Wickes Tile Treatment ...

[Arfa Daily]

Anyone got any experience of using Wickes Natural Stone Gloss Finish or any similar product ?

I just used a bunch of Wickes black polished granite floor tiles, as a top for a central island in my newly refitted kitchen. Heeding the instructions on the box, I bought a bottle of said product to put a protective film on them. I made sure that they were absolutely clean - physically and chemically - then went ahead and mixed up some of the 'shiner' with water at

50%, as it said to do on the bottle. I carefully applied it in even strokes, and very thinly, using a soft cloth, as recommended. It went on beautifully, and for a few minutes, I was happy with the result. Then it started to dry. Unevenly ...

It dried in what can best be described as 'streaks', and looked bloody awful, so I stripped it back off, and tried again with a different cloth. Same result. It also said on the bottle that maintenance coats should be diluted 1% with water, so based on this, I reduced the concentration to perhaps 25% and tried again. This was slightly better, but still the same basically disappointing streaky finish. Stripped again !

I now took a spare tile to experiment with. As the dilution got greater, the finish improved, but then the coating got 'weak' mechanically, as you would expect. Finally, in frustration, I decided to try the stuff 'neat' and guess what ? Yep, absolutely perfect. It dried to a deep mirror finish in minutes, and was the exact result that I had been expecting.

So why is this ? Am I doing something wrong when I apply the diluted solution ? All it says is to apply it with a soft cloth, which is what I am doing. Is it just that the finish shows worse on a jet black tile ? Am I being too critical ? Is applying the stuff 'neat' likely to result in any long term problems for the tiles ? Any thoughts / experiences appreciated.

Arfa

[The Medway Handyman]

Sounds to me like its a water based acrylic polish. I think the dilute solution idea is for porous tiles to seal the surface, bit like painting plaster. Polished granite sounds non porous to me, so neat would be the way to go.

Black is always tricky to polish, speak to any car valeter, they hate black motors.

[Arfa Daily]

That's kind of my thinking too. On the tile box, it also told you to use the stain protector product on the back surface, before cementing, as the granite is porous. For sure, this stuff, which is a bit like a thin varnish with some sort of volatile 'carrier' liquid, sank into the back of the tile, so granite is porous in its 'naked' form. However, it doesn't seem to be when it's been mechanically polished to a high shine, as these tiles have been at manufacture. Water will just lay on the surface until it dries, so I don't know whether there is any chemical intervention during the polishing process, which achieves this. The reason it said on the tile box to use the shiner product - which does seem to be a water based polish as you say - for protecting the tiles, is that they can be stained by such things as citric acid. It struck me that a kitchen was a good candidate for a source of citric acid, so that was why I wanted to get the protection which was supposedly going to be afforded by it. The trials and tribulations of what appears to be a simple job ...

Arfa

[The Medway Handyman]

That sounds like a silicone or flurocarbon protector - does water 'bead' up on it?

Certainly marble & terrazzo can be vitrified using an acidic product & mechanical means. The surface hardens & becomes non porous. Not sure if granite can be vitrified, but high gloss surfaces are usually less porous.

Is this water based stuff a white emulsion? Any acid can damage natural stone - vinigar, fruit juice, cola etc so its sound advice.

[Arfa Daily]

Yes, exactly that

Arfa