Help!: The best way of applying Lithofin Colour Intensifier?

[MsCabbage]

I am just about to embark of 40m2 of travertine tiling, and the only reason I feel half confident about doing so is because of reading posts on this forum - so thanks!

So today I was applying Lithofin Colour Intensifier (that I purchased because of what I read here ) to my 12" square honed and filled travertine. I applied a fairly liberal coat with a brush and was expecting to wipe off excess after about 5-10 mins, but I found I was waiting more like 30 mins. At 30 mins if you looked at the tile maybe half of stuff had completely absorbed in whereas the rest was still sitting on top of the tile. So I then used kitchen roll fold into a quarter to spread what was left evenly over the rest of the tile and reducing the Lithofin to a minimal amount on the tile. After about a further 30 mins these tiles seem to have dried completely without any obvious residue.

So my question is does this sound alright? Could I be leaving too much on that might cause me problems later on? Oh and in doing this I found it impossible to stop some of the Lithofin going over the edge of the tile and absorbing into the sides which I presume will not be good for the grout to adhere to.

I have notice the general consensus is too put one coat on before grouting and then another after. Why not do both coats first, so that the tile is most resistant to absorbing the grout? And does travertine really get stained by water? I tried to stain mine with water and they won't...

Sorry about all this waffle about such a small aspect, but I'm just scared I might mess things up and probably just need reasurance

[david campbell]

i have never personally used the lithofin colour enhancer but would stick to the directions on the tin when using these types of products!
you put another coat on after grouting because you can wash a fair amount off in the grouting process!
p.s welcome to the forum!

[enduro]

As with any natural product it will absorb differently over the stone, the way i apply any sealer is with a paint pad, i find you get a more even coat, i would only do one coat before grouting then one or two after grouting, then once finished and sealant fully dry i go over the whole floor with a rotary floor polisher with a white pad, this cleans any surplus sealant of the tiles and really brings them up a treat, you can hire these from any good hire shop. Sorry didn't read your post properly, if your travertine has loads of little holes in then you must not put any sealant on until you have grouted, because the sealer will stop the grout from filling these little holes.

[Dave]

Leave it to dwell for 15 mins or so then remove the excess.....you have done right....

you can further protect by adding a coat of stain stop.....again leave it to dwell for 25 mins then clean up....


this is a floor i did with lithofin colour intensifier.....

[Dave]

OH!! and welcome to tilers forums..................

[MsCabbage]

Gosh wasn't expecting such a fast response!

All the advice makes a lotta sense (as always).

Enduro I like the idea of using a polisher and wondered if a car polisher would do the job as LIDL happen to be selling one for £20 at the mo.

In fact, after I have done the second coat of the Lithofin Colour Intensifier (after the grouting) can I or is it advisable to use a polish to buff up the tiles?

Dave that floor does look fantastic, that random pattern is cool. However me thinks I'm a little limited with pattern choices with my 12" sqaure tiles. In the bathroom and ensuite I was just going to do them in lines with the view of getting some of them to line up with the ones on the floor, to pretend a professional install. In the kitchen I was just going to turn the floor tiles 45% to the main lines of the kitchen for something a bit different there.

I had a few random questions I wanted to ask

1. I'm tiling floor to ceiling (walls first I assume) - what should I do with the joint between floor and ceiling tile and the corners where the tiles butt up to each other. Should I overlap? Leave a gap? Mastic instead of grouting at these joints?

2. Is is better to tile slightly down behind the bath and fit the bath up against the tile? Or fit the bath first and tile to the bath edge?

Well, I'm off now to spend the day sealing my tiles and getting intoxicated with Lithofin fumes !

[trevortine]

Hey cabbage! Once ur all done seal the corners and floor to wall joint with colour matching silicone. Fit ur bath first, seal the bath to the wall with silicone, tile to top of bath and then silicone again! Hope this helps. If ur not handy with a silicone gun then david at tradetiler sells a range of tools for the perfect finish

[enduro]

Have a look at aquamix products, i use them all the time...And they dont smell.

[MsCabbage]

Trevotine thanks I'll do that - thought that was the way to do it but it's nice to have it confirmed.

But going back to my question 2. should I overlap tiles 'as it were' at the wall to wall and wall to floor junctions or leave a gap from both sides so more mastic can be put in. Or probably it doesn't matter, but I'm trying to start out with the best practice .