Granite Tile tarnished

[BunnyCruiser]

Hi:

We are installing 12" blue pearl tile in the kitchen. We have tried to be careful about not putting things on the counter before it is finished and sealed. When installing the upright edge pieces I kept spraying the tile with water to keep the thinset moist so I could clean out the excess from the joints. The next morning we noticed the counter surface tiles were dull/tarnished where it had been sprayed with water. This is very disapointing. What can we do to restore the original lustre of the tile? Is there a polishing compound? We presume that we will have to finish the grouting before polishing and then sealing. Any advice would be most welcome. Many thanks

Cheryl

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[GraniteGirl]

Hi Cheryl!

Good news! There is probably nothing you will be able to do to mess up your BP tile. The haziness is probably just residue from the mortar that you wiped off the stone. Try wiping the stone with some acetone to see if the cloudiness will go away.

Some more good news! Sealing your tile is not neccesary. The tile is impervious and will not even absorb the sealer - so save your time and effort :D

[Davestone]

I concur...you're on easy street Bunnycruiser :yipee: ...........what's a BunnyCruiser? Ahh,forget it. :)

[doitright]

Hi Cheryl, Welcome! :)

What the others have said, but please report back with your results. :nod:

[BunnyCruiser]

:cry: In spite of all your good advice - many thanks for all of your responses - the acetone did not even phase it :cry: I cant think of what we might has done to cause the problem. The BP tile is laid into typical thinset mortar; we made sure to use clean water and a sponge to keep the thinset off the surface of the tile and a brush to keep the joints clear for grout. As I said, when we were doing the edge pieces I used a mist spray bottle to keep wetting down the edges so the we could keep the exterior thinset moist and be able to wipe it off.

So, here we are with this otherwise good project that is baffling us. :bang: If you look at the counter from an angle, especially near a window, you can clearly see a discoloration or sort of tarnish. I was almost wondering if I can use some sort of automotive buffing compound to bring the shine back? I tried replicating the tarnish by spraying a spare tile many times during the day and letting it dry, to see whether there was a tarnish build-up. Alas, the tarnish did not occur. We have been carefull not to set things on the counter (food, drinks, etc) that might have affected it.

Any more ideas would be most welcome :bow:

Cheryl

AKA BunnyCruiser - I like (and collect bunnies) and I like old Land Cruisers (which my husband collects :) )

[GraniteGirl]

Post us a picture :idea:

[BunnyCruiser]

Hope this illustrates it. Thanks a bunch, Cheryl

[Davestone]

I see those pieces are bullnosed, did you edge them yourself, or did someone else do it?Did you use tape to hold up the edge pieces?Did you lay any brown paper bags on there while it was wet? I've seen the polish removed from limestones, by having them wet and laying on plain brown paper bags.Have you tried a neutral stone cleaner?It definitely looks like the polish is removed,to me...perhaps it was mostly just a wipe on polish from the factory,and was susceptible to damage.Or maybe there is color or stain in them,also.Maybe Steven can eyeball them. :)

[doitright]

Hi Cheryl :)

Thanks for the photos.

I think Dave is onto something. Is this problem only on the bullnosed pieces?

It almost looks like during polishing they rolled onto the face of the tile, and then possibly waxed it, which may have broke down during your wiping off the thinset. I see the tiles are grouted. What grout did you use? Either I'm imagining things, or there also appears to be a grout residue. If so, have you tried a solution of vinegar and water. TEST first in an inconspicuous spot, or TEST straight vinegar on one of your spare tiles.

[BunnyCruiser]

Yes it appears to be mostly on the tiles that have been bullnosed, but also on some of the other tiles. When we were working on the counter I set newspaper on it to protect the tile. Some got wet. But the "tarnished" areas are everywhere, not just in sections that were covered with newspaper.

We had a fabrication shop do the bullnosing - I have to say I was disappointed when I first picked them up - they had not polished about a third of them - I had to take them back to be re-done (no charge, of course!)

The tile is not grouted yet - what you can see is the thinset. WE tried to keep the thinset out of the joint areas as much as possible so as to have plenty of depth for the grout.

Hope we can piece together what went wrong here. Thanks for suggestions.

Cheryl

[BunnyCruiser]

Oh, you asked whether we used tape to attach the edge pieces. In a couple of paces we did - my husband built a wood framework to suppot the edge tiles temporarily. The funny thing (maybe not!) is the the tile is not so "tarnished" where the tape was attached. Does this provide any clues?

Cheryl

[GraniteGirl]

Thing with BP is it should not react to acids, strippers, mortar, glue or anything, for that matter. It is extremely dense, so it should not absorb anything either.

Have you tried scraping the dull spots with a straight edge razor blade held at a slight angle?

Did you inspect all the tiles prior to installing them to see if the shine was uniform?

[Steven Hauser]

Hi there,

I think something is on the surface of the tiles. When I enlarged your photo and compared it to the edge the pixels seem to indicate a film.

Try Adriana's suggestion of scraping the surface of the tile with a razor blade held at an angle. See if anything comes up like fine dust or sumfin'

Hang in there, and don't try to wax the tiles, it won't work.

:)

[BunnyCruiser]

Have you tried scraping the dull spots with a straight edge razor blade held at a slight angle?

Did you inspect all the tiles prior to installing them to see if the shine was uniform?

Hi Adriana:

Sorry for the delay - I was out of town on business. When I returned yesterday I tried using a razor blade to scrape the surface, as suggested, and yes, there is a film on the surface that comes off with scraping to reveal the original tile shine. Yes, a fine white dust is what is created by scrapping. That is quite a relief, and thanks to all for the suggestions - I was somewhat concerned about scratching the tile and tried it out on a spare tile first. I am still mistified as to why this only happened after I put the edge tiles on and not before. Oh well!

One observations/question. Using the razor blades is quite tedious, and it is hard to get all of it off. Is it OK to use a fine steel wool? I imagine that if it is OK to use on wood when refinishing that it can't do damage to the BP tile.

Thanks again for coming to the rescue!

Cheryl

[Davestone]

Steel wool will dull your finish..avoid it.We use steel wool sometimes to shine marble,but not done properly, at the right time, it has the opposite effect. :)