polished porcelain tiles

pissed

Just took a delivery of polished porcelain tiles from B&Q and noticed on the side of the boxes it says "these tiles should be sealed before and after grouting to prevent staining". I thought they were a finished product as they are a high gloss smooth finish. Anyone fitted these before and if so have you had to seal them?

yop

Buy a tin of sealer lad and put it on, stops the tiles from staining and will actually save ur grout too

Avns1s

I have them as it's exactly as Yop says.

pissed

Thanks for the reply. We had slate tiles down before buying these so im familiar with the seal needed for them. Which sealer do you use for the porcelain as I would imagine its a different one?

Also is it a one off seal or do they have to be sealed every so often?

Avns1s

Ours were only sealed once... and only one coat too. It seems to be more about stopping the grout causing any staining as they are a polished surface though when I think of it, we did have an episode with a bottle of red wine which took a bit of effort to deal with and even then with sealer and everything, there was a little mark left.

spadder

look for a solvent based sealer, as the water based stuff odes not last.

pissed

Thanks for the advice. Done a bit of googling too and seems to be mixed views. I bought the tiles in B&Q at a good price but wondering if there was a reason why they were at a good price . Anyway I will point it out to the tiler before he lays them as I dont think I will have time to seal them before he starts.

pissed

Tiles are down, pointed out to the fitter so they sealed them before and after grouting. They used Lithofin FZ Protective Impregnator. I had a few offcuts of tiles so I treated them with the sealer.... poured different liquids on them... red wine ... coffee and black tea. Both the red wine and black coffee stained bad while the tea was not too bad. To be honest I thought there were a lot tougher and didnt realise they stained so easy. Would a different sealer work better or does it make a difference?

cuttingedge

Use Ultra-Solv sealer and seal before and after grouting. Make sure the tiles are clean and from cement residue before sealing. If you don't you'll just seal the dirt in. I work in a tile shop!:)

Terry

You can reseal them.
I'd recommend HG golvpolish.
http://www.lenehans.ie/lenehans/Main/Product2.asp?ProdID=3394

As with anything like this, try it in a corner or where you are going to put your bin or something.

Also, LMAO @ right price tiles sales rep looking for a bit of commission.

woof.ie

You can buy polished porcelain both unsealed and presealed. The presealed has obvious advantages as it does not have to be sealed saving you the cost of the sealer plus the labour of putting them down, but most of all you wont have any staining issues in the future. For the unsealed tiles the best products come from Lithofin in my experience

I work for an online tile retailer

mark2000ie

woof.ie wrote: »

You can buy polished porcelain both unsealed and presealed. The presealed has obvious advantages as it does not have to be sealed saving you the cost of the sealer plus the labour of putting them down, but most of all you wont have any staining issues in the future. For the unsealed tiles the best products come from Lithofin in my experience

I work for an online tile retailer

I had my kitchen floor tiled with porcelin tiles from b+q. After they were tiled a Impregnator sealer was put down and left to dry. Floor was not stood on for 12 hours ( on bottle says leave for 4 hours) Once we started walking on floor it left smudge marks all over it and they will not rub off. Any ideas!!!!!!:)