travatine problems

[michaeldocherty]

I have just carried out a large travatine job and the tiles are showing up with marks on them I have sealed them and the customer thinks it is grout under the sealant, the tiles are not the best, does anyone know the best method of cleaning the tiles, and starting the process again

[TilingLogistics]

I have just carried out a large travatine job and the tiles are showing up with marks on them I have sealed them and the customer thinks it is grout under the sealant, the tiles are not the best, does anyone know the best method of cleaning the tiles, and starting the process again

What grout did you use? Is the trav polished or honed? How many M2? What size are the tiles?

Kev

[doug boardley]

did you use a solid bed trowel Mike? just wonderig if it could be ribs off a normal trowel bleeding through?

[CJ]

Grout Haze underneath the sealant

[Dave]

Sounds like filler in the tiles sucking more sealer than the stone has...leaving that rough look like grout can...common with poor grade travertine...

[michaeldocherty]

Yes it does look like a haze, its about 65 sq mtres,

[Dave]

Michael..can you talk us through your prep and sealing of the stone please.....?..

then we can advise better...

[michaeldocherty]

I think they are honed and polished but not to a high shine, the customer has scraped one of the tiles and it acually came up quite good, I did think of getting hold of one of the tiles and putting sealer on it to see what the effect will be, if it does come up with marks then I think it will be down to the customer buying cheap tiles from China

[TilingLogistics]

I think they are honed and polished but not to a high shine, the customer has scraped one of the tiles and it acually came up quite good, I did think of getting hold of one of the tiles and putting sealer on it to see what the effect will be, if it does come up with marks then I think it will be down to the customer buying cheap tiles from China

It sounds as though you have the same problem I dealt with for Mark at Bling Tiling a couple of months ago! Is there shadowing on the tiles when you look at them in different light?

Kev

[michaeldocherty]

They were laid in the normal way and because of under concrete heating I used flexi adhesive, I then thourally cleaned them with water and a sponge, quite a few times, they were then sealed and then grouted, I then cleaned the whole area and then re-sealed the tiles, I laid some of the tiles with another tiler and he did comment about the amount of holes in the underside that were filled, these tiles were puchased by the custmer direct from china at a very low price, in most of the tiled area it looks like a haze on the tiles, but in the utilty area it does look like the grout has not been removed properly

[michaeldocherty]

It sounds as though you have the same problem I dealt with for Mark at Bling Tiling a couple of months ago! Is there shadowing on the tiles when you look at them in different light?

Kev

Yes it seems to be ok in the evening but worse during the day

[TilingLogistics]

Production workers get paid for the amount of tiles they produce. The likelyhood is that some of the honing process has been skipped to speed up production. If this is the case it can only be rectified by honing them again! However, an interesting point is you say that the customer scraped one of the tiles and it appears better! What did she use?

Kev

[michaeldocherty]

Production workers get paid for the amount of tiles they produce. The likelyhood is that some of the honing process has been skipped to speed up production. If this is the case it can only be rectified by honing them again! However, an interesting point is you say that the customer scraped one of the tiles and it appears better! What did she use?

Kev

he used a stanley blade

[TilingLogistics]

Then it probably is not honing related. Can you tell me what sealer you used? Were the tiles completely dry before you sealed them? i.e. at least 24 hours! What grout did you use? Did you just grout the grout lines or the faces as well?

Kev

[michaeldocherty]

Then it probably is not honing related. Can you tell me what sealer you used? Were the tiles completely dry before you sealed them? i.e. at least 24 hours! What grout did you use? Did you just grout the grout lines or the faces as well?

Kev

Yes I think it was at least 24 hours to dry, I used Hg sealer

[Dave]

HG!!!!!...which one..?..

[TilingLogistics]

Yes I think it was at least 24 hours to dry, I used Hg sealer

Mike,

Really trying to help mate and Dave is but which Hagesan Sealer? and can you answer the rest of the questions please?

Kev

[michaeldocherty]

Mike,

Really trying to help mate and Dave is but which Hagesan Sealer? and can you answer the rest of the questions please?

Kev

It was Hg impregnator, the grout was baall flexi limestone, I grouted the tiles with a normal professional grout spreader mainly on the joins but it probably got on some of the other parts of the tile

[Dave]

How long did you leave it before washing off......?..super flex is hard to remove with just a sponge if left for too long..

[michaeldocherty]

How long did you leave it before washing off......?..super flex is hard to remove with just a sponge if left for too long..

I always remove grout quickly, i never leave it too long

[burncross]

bet you'l think twice before working with travertine again, mate

[Dave]

Ok michael.....time for some photos mate....have you got any,,can you get some..?...please...

This will benefit us more to see wots wot here...

[michaeldocherty]

bet you'l think twice before working with travertine again, mate

I recently did a kitchen with good quality polished travatineand it looks absolutily fabulous but these tiles were nothing like those

[michaeldocherty]

Ok michael.....time for some photos mate....have you got any,,can you get some..?...please...

This will benefit us more to see wots wot here...

I will go over this weekend and take some with the sunlight on them, I have tried sending a picture when completed but it doesnt want to work, thanks for the help so far, i will try and get some pics for monday, I think a good idea at the same time would be to get hold of a new tile from them and seal it without any grout etc to see how it looks

[Dave]

I will go over this weekend and take some with the sunlight on them, I have tried sending a picture when completed but it doesnt want to work, thanks for the help so far, i will try and get some pics for monday, I think a good idea at the same time would be to get hold of a new tile from them and seal it without any grout etc to see how it looks

Great idea michael.......to upload photos ... make an album in your profile page...easier than attachments some times.....

we will wait till you come back to us.......just use this thread and then we will know wot you are on about when you come back...

[TilingLogistics]

[quote=michaeldocherty;150159]I will go over this weekend and take some with the sunlight on them, I have tried sending a picture when completed but it doesnt want to work, thanks for the help so far, i will try and get some pics for monday, I think a good idea at the same time would be to get hold of a new tile from them and seal it without any grout etc to see how it looks[/quote]


Definately! This is so important! you need a benchmark to work from or you and the customer will start seeing things

Kev

[TilingLogistics]

It was Hg impregnator, the grout was baall flexi limestone, I grouted the tiles with a normal professional grout spreader mainly on the joins but it probably got on some of the other parts of the tile

Mike

We are getting there! It would appear the stone does not have to be completely dry with that sealer as it states it still allows any remaining water to evaporate. So based on that info thats a second cause ruled out from the penetration side! Can you answer a few more questions for me please!

How long did you allow the sealer to dwell?
Did you wipe the excess up?
How many litres did you use of the sealer?
What did you use to apply the sealer?

Kev

[keraldine]

Hg Or Lithofin do products to remove the sealers or you can get different grade buffing stones so once you have more idea what the next step is your local CTD should be able to help you out , all of these companies have people trained in their products so you should be able to get the correct advice once you know exactly what the problem is