Black appearing on beige travertine

[philstor]

We had beige h&f and sealed travertine tiles put on the walls in the shower room 2 months ago and some of them have black marks coming through. It isn't mould on the surface that can be wiped off. The window in the bathroom is open most of the time. The tiles that seem to be worst are those on an internal wall.

Does anyone have any ideas on what is causing this and whether anything can be done to stop is getting worse?

 

[turnip]

photos please, sounds like a good one for sherlock holmes, thinking marks are in the filled areas not in the stone?

 

[macten]

What substrate were they installed on?
As Turnip says, we need photos

 

[philstor]

I'm not near them at the mo but will send photo later. The black marks are appearing all over the tiles, so in filled areas as well as stone.

They were installed on hardi backer.

 

[Deleted member 9966]

have you contact your tiler who originally fitted them? It might be worth asking the fixer to come back and take a look for you. It's difficult to diagnose problems if we can't see the tiles.

 

[Ajax123]

Was it a dark adhesive?

 

[philstor]

No - a light adhesive

 

[CON5933]

was the adhesive from a tub or was it mixed from a bag?

 

[DHTiling]

My thoughts were mould on the substrate..but you used hardi backer..?..

next question as mentioned is ..what adhesive was used..?

 

[philstor]

Here's the photo, not sure of the quality - if no good I'll have another go later.

Not sure what adhesive was used - will find out from tiler (he has been back already and has no idea what the marks are)

 

[White Room]

Pixels:dizzy2:

 

[turnip]

even sherlock holmes would be struggling with that one

 

[beanz]

Don't enlarge the picture before you upload it, all we can see is pixels!?! hehe!

 

[philstor]

Apologies! Resizing AND increasing the compression really doesn't work! Take 2 - hopefully a bit clearer

 

[DHTiling]

Can you take one from a bit further back..and what adhesive was used plz..?

 

[White Room]

Do'es it feel damp when touched

 

[beanz]

Are you sure it wasn't there before? Just asking, as the Travertine i used (only used it once) had those darker patchy areas already in it. Might be the same thing, might not!?!?!

 

[dagger]

you can get those marks "from factory" in cheaper travertine.... as already stated....are you sure they were not there previously?

 

[Sam Bachell]

you can get those marks "from factory" in cheaper travertine.... as already stated....are you sure they were not there previously?

Those marks are pretty common on some of our promo 60x40 trav we have had come through the store, we usually save it all up and sell it together so customers dont get the odd rogue tile with a black spot on it.

 

[DHTiling]

Yep.. it can be a sign of a lower grade stone..

 

[craig4749]

Yeah we have a lot of the trav promo stuff in our store 60x40 size with black marks on them.