B&Q polished black "porcelain"

[Grace'sDad]

This all started with a quote for fixing 16sqm of black granite.
Over a few weeks it degraded into 16sqm of B&Q's finest.

I've got to admit, I seriously thought about walking away from the job once my customer told me that they could save so much money with these over the granite. I had read so much bad press on here about B&Q porcelain!

I kept my fixing costs the same and refused to drop the price, also warned and showed the customer that 1) they aren't square 2) they aren't very black 3) they need sealing before fixing / before grouting / after cleaning.

I started fixing yesterday and whadya know? They aren't too bad! They cut really nicely wet and dry.

I began by levelling the floor with a good SLC - this has allowed me to get a perfectly smooth floor.

Now I'm going to get flamed for this but...I didn't seal them before fixing!

Tested 3 tiles at random with adhesive / slurry / dust and water. They do stain easily but I found that they also clean up very well using the Plasplugs polished porcelain sealer (from B&Q - Naptha based) followed by slightly soapy water. So I figured it would be quicker to clean them all once fixed than seal them all beforehand.

Tomorrow when I start cleaning them properly will be the moment of truth though!

Bad points -
- not square, 1mm out on 2 edges.
- Stain easily (but appear to clean up ok)
- Slurry from cutting stains your skin like you wouldn't believe!

Two things I found out; according to one of our local shops these are made from soluble salts in China - not proper porcelain ingredients, hence the very porous surface. Also B&Q are now putting labels on all packs which state that they must be sealed before fixing / grouting / after cleaning. They've had loads of complaints seemingly.

Apologies for the long and waffley post - I'm knackered tonight!

Hope this is useful info though.

[Fekin]

I did a job with them in 400's, stained out of the packaging because they we're damp, but cleaned up ok, and I only layed them, cleaned them "washed" then sealed and they we're fine.

All in all a decent tile I guess, better than the sh*#* I've been using on the last bathroom, which was also B&Q's finest white ceramics

[Grace'sDad]

Oh, forgot to say these are 400s not 600s.
Appear to be exactly the same material though.

Don't fancy 600s on my own - I think my back would snap!

[Fekin]

I looked at a job 4 days before christmas, B&Q black polished for a kitchen in 600's, customer to be was having kittens because she'd had a tiler booked in for weeks to do the job, he turned up, saw the size of the tiles and had stagefright with the sound of it "they we're 600's", customer had told him the size , tiler told them he didn't have a cutter big enough so couldn't do the job, so the customer said they would hire him one, then the tiler told them he didn't want to do it because of the size.

I went to look at the job, medium sized floor, well, summit like 12 sqm and I was packed out leading upto xmas eve, so gave a silly price and never heard from them again , there again, it was that kind of customer you just get the feeling that it could be a lot of hassle just getting paid once the job was done.

No one has since come at me with a tile of that size.