Replies

1. 
   davidmeiland | Jun 11, 2005 06:20am | #1

   511 Impregnator, Miracle Sealants, Arcadia, CA

   I assume you know that you want to seal the top surface only, very carefully, leaving the edges unsealed so that grout can bond to them. I would do this before setting the tile.

2. 
   COremodeler | Jun 11, 2005 04:28pm | #2

   I agree 511 is a great sealer. But I don't think it is necessary to pre-seal, now I know what your talking about with the clean up I had some haze dry on some porcelain I did in a rental 10 years ago and it is just now wearing off.

   Pre-sealing is a big pain in the neck and I feel it is as much or more work than getting the haze off in the first place.

   I have had great success with this process; 1. lightly wet tile w/ sponge before grouting. 2. grout as usual. 3. sponge tile and grout as usual. 4. After striking the grout lines and removing most of the excess grout w/ the swirling action, take the grout sponge rinsed and ringed dry, lightly drag across tile at a 45 angle and squeegee the remaining grout haze off, flip the sponge and start a new row (like mowing the lawn). rinse and repeat, your water doesn't even need to be very clean. This process works for me on slate, porcelain, marble and I had to do some replacement in that rental and it cleaned up beautifully this time. Just don't leave any haze behind on those porous type tiles.

1. 
   davidmeiland | Jun 11, 2005 08:26pm | #3

   I assumed he had grout sticking into the recesses in a textured tile... fake slate or something like that... and not just a problem with haze. 511 will help if actual grout is sticking.

   If it's haze, find a tile store and ask for grout haze remover. It works quite well. Of course the best thing to do is to wipe the entire floor with an almost-dry sponge. Do it three times. Rinse and wring the sponge about every 4 square feet. Clean sponge, clean water... clean tile.