltire - I will give that a go

Hi there,

I didnt see any grout haze on the pics. You could try giving them a good clean with Grimex by LTP and then another coats of sealer, I would use MPG.

I should also mention that lighting plays a part in the appearance of this type of tile also. In regards to shades etc you could go back and buy the tiles again from the same merchant supplied by the same manufacturer and they could like like totaly different tiles. This may be the reason why the sample you recieved appears to be different from the tiles that have actualy been installed.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by tfs

I should also mention that lighting plays a part in the appearance of this type of tile also. In regards to shades etc you could go back and buy the tiles again from the same merchant supplied by the same manufacturer and they could like like totaly different tiles. This may be the reason why the sample you recieved appears to be different from the tiles that have actualy been installed.

Hope this helps

In does indeed help very much and good point with regard to a different batch being a different colour tone to the batch that the sample tile came from, I did not consider this

Many Thanks;

What exactly were they sealed with? Quartz tile do not require sealing.

Originally Posted by Robbie3864

What exactly were they sealed with? Quartz tile do not require sealing.

I seal them.

With what? Quartz had minimum water absortion so doesn't require sealing. The sealer isn't able to penetrate so will just sit on the surface giving the tiles a dull look. You can apply a silicon based polished (Akemi do one) to give it a shine, much in the same way you apply polish to a car body but it will no penetrate. Compac make no mention of sealing in their fitting and maintenance instructions. http://www.compac.es/resources/docs/..._QUARTZ_UK.pdf

Originally Posted by Robbie3864

With what? Quartz had minimum water absortion so doesn't require sealing. The sealer isn't able to penetrate so will just sit on the surface giving the tiles a dull look. You can apply a silicon based polished (Akemi do one) to give it a shine, much in the same way you apply polish to a car body but it will no penetrate. Compac make no mention of sealing in their fitting and maintenance instructions. http://www.compac.es/resources/docs/..._QUARTZ_UK.pdf

Hi mate,

As well as being a tiler I have in the past worked for a tile merchant and some of our quartz tiles had to be sealed. This was info that came direct from the supplier.

compac azabache was a range that we dealt with and you are correct in saying that they dont mention sealing on there packaging. But sealing will do no harm, this has also been confirmed by LTP which was another supplier that we dealt with. An example of a quartz tile that does need to be sealed prior to installation is the star galaxy range.

Guys.
Thanks for your help...and I hope I have not started any arguments over my question

Originally Posted by StellaArtoiz

Guys.
Thanks for your help...and I hope I have not started any arguments over my question

your welcome,

Dont worry no arguments here. Being a forum we sometimes disagree with each other due to different info. This has led to must of us learning new things that we were unaware of, 9 time out of 10 this is all meant in a constructive way.

Originally Posted by tfs

Hi mate,

As well as being a tiler I have in the past worked for a tile merchant and some of our quartz tiles had to be sealed. This was info that came direct from the supplier.

compac azabache was a range that we dealt with and you are correct in saying that they dont mention sealing on there packaging. But sealing will do no harm, this has also been confirmed by LTP which was another supplier that we dealt with. An example of a quartz tile that does need to be sealed prior to installation is the star galaxy range.

I have been running my own stone company for the past 9 years and have been in the stone industry for the past 15 years. We do mainly kitchen worktops in granite or quartz and Compac is one of our suppliers. I suppose it depends on the sealer but in my experience some sealers can give a dull effect.

Star Galaxy in a natural granite from India. All natural stone should be sealed as it is porous.

I'm certainly not here for an argument, as you said any comments are meant only to be constructive.

Originally Posted by Robbie3864

I have been running my own stone company for the past 9 years and have been in the stone industry for the past 15 years. We do mainly kitchen worktops in granite or quartz and Compac is one of our suppliers. I suppose it depends on the sealer but in my experience some sealers can give a dull effect.

Star Galaxy in a natural granite from India. All natural stone should be sealed as it is porous.

I'm certainly not here for an argument, as you said any comments are meant only to be constructive.

Sorry mate, I meant to write Star Light it is a cheaper type of quartz to the Compac range (might be chinese, not too sure though)

Am I correct in saying that Compac is Spanish?

Would this be considered a mid tange price range tile...or the cheaper end of things?

To my untrained eye, what makes a quartz product cheaper, is it simply the labour cost (thus Chinese products perhaps being cheaper) or the quality of production processes etc?

Compac is a quality Spanish brand and the azabache tile is up there with the more expensive quartz tiles

Some tiles can be hundreds per sqm though.

I believe there is a difference in quality between cheaper quartz based on what I have seen for example the compac quartz has a better colour (darker black) from what I have seen compared to the Starlight quartz and the starlight quartz must be sealed. So I would imagine that the production process is not the same.

I do believe however that without both tiles in your hand you would be unlikely to think there was any real difference in appearance.

Pretty sure Compac tiles are already sealed with 10yr guarantee.