Best possible sealer for marble shower?

[Elrond]

I'm just about finished building my new bathroom from scratch. I used polished marble tile (fairly light in colour) for the shower and bathroom floor. I'm going to use black grout. The joints are 1/4". All the tile is laid but it is not yet grouted.

Do I need to preseal before grouting?

What is the best possible sealer I could use for this application? If a coating would work better than a sealer than I'd use that.

thanks a bunch

[Sponsored Links]

[Steven Hauser]

Hi there,

Most marbles typically do not require an impregnating sealer.
The best way to determine if it requires one is to see if it looks noticeably darker when wet.

Since you are using a black grout, it may be prudent to use a grout release on the material, there may be small cavities or fissures that the lack grout may infiltrate.

If you decide to use a grout release, be sure to keep it on the face of the material and not let it get in the bevel or on the edges.

Good luck.

:)

[Claudia Ramirez]

One word of caution if you decide that you want to use a gorut release, you may want to get the Heavy Duty Stone Sealer from the store here and apply that as your grout release. Once the grout is cured, you cna then apply the same sealer to your grout.

The reason I tend to steer you away from a traditional Grout Release is that these are usually silicone sealers. While they will give you excellent water repellency and minimize grout adhesion, they are quite unforgiving if you do not wipe off any sealer that did not penetrate or soak into the stone within a few minutes. This excess sealer, when dried, it a pain to remove. :bang: The Heavy Duty Stone Sealer, although it too should be wiped off (what doesn't penetrate into the stone) the residue is a bit easier to remove.

[Michael of Stonehenge]

Hi Elrond, While the use of a contrasting grout highlights your natural stone installation I suggest that you use a color comparable to your natural stone. The pigment in black grout may not only make for installation problems it may also lead to future discoloration due to the intense influences of a shower installation. Michael of Stonehenge

[Sparks98]

When I used the silicone (water based) sealer on kitchen tile, it was a nightmare (same said in previous thread). It not only showed up, but it definitely discolored or lightened my painstakenly chosen grout. Next came my shower (all tumbled marble), I used Pro-Solv 10 by Aquamix. Absolutely invisible (no color changes at all), no need to wipe it off and you can recoat in 15 minutes. Fumes? Just open a few windows. Call around for prices, because the stuff ain't cheap, but worth every penny. And I used it as my grout sealer too! WAY EASIER!