Staining on porcelaine tiles

[wcbtrueblue]

Hi everyone,came across the forum when trying to find an answer to staining on polished porcelain tiles.I have noticed the problem I have has happened to lots of people.Not really seen a definite solution yet.Help.
I have laid polished porcelain tiles(BandQ) 600x600.I have sealed the tiles(plasplugs polished impregnator sealer).I have grouted the tiles with brown Unibond grout.When I have come to wipe off the residue of grout it has stained the tiles quite badly.I have noticed some people have mentioned "nanascrub".Is this the answer?
Thanks in advance

 

[TilingLogistics]

Hi everyone,came across the forum when trying to find an answer to staining on polished porcelain tiles.I have noticed the problem I have has happened to lots of people.Not really seen a definite solution yet.Help.
I have laid polished porcelain tiles(BandQ) 600x600.I have sealed the tiles(plasplugs polished impregnator sealer).I have grouted the tiles with brown Unibond grout.When I have come to wipe off the residue of grout it has stained the tiles quite badly.I have noticed some people have mentioned "nanascrub".Is this the answer?
Thanks in advance

NO in a word! You will have to strip the sealer first then try a heavy duty tile and grout cleaner or phosphoric acid depending on what the staining is you could then back them up with Nano Scrub if you couldn't get it off. However the problems you have stem from Cheap Tiles and the Grout

Kev

 

[brian c]

spot on Kev.

 

[wcbtrueblue]

Hi can't do much about the tiles now.What make of grout would you reccomend?

 

[LM Ceramics]

welcome to the forums mate

 

[TilingLogistics]

BAL or Mapei IMO

Kev

 

[SlateR]

Once they are stained there is nothing you can really do about it !

Did you apply the impregnator before or after grouting ? if it was before did you give it long enough to dry ? The problem with porcelain is that its not very absorbant so liquids take longer to penetrate the glaze.

Simple rule of tiling..... Don't use any brand of tiling products that don't specialise in this industry. Unibond makes adhesives for everything and plasplugs are a bargain basement tool company !!! (open to correction). As suggested before, use mapei, bal or ardex products and a tried and tested sealant manufacturer is Lithofin. Other brands are good but this is the only one i have evr used/sold without any comebacks or complaints.

I'l put money on it that you bought that Black polished 600x600 porcelain that B&Q were selling for £7.99 ish per metre ? If so, the alarm bells should have been ringing when all the established tile companies were asking around £15-£25 per metre and B&Q only wanted a fraction of that price ?!! :lol:

I hope you didn't buy the ready mixed B&Q floor adhesive ?!! if so the glaze will be last of your worries ! :lurk5:

 

[Olz]

Hi Welcome to the forum, let us know how you go on with sorting the staining mate

 

[TilingLogistics]

Once they are stained there is nothing you can really do about it !

Sorry Slate R I have to disagree with you on that statement. Providing you use the correct products and observe the dwell times and sometimes you may have to repeat the process you can usually get most staining out

Kev

 

[SlateR]

Once they are stained there is nothing you can really do about it !

Sorry Slate R I have to disagree with you on that statement. Providing you use the correct products and observe the dwell times and sometimes you may have to repeat the process you can usually get most staining out

Kev

Fair point Kev, this is just merely experience we have had where by once the stain has penetrated the tile, 9 times out of 10 it was impossible to get rid of the stain. I know of some tile retailers that have had to pay for the removal and replacement of large areas of floor due to this same problem :whatchutalkingabout

Thats why forums are a good source of info

 

[Daveyboy]

Hi blue..welcome to the Forums..see you've already had some great advice re your tiles so good luck sorting them out..

 

[graham31]

welcome to the forums.........Any luck way the staining removal?

 

[BDS]

Welcome to the forums mate,I was in BandQ 3 weeks ago and bumpted in to a friend who i haven`t seen for a while and he had same tiles and same problem and i`m not sure so dont hold me to this but he wasn`t the only 1

 

[medlar]

welcome to Tilers Forums mate

 

[SnipSnap]

Sorry to hear about your problem!
I have had one similar case of problematic tiles regarding staining. These were also made in China.

By coincidence I was in my local B&Q store with a friend of mine and was commenting on this particular porcelain tile they had there. 600x600 honed porcelain. It looked the same as the one I had problems with. A person standing nearby heard me commenting and got worried about it as she had got 50 m2 on order.

She was glad to hear my story as she sent them all back and decided to get something else.

The stain is unlikely to totally disappear and the only thing that could shift most of it is ACID. I had to use it once, over 20 years ago. A friend of mine helped me out by giving me some in a glass jar. He used the acid to clean the glass mosaics in swimming pools to remove cement residues after grouting. Don't know what type of acid it was though.

I started with a 20 -1 dilution with water but in the end was 1-1. It took most of it off but I was lucky as the tiles were Pilkington Dorset Stone, which are a yellow-ish colour, so the faint brown was not showing much.

If you are going to use acid then make sure you follow all the health and safety instructions on it. Try on a spare tile first, make sure you rinse the tile with loads of water after the application, make sure the windows are open, stop animals going near the effected area during work, wear eye protection, use breathing apparatus, etc.. etc..

Unfortunately when coloured grouts are used, staining is likely thats why you need impregnators and sealers. It is always advisable to test on a spare tile FIRST!

Let us know how you get on :yes:

 

[monty]

Hello and welcome to the forums..

 

[sWe]

Welcome to the forums

 

[Fekin]

Hi there and welcome to the forums

 

[White Room]

Hello and welcome