B & Q Porcelain Sealing

[Tilestiles]

Hi Guys. Know a lot of things have been said about B & Q porcelain but I have a 20m2 kitchen floor area to do in 300 x 300 polished black porcelain. Can someone please advise on best sealer / impregnator to use. Was thinking of using Lithofin MN Stain Stop as have used this before. Would this be OK?? Also, on the tile boxes it states "do not use black or highly pigmented grout. The customer INSISTS that they want balck grout!! Any advice as always, more than welcome. Thanks inadvance

[whitebeam]

Use Lithofin fz impregnator, use mapei ultra colour plus it's fast setting

[foxman]

I would get the customer to sign a discloser and also these tiles will need Lithofin Abra clean on first, this will take the wax coating off they have on to protcet them during transit otherwise the impregnator wont work properly,Cheers Mick

[david campbell]

the 300mm tiles don't seem to have as many problems as the 600mm's do,so it shouldn't be to bad if you take your time!

[Barryboy71]

Hi all first time poster

I to have bought some of the B&Q 600mm polished porcelain tiles and after some seraching it looks like I need to seal them, so I was going to use some LTP MPG tile sealer as this seems to be getting the best results.

My question is that I also read that these tiles have a wax sealer on them for whilst in transit which I assume I need to remove prior to applying the sealer.

What do I use to remove this wax sealer?

cheers
Dave

[FreeD]

Yep as above my experience of some of these tiles is that they have wax coating on this needs to be removed first with a cleaner e.g LTP GRIMEX...then sealed with suitable impregnator e.g LTP MPG SEALER...i've found LTP very helpful in the past...you could contact them direct with your requirements...make sure u charge for this work though its v.time consuming.

[Barryboy71]

Yep as above my experience of some of these tiles is that they have wax coating on this needs to be removed first with a cleaner e.g LTP GRIMEX...then sealed with suitable impregnator e.g LTP MPG SEALER...i've found LTP very helpful in the past...you could contact them direct with your requirements...make sure u charge for this work though its v.time consuming.

Thanks FreeD, although will be doing this for the worst of customers.... the wife so only brownie points being earned.

I am a DIY'er rather than a professional like most of the posters on here so even more pressure.

Dave

[FreeD]

Cool...make sure you go through the packets under good light before laying i've experienced scratched tiles in the past...also tiles with numbers on which cannot be removed (because soaked into pores)

Removing the wax and sealing can be done before or after laying...but must be done before grouting.

good luck...look great when they are down but its a long process!

[Barryboy71]

Thanks again FreeD

Would I be mad to contemplate using these as a worktop as well if they were sealed and chopping boards / prep boards were used

The reason I ask is that I already have a tiled worktop although using 75mm tiles that are past their best and grout is not looking very good. I was going to remove the tiles, adhesive and grout and check out the substrate and if ok lay the new tiles as due to their size I only need 5 (plus spares in case of breakages etc) so will have a clean look for no money?

Dave

[Tilestiles]

Thanks for your replies. Could someone please comment on whether MN Stainstop would be suitable for the job in hand. Thanks!!

[FreeD]

not sure if tiles suitable for worktop...some1 else should be able to help.

As for grout you could use a dark grout...and seal it with a grout sealer, this will show the dirt less and be easier to clean.

[whitebeam]

Thanks for your replies. Could someone please comment on whether MN Stainstop would be suitable for the job in hand. Thanks!!

More for natural stone, use as recommended above, good luck

[rhyd4]

you will get away with black grout and the black tiles, but dont atemped the white polished ones with black grout as they will stil stain even after being sealed, hadthis problem last week and changed the grout to silver

[bighen]

Hi
Fitted many floors with the dreaded B&Q 600sq tiles.
Always use Mapei ultracolour - Black or silver grey on Weber sp addy and lithofin FZ to seal.
No probs to date

[Tilestiles]

Just read that these tiles sometimes come with a wax film?? Is this true?? Do these need to be cleaned prior to sealing now ?? If so, is this wax visible to the eye and if so, what would you recommend to clean them with?? This job is becoming a nightmare and I havent even started it yet!! - lol. Also, how soon can you seal after cleaning??

[marbleman]

dear tilestiles

i wish you best of luck as B&Q porcelain will be a cheap import , as the money that has been paid for the product says it all CRAP comes to mind, as for coloured grout on this crap oh dear NITEMARE ALL OVER IT,

[Barryboy71]

Just read that these tiles sometimes come with a wax film?? Is this true?? Do these need to be cleaned prior to sealing now ?? If so, is this wax visible to the eye and if so, what would you recommend to clean them with?? This job is becoming a nightmare and I havent even started it yet!! - lol. Also, how soon can you seal after cleaning??

Quote from post 6 by FreeD of this thread

Yep as above my experience of some of these tiles is that they have wax coating on this needs to be removed first with a cleaner e.g LTP GRIMEX...then sealed with suitable impregnator e.g LTP MPG SEALER...i've found LTP very helpful in the past...you could contact them direct with your requirements...make sure u charge for this work though its v.time consuming.

[Tilestiles]

Is the wax present visible?? The tiles I am fitting are the smaller 300 x 300 so was wondering if these would have the wax or if the wax is just put on the larger 600 x 600 tiles??

[Barryboy71]

I have the 600 x 600 tiles and i cant really see if there is any on there myself, but I would use the cleaner prior to sealing just in case, and also to be sure that you are not sealing in anything you dont want to.

Dave

[avago]

Classic - Bought the tiles (600x600 chocolate brown porcelain) £8.00 pack of 3. Chuft. Then read this lot. I'm not going to panic yet. Last night I took a tile straight out of the box and dolloped cooking oil, butter, and shampoo on it, then let it sit over night - prior to that I scrubbed the surface with vinegar. (Didn't have any wax stripper but will follow advice on here.) I have to say non of the above nasties have stained the tile in any way?