B & Q porcelain tiles - very cheesed off

[unclepauly]

Hello,

i bought some black porcelain tiles from B & Q around March time (2009) and since then i have had nothing but problems and its driving me mad.

what i didnt know about porcelain was that it stains. ive learned the hard way. so i bought some Aquamix heavy duty tile cleaner, Aquamix nanoscrub, and Aquamix Ultrasolv, which is supposed to be one of best sealers around (?).

to be fair, the nanoscrub works well, it brought my very stained tiles back to life - nice and shiny and black. i sealed them once, twice, even three times, but still they stain when water goes on them. it has got to the point where i have got towels around the bath so water does not go on the tiles, i have taken the shower down altogether because obviously having a shower will get water all over the tiles (which are floor to ceiling).

the instructions say that i should apply 'a thin layer' of ultrasolv, however i suspect this is not the case. surely the more porus the porcelain, the more sealer you will have to add to fill up the pores ? the stains i am getting are just from normal water droplets - they leave white streaks running down the tiles.

can someone please offer some advice on what i can do ? i have considered painting the tiles black, but i have heard the quality of tile paint is not very good. i feel like nothing is ever going to stop these tiles from staining. i have spent hundreds of pounds on both the tiles and the cleaning products and i really dont want to have to rip them up an replace then with ceramic.

-Paul

 

[jay]

hi question and :welcome: did you lay tiles yourself and when water comes in contact with tiles and you wipe it up does the tile remain darker as if water mark hope you understand :8:

 

[White Room]

Did you seal them at the time of laying

 

[unclepauly]

hi question and :welcome: did you lay tiles yourself and when water comes in contact with tiles and you wipe it up does the tile remain darker as if water mark hope you understand :8:

yes ive done the tiling myself. i did the kitchen first but these were ceramic and so i didnt have the same probems. when water comes into contact with the tiles it leaves a grey, almost white stain. horrible. i have actually been googling "B&Q porcelain tiles" and it looks like im not the only one to have this problem.

i did not seal the tiles before i layed them. i did not know i had to until a mate of mine told me to look into it. i just thought i would be able to wipe them clean like ceramic. thats when i bought all the Aquamix stuff.

 

[enduro]

Do you live in a hard water area?

 

[jay]

ok but are the tiles showing sighns of holding moisture as in water markes :8:

 

[unclepauly]

Do you live in a hard water area?

i live in hucknall, nottingham. looking at ths map i would say maybe yes ?

Are You In A Hard Water or Soft Water Area? Pure Hydration. nottingham is within the dark path above birmingham ?

 

[unclepauly]

ok but are the tiles showing sighns of holding moisture as in water markes :8:

i have just said, yes ! when water spalshes on the tiles, it leaves a grey/white mark, as the water drips down the tile, it leaves a stain of this grey/white mark. it doesnt have to be left on for a while, it can be a few seconds and still it stains. its not just a haze, its a proper very visible stain.

 

[jay]

hi sounds more like your water hardness is causing your prob as enduro asked and you have said as water hits tile leaves a grey/white mark ,:8:

 

[unclepauly]

hi sounds more like your water hardness is causing your prob as enduro asked and you have said as water hits tile leaves a grey/white mark ,:8:

damn.

is there anything that can be done to prevent this ? like i say i am using ultrasolv as my sealer - apparantly this is the best around ?

 

[DHTiling]

Porcelain tiles are NOT classed as porous, they have porosity level of around 0,05%..the reason an impregnating sealer is used is to close the open pores in the tile surface exposed in the polishing process....

what have you sealed the tiles with and are you removing any excess sealer before it dries.?

 

[DHTiling]

damn.

is there anything that can be done to prevent this ? like i say i am using ultrasolv as my sealer - apparantly this is the best around ?

Not a sealer i have used....maybe enduro can help you on this as he uses aqua mix products..

 

[unclepauly]

what have you sealed the tiles with and are you removing any excess sealer before it dries.?

yes i wipe the tiles to remove excess sealer - but out of interest, why would this affect my problem ? if i did not remove excess sealer, this would surely cause other stains, but it would not affect normal water droplets ?

 

[DHTiling]

If you had excess sealer on the surface then maybe the lime depsosits in the water were sitting on this and clinging to that...just a thought..

Try a few droplets of bottled water and see if that does the same thing...then you will know its not the lime in the tap water.

 

[Terry Cottar]

yes i wipe the tiles to remove excess sealer - but out of interest, why would this affect my problem ? if i did not remove excess sealer, this would surely cause other stains, but it would not affect normal water droplets ?

It's not the sealer it's the tiles! You live in a hard water deposit area the staining is on the surface caused by the deposits in the water. If you have sealed with Ultra Solve then the tiles are sealed. It wouldn't matter what other product you had used the problem will remain as it is highly evident on a dark colour all you can do is to regularly clean the tiles with a Ph neutral cleaner to remove the water deposits. The only other thing you could do would be to apply a topical finish such as Lithofin Slate sealer or Aqua Mix Floor Shine & Hardner but both products will require a reapplication at some time in the future. Why not try some on a test area prior to purchase to see if it improves things this will save you spending more money.

tel

 

[unclepauly]

Try a few droplets of bottled water and see if that does the same thing...then you will know its not the lime in the tap water.

great idea. ill try this.

You live in a hard water deposit area the staining is on the surface caused by the deposits in the water.

right - but i thought sealing the tiles was supposed to prevent ANY staining from anything ? i thought the purpose of sealing the tiles was to fill up the pores, thus making them effectively the same as say, ceramic.

all you can do is to regularly clean the tiles with a Ph neutral cleaner to remove the water deposits.

won't this remove the sealer as well though ? so im going to have to scrub with Ph neutral cleaner, and reseal every, say, week ?

 

[beanz]

Cleaning the tiles shouldn't remove the sealer. The stains are sitting on the tiles, not going into them, which is what the impregnating sealer stops. 😉

I like Terry's idea of using a Topical Sealer, see if you can get a sample to try (you'll probably have to contact the manufacturer directly).

 

[enduro]

You could get a water softener fitted to your water supply, you will need tp speak to a plumber about this. There is a plumbing forum linked to this site, go onto that forum and ask.

 

[unclepauly]

Cleaning the tiles shouldn't remove the sealer. The stains are sitting on the tiles, not going into them, which is what the impregnating sealer stops. 😉

oh. i thought this whole problem WAS that the stains were 'inside' the tiles, i.e. the water is getting though the sealer. thats why i posted this - i thought Ultrasolv was one of the best around so i was surprised (frustrated) that the water was going through it.

if the stains are sitting on top of the tiles, then surely i 'should' be able to wipe them off with anything really ? soap and water ? normal window cleaner ? my finger ? (!) although from your answers it seems this is not the case.

 

[unclepauly]

You could get a water softener fitted to your water supply

thanks - i was just looking at that actually. although i am going on the assumption that water hardness is indeed my problem here - Severn Trent Water are supposed to be really good, although the map on the previous web site that i posted did show my area as being. in a hard water area. its just more costs again though. i might write a nasty letter to B&Q, maybe they can pay for it 😉

 

[enduro]

Unclepauly i have sent you a private message.

 

[unclepauly]

Unclepauly i have sent you a private message.

received - thank you very much.

and thanks to everyone else who has helped me here too.