Lightening Saltillo Tiles

[Jane King]

I have a 15-year-old, well-loved saltillo tile floor that I would like to lighten before I re-seal again. I have heard of putting a "dry wash" on the tile before it is resealed, but can't figure out the chemistry of it. Would not a dry wash interfere with the sealer's effectiveness? I would appreciate any ideas on how to lighten this tile (in addition to cleaning it, of course) and seal it. Perhaps there are products that already have this mixture.
Jane

[Sponsored Links]

[Mike2]

Hi Jane and welcome.:)

I'm going to move your question over to our Restoration section...you'll get better coverage with all the restoration gurus over there.

[Davestone]

We used to mix up a concoction of diluted white epoxy paint, but the tile was new with no sealer on it. It made what we called,antique birch.But since your tile is set, you don't have trial and error room,you'd probably have to strip off the sealer and apply a wood stain you like, and reseal........a lot of work, but maybe someone else has a better way. :)

[kcstoneguy]

Aqua Mix makes 2 saltillo stains which are very light.Piso Blanco and Peach something that is made just for staining saltillo, (raw saltillo, not sealed)..I just used some last night....easy....you can also mix them and do some cool antiqueing looks, like faux painting

john jackson
Integrity Stone

[kcstoneguy]

if you go to my webpage, www.integritystone.com and go to the mexican tile page, you will see samples of the five stain colors from Aqua Mix...pretty easy to work with

john j
integrity stone