Help!: Sealing polished porcelain ?

[paulemillar]

Hi Guys,
Well, we have had about 100 sqm of the beige B&Q windsor 600x600 polished porcelain tile laid. Tiler is finished and we are left with the job of scrubbing and sealing. A few questions, firstly, he laid them, impregnated them, grouted and then cleaned(ish). He says we should get a buffing machine to buff them then reseal them. They are a bit streaky just now. Is this a good idea, should we just get a heavy duty cleaning solution then reseal, would the buffer take of his seal he applied, I have seen FLOOR POLISHER KARCHER FP303 HIGH PERFORMANCE BUFFER on eBay (end time 22-Feb-11 1057 GMT)

a floor scrubber/buffer, is this a good idea ?

Any answers or other advice would be great.

Thanks

[enduro]

Did they have transit wax removed before he sealed them do you know?

[paulemillar]

There wasn't any on them, we did discuss it as I had a bathroom done in the grey ones, they had the wax, but the beige didn't.

[enduro]

I do think this is his job to do and not yours. Did he give you a price to lay them, or were you paying him a day rate?

[paulemillar]

It was a price to lay them, he has impregnated them and washed them down, but he says we should buff then reseal. We just want to know what we should do really....

[Dave]

Hi Guys,
Well, we have had about 100 sqm of the beige B&Q windsor 600x600 polished porcelain tile laid. Tiler is finished and we are left with the job of scrubbing and sealing. A few questions, firstly, he laid them, impregnated them, grouted and then cleaned(ish). He says we should get a buffing machine to buff them then reseal them. They are a bit streaky just now. Is this a good idea, should we just get a heavy duty cleaning solution then reseal, would the buffer take of his seal he applied, I have seen FLOOR POLISHER KARCHER FP303 HIGH PERFORMANCE BUFFER on eBay (end time 22-Feb-11 1057 GMT)

a floor scrubber/buffer, is this a good idea ?

Any answers or other advice would be great.

Thanks

Your tiler should have done this from start to finish.. annoys the life out of me how some so called tilers get away with this sort of thing..

Now as far as i know the B&Q porcs do have a transit wax on them.. well the 60x60 cream ones i did last week had it on and deffo need cleaning first..

In the box's of the tiles was there an advice slip and also check the box's as it does usually say on them also that they require cleaning and sealing..

If i was you i would call this so called tiler back and get him to sort this abortion out..

[paulemillar]

There was the leaflet in the box, however I really dont think there was a wax on them, I did remove the wax myself from the grey ones in the bathroom and the beige ones didn't seem to have it. I just need to know what to do to fix it, either to do it myself, or to tell him what he should have done. He has been paid so probably won't want to fix it anyway.

How should I fix it if there is wax on it/no wax on it ?

[Dave]

what are they sealed with..?

[paulemillar]

LTP impregnator sealer

[doug boardley]

was it MPG ?

[Dave]

It should have been MPG then..

What you can do is apply some more sealer and then buff off whilst the sealer is wet, this should remove the streaky residue you have now..

[paulemillar]

that seems quite easy then, just buff it off with a towel ?

[Dave]

Work in small sections as it will be hard work..

Use white paper towel to remove the sealer whilst wet and then yes a nice terry towel to buff up.. You will need plenty elbow grease.. trust me you will get a sweat on

[doug boardley]

I don't envy you the task paul...

[paulemillar]

Thanks for that, out of interest, would that machine be any good, as it is quite a large area.

[Dave]

This from MPG pdf..

Over applied and un-buffed sealer will dry and leave a
greasy residue on the surface. To remove, apply white spirit or a little more sealer and then buff
immediately.

[Dave]

Thanks for that, out of interest, would that machine be any good, as it is quite a large area.

I have looked at that machine.. but if you look on ebay there are larger 15 inch machines that will buff it in a crack.. it is hard work hence why i am looking for a nice buffer.

[paulemillar]

Yeah I would get one if it would do a better job/quicker job. I believe it will need sealed every year so would be worth it. Next question, what if the wax is on it?

[TilerJames]

on the plus side, you will have arms like popeye at the end of this..

[enduro]

I would use Aquamix Sealer & coating remover..this will remove the sealer and any wax thats on the tile. You will need a rotary scrubber and a wet vac really to do an area this size. www.tradetiler.co.uk a forum sponsor sells this it is in the sealer section on his web site in the problem solving section.

[doug boardley]

Yeah I would get one if it would do a better job/quicker job. I believe it will need sealed every year so would be worth it. Next question, what if the wax is on it?

MPG is an impregnating sealer, it won't need resealing that frequently, I normally recommend every 3 years.

[colli84uk]

Sounds a little bit like maybe he has not removed the wax correctly before sealing. If this is the case topps tiles do a product called fila stonestripper which will remove seal and wax. Fila also do a polished porcelain sealer. Polished sealer should only be a one off application.