Hey, all. Hope the weather is great, your projects are profitable, the weekends are a blast and your football team is winning.
The tile is Versatile from Lowes, unglazed ceramic quarry tile, 8×8, indoor/outdoor, red (as in terra cotta). We are using them indoors in two different rooms, a laundry and a sunroom. Do these tile have to be sealed prior to grouting? I say they have to be sealed, they’re saying no. What do you all think?
Thanks.
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Replies
I say yes also. It's not like they "have to be" but it's stupid not to IMO.
I did a job in my own house a ways back in a pretty large area using the 12" quarry tiles. I stained and sealed them before i grouted. Made life a whole lot easier. Same with tumbled marble and the like. If it's the stuff you get from HD or any box store? Seal it first !!!!
Another thing I found was wetting the backs of the quarry tiles before i set them in thinset and back buttering them made for a superior stick.
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Edited 9/19/2008 10:14 pm ET by andybuildz
I have an ongoing job replacing quarry tiles in a bar kitchen suffering from subfloor rot. Tiles are unglazed, grout is black and I don't bother sealing first. No problems at all.
you positive there's NO form of sealer/glaze on your new tile? I know the tiles i used i was able to "stain" before sealing which meant had i grouted first it would have been a B washing it off.
I also bought 4x4 tumbled marble from HD and grouted before sealing. What a nightmare that turned into!!! thank god I found a company that had a product that enhanced the tile color rather than the grout that didn''t come off completely.
OTOH...I've used similar looking tile w/o grouting and had no problem but at this point in my illustious career : ) I seal first to avoid the possibility of problems. Gonna seal it anyway eventually so....
My recomondo is to test a piece or two first if you realy don't wanna seal first to play it safe cuz I think different tile acts differently from my experiance.
AFTER I GROUTED W/O SEALING
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AFTER I FIXED IT WITH A TON OF CLEANING & A TILE ENHANCER$$$
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"I am Andybuildz and I approve this post"
I am certain it's unsealed.Unlike your marble, the quarry tile is both fine grained and smooth surfaced. I don't let the grout sit too long and the grout sponge gets rinsed frequently. Staining just hasn't been an issue.
What I was saying was that I intentionally stained my quarry tile. Thats how pourus /raw? it was.
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"I am Andybuildz and I approve this post"
If you seal first and it wasn't needed, you are only out an hour. If you needed to seal and you didn't, you are out a whole lot more than that.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
I have put down a few hundred feet of twelve by twelve quarry tile and didn't preseal. No problems grouting.
One forgiving element of quarry tile if you make a mess of the grout is you can use pretty aggressive chemicals or abrasives to remove stubborn grout.
The limestone/marble referred to in another response is quite delicate in regards to chemicals and abrasives.
The whole point of quarry tile in my application is that it is so tough and durable. Ultimately I did seal mine but the main point of it was to seal the grout and the tile ended up getting sealed as well.
mix up a few spoonfuls of grout, smear it on a tile and see how easily it wipes clean.
Karl