I need help with Saltillio tile too!

[joeboken]

Doitright -

I'm going to jump in on this thread since it seems relevant, and based on what I've read in other forums there may be no easy answer to my question. I have just purchased a condo with saltillo floor tiles in the kitchen and bathroom (a continuous tile floor which includes a small adjoining hallway). From the original floor plans, it looks like the tile was put down in 1986-1987 and most likely has not been re-finished since then. The glossy finish on the tiles in the kitchen is generally in good shape, but the finish on the tiles in the bathroom is virtually obliterated (very patchy, some tiles have more remaining finish than others).

I have tried using the aquamix stripper (bought at Home Depot) and have worn my knuckles thin on a couple of sample tiles to see if the remaining finish would come up. After a couple of hours of scrubbing with a nylon brush and several applications of the stripper, the exposed portions of the tile look great (nice red finish coming out of what had been brown), but the areas where the old sealer was there has been no impact at all - still a hard shiny finish. The sealer looks very much like what used to be put on gym floors - has the same yellowish color too. Have people used this type of sealer on tile before? Any thoughts on how else to remove this?

I've been thinking of plan B as well. If stripping this type of sealer is nearly impossible, I'm wondering if it is easier to just sand the old sealer and apply a new sealer on top. I've tried this on a sample tile as well, and after a couple of coats of TileLab Gloss Finish and Sealer the exposed clay doesn't look much different (still basically look like clay with a slight shine), while the old sealed areas have gotten a great shine, but now I have an uneven finish. Would additional coats of the TileLab sealer ultimately create a nice shiny hard shell like the old sealer? Would something like a Thompson's water seal/polyeurethane be more effective. I love the tile floor, and I'm willing to put in the time and effort to restore it, but it needs some TLC after 20 years of deferred maintenance and I'm not sure how to proceed.

Many thanks for any thoughts you may have.

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[doitright]

Hi Joe, Welcome! :)

I'm going to split off your thread, as it gets difficult to manage different projects on the same thread.

More than likely you have a prefinished Saltillio or San Marcos Mexican tile. When they started shipping product out of the southwest during that era, someone came out with the brainstorm to put this incredibly hard finish on the tile. I believe it is an epoxy based finish. The only product I know to remove it is a Methelyne Chloride based epoxy stripper. Jasco is one of the manufacturers that makes such a stripper. Prosoco also makes one called Fast Acting Stripper. Proper safety gear (respirator, gloves, goggles, long sleeve shirts, etc.) and ventilation are required while working with this type of product. Personally, I don't think sanding will work and give satisfactory results at the finishing end, as the top of the tiles integrity has been broken.

After the tile has been totally stripped, they will need to be sealed before a final finish can be applied. If and when you get to that point, we can go over some options.

Bottom line, this is a job for a experienced professional, which in your neck of the woods, may or may not be available (for this type of project).

[joeboken]

John -

Thanks so much for your advice. It's given me a lot to think about.

I'm not sure if the tiles themselves were pre-sealed, because the grout seems to have the same hard coating over it as well. Be that as it may, it probably is an epoxy of some sort given its durability in the face of some pretty fierce scrubbing and sanding. So it seems like stripping and re-finishing might be a bigger project than I originally imagined and perhaps beyond my technical abilities and available time. And I'm not sure if anyone in the northern new jersey area really has saltillo tile expertise - hardwood floors are much more common here (especially in the old buildings in the cities), but I don't know that those types of refinishing shops would be able to handle the stripping job - is methlylene chloride ever used to strip hardwood floors?

If not, here's plan C: I'm wondering if anybody still makes the pre-sealed tiles? If so, is it worthwhile to order up a bunch and attempt a delicate removal of the bad tiles and replace them with similar ones? Or if they are no longer made, is it possible to treat an unsealed clay tile with something that would ultimately make it look like it had a similar glossy finish as the epoxy so the floor would not look entirely mismatched? Or is it more practical to leave the kitchen as is (since about 95% of the tiles there are okay) and take up the whole bathroom floor and replace it with something entirely different... not my first choice since I love the look of the red tile floor, but it doesn't sound like I may have a lot of options.

Thanks again for your thoughts. - Joe

[B. Yager]

One other option you can try if you like the rustic shinny look, is to reseal the areas that have no sealer on them. Than apply Aldons Lifeguard sealer protector after that, more coats = more shine.

[joeboken]

That sounds manageable. I checked out the Aldon's website, and it seems like if you don't live near one of their warehouses, you have to order the stuff directly from them. Do any of the larger home stores typically carry their products? (no distributors came up in my part of the country)

Also, I've heard some recommendations for DuraSeal 500, which is a polyeurathane that supposedly does a decent job on unglazed tiles. Has anyone tried this product or know about it? It seems like it might be more available commercially.

Thanks for the help.