Hi all,
I live in Cyprus. Bought a new build top floor flat a couple of years ago with a roof garden. Have had a whole host of things that needed sorted out including having to re-grout the exposed roof garden/top floor balcony due to the grout crumbling for some reason and water getting under the tiles and into our ceiling below. They did waterproof under the tiles but water was getting below through a couple of weak spots under the tiles where they didn't waterproof properly i.e area where steel pergola is set into the slab below the tiles. Anyway, that's sorted now after we regrouted. If there's still an issue it looks like we'll have to regrout with epoxy grout. Anyway onto the current dilemma.
We've got two balconies on two levels basically. A balcony that comes out from the living room which has a spiral staircase built in via a opening in the ceiling that goes onto our roof garden/upper balcony area. The circular ceiling opening, the paint kept cracking/flaking in areas despite being filled/repaired a number of times and this could be linked to the water getting through the grout issue previously but also because they painted it up to the marble edge, maybe rain was getting behind the paint at the top I don't know. I wanted it tiled to reduce maintenance long term and give it a better finish. It's notoriously hard to find good people in Cyprus and I ended up using a guy that was average, competent would do an acceptable level job but I knew he can't and doesn't pay attention to detail or the finish. He also ended up scratching most of the mosaics somehow despite me giving him Mapei unsanded grout and he used a rubber float. I can't only assume he used the wrong side of an abrasive sponge to clean up or something. I had already scraped off all the flaking paint and the masonry paint was pretty set onto the wall i.e you couldn't scrape the rest off or anything unless you really went at it and could just about score it. I wanted him to remove the paint but he refused and said it would be okay. I gave him Mapei adhesive.
He left an opening at the top. The opening is bigger and smaller in different areas around the circle. He said he had sealed the top with the matching mapei silicone I gave him on the top of the tiles and the most important thing is that water can't get behind the tiles. Due to the marble edge, water kind of drips off onto the tiles but it's somewhat protected but does get a soaking when it rains hard. I was unhappy with the finish, and I tried to silicone straight after he left but it looks bad so I cleaned it up. I was debating whether to try and get grout in there for a cleaner job i.e not as sticky and more solid and if it got on the tiles I could just sponge it off but I didn't because some of the gaps are too small and I'd have to use my fingers in the bigger gaps and try and wedge it in (unless I tried a grout gun). I could use a external decorators caulk but I don't know how that would hold up long term but it's easier to clean, Sikaflex EBT (didn't because I know it's sticky and hard to tool) or something else. I thought about making sure the top of the tiles is sealed with grout and then maybe painting the white gap in the large areas with a grey paint. It's awkward in some areas because the stairs are in the way so it's fiddly. I now need to clean up all the silicone again, dig it up, scrape/wipe it off the tiles and try and do something again or try and find a pro to solve it.
So there's two main things really providing an element of a water resistant seal at the top and trying to get a good looking professional finish on it. Thanks!
I live in Cyprus. Bought a new build top floor flat a couple of years ago with a roof garden. Have had a whole host of things that needed sorted out including having to re-grout the exposed roof garden/top floor balcony due to the grout crumbling for some reason and water getting under the tiles and into our ceiling below. They did waterproof under the tiles but water was getting below through a couple of weak spots under the tiles where they didn't waterproof properly i.e area where steel pergola is set into the slab below the tiles. Anyway, that's sorted now after we regrouted. If there's still an issue it looks like we'll have to regrout with epoxy grout. Anyway onto the current dilemma.
We've got two balconies on two levels basically. A balcony that comes out from the living room which has a spiral staircase built in via a opening in the ceiling that goes onto our roof garden/upper balcony area. The circular ceiling opening, the paint kept cracking/flaking in areas despite being filled/repaired a number of times and this could be linked to the water getting through the grout issue previously but also because they painted it up to the marble edge, maybe rain was getting behind the paint at the top I don't know. I wanted it tiled to reduce maintenance long term and give it a better finish. It's notoriously hard to find good people in Cyprus and I ended up using a guy that was average, competent would do an acceptable level job but I knew he can't and doesn't pay attention to detail or the finish. He also ended up scratching most of the mosaics somehow despite me giving him Mapei unsanded grout and he used a rubber float. I can't only assume he used the wrong side of an abrasive sponge to clean up or something. I had already scraped off all the flaking paint and the masonry paint was pretty set onto the wall i.e you couldn't scrape the rest off or anything unless you really went at it and could just about score it. I wanted him to remove the paint but he refused and said it would be okay. I gave him Mapei adhesive.
He left an opening at the top. The opening is bigger and smaller in different areas around the circle. He said he had sealed the top with the matching mapei silicone I gave him on the top of the tiles and the most important thing is that water can't get behind the tiles. Due to the marble edge, water kind of drips off onto the tiles but it's somewhat protected but does get a soaking when it rains hard. I was unhappy with the finish, and I tried to silicone straight after he left but it looks bad so I cleaned it up. I was debating whether to try and get grout in there for a cleaner job i.e not as sticky and more solid and if it got on the tiles I could just sponge it off but I didn't because some of the gaps are too small and I'd have to use my fingers in the bigger gaps and try and wedge it in (unless I tried a grout gun). I could use a external decorators caulk but I don't know how that would hold up long term but it's easier to clean, Sikaflex EBT (didn't because I know it's sticky and hard to tool) or something else. I thought about making sure the top of the tiles is sealed with grout and then maybe painting the white gap in the large areas with a grey paint. It's awkward in some areas because the stairs are in the way so it's fiddly. I now need to clean up all the silicone again, dig it up, scrape/wipe it off the tiles and try and do something again or try and find a pro to solve it.
So there's two main things really providing an element of a water resistant seal at the top and trying to get a good looking professional finish on it. Thanks!
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