Failed sealer in limestone tiled shower
squamishmark
| Posted in General Discussion on
Hello All
Any wisdom out there as to how we fix the milky staining on our dark green limestone tiled shower floor? We also seem to have a ‘damp’ tile look up the first 12″ of wall where I suspect moisture wicked in the grout up into the limestone but can’t dry out past the sealer. We originally sealed it with a stone specific sealer/enhancer (bought at Home Depot but still bloody expensive) and the 12″ x 24″ tiles were set in un modified thinset over Kerdi. I know now limestone is not a good choice, any suggestions on how to clean/strip/reseal?
Replies
The kerdi should be all you need for water protection. The sealer is redundant, and at a different level.
Which means that no matter what you do with a sealer, it's going to trap water inside the stone, and inside the grout. (Let's not forget that sealers are never perfect -- they will fail just about every time, at least eventually.)
Unfortunately, you used a rather porous type of stone. Which means that the sealer isn't really on the stone, it's IN the stone. And any water that gets through the grout, is probably wicking up into the stone.
But it can't evaporate, cuz the sealer......
Having said all that, I'll also say that I don't have any answers. I'll be watching this thread .... maybe we can both learn.
I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)
"sealer from HD"
Was it a penetrating sealer that allows vapor transmission? Or a topical film-type of sealer?
If you are using the Miracle products, then the problem is with with the combination of the sealer and enhancer. They are non compatible due to formulas being changed.
Contact the company about stripping the product. The literature does not explain that the two products should not be used together.
If I rember correctly, once you use the enhancer(the new product does both jobs) you reapply with the same enhancer. Or something like that.
The sealer/enhancer was an all-in-one from a company called 'stone specific'. In all honesty we also used another sealer that we originally purchased from the tile supplier (that is out of town), to continue working we bought the stuff from HD and I am certain that is what we used in the shower.