Artisan Topical Sealer or Tec Guard All

[sandyshores]

My tumbled stone backsplash tiles are a bit rough. They will be sealed prior to grouting, grouted, then sealed atain. I am deciding between using Tec Guard All and Artisan Topical Sealer to give a more polished look. any pros and cons for either choice? I don't have time to order any other product. These are my two choices. Thanks, the job will be started tomorrow am!

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[sandyshores]

MY tumbled marble tiles are a bit rough. we plan to seal, grout and seal again. I have Artisan Topical Sealer and Tec Guard All...no time to try other brands, tile guy comes in tommorrow. Any pros and cons for either choice? Will the Topical sealer give me the same protection as Guard All? Also, can you seal with a topical sealer, then grout joints, then seal again? Help me decide, please!

[Davestone]

I've never used either one.I would read the bottle,to see if the topical sealer puts a sheen on,or test a piece.I can't guarantee that if you seal it first the grouting might wear off the sealer,but it could be reapplied.Like i say, i would see what a test piece looks like. :bow: :)

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Tec's Guard All is a great sealer for the grout after it dries. But I have never used it just prior to grouting. Tec's Groute Rite is a grout release that will do the job you are looking for to keep the fresh grout out of the stone.

From what you are asking, I will throw in these facts about Guard All:
1) The chemistry takes more than a day for its water protection to occur. I don't know if you want to use this product immediately before grouting. If you could wait a day to grout, then it would be fine.
2) Used as a sealer, you must wait a MINIMUM OF 48 hours after grout installation to apply it over the grout/tile. Applying it earlier can affect the grout from curing.

The topical sealer is something I don't know about, so I won't comment on it. If you want a sure fire item for your tile guy to use in the morning, grab some "Grout Rite" from the same store you got the "Gaurd All". Then use the Guard All at least 48 hours after grouting. I would wait longer, but Tec is ok with this bare bones minimum.

:)

[claycarson]

You did not specify where the tiles are and my clairvoyant dog ran off with the neighbor's poodle.

Shower? Wall? Floor? Kitchen?

High traffic or low?

I'm not a fan of topicals on any stone, but there are times when it's justified.

1. Topical's do provide more 'protection' than any impregnating sealer, in one sense. They form plasticky coatings on top so that stuff has no chance to get inside the stone. You could buy sheet plastic, glue it on and achieve more or less the same physical and aesthetic result, IMO.

2. If there's a LOT of foot traffic and a shiney look is desired, topicals can achieve it and be 'repaired'. I've spent lots of quality time repairing the finishes, so I suspect this amount of ongoing labor is more than most people are willing to invest. Problem is if you start, you gotta keep going. If you change your mind and strip it off, you may have the joy of discovering that the stone doesn't always go back to it's original state. The finish on tumbled stone likely will forever stay in crevices enough to make the stone look different even if stripped. In other words, you hafta recoat it to make it look decent again. (Pro's - I know that it's not always true, but you know it is true sometimes, and we don't know if his stone is the one that you can't fix...)

3. I wouldn't use topicals on a wet area like shower. Water can be tough on topicals..

4. Adding sheen to stone frequently darkens the stone....maybe a lot. If you like it, fine. If you don't like it, strip it off and see # 2 above.

5. Test a small area and see if you like it. More reliable than imagination.

[sandyshores]

Thanks for all your help. I think this is the what we'll do. First we'll use Guard All to seal the ungrouted wall tiles. Wait 1 hour and apply a second coat as per instructions on the bottle. Then wait 24 hours and grout tiles. Wait 48 hours for grout to cure, then apply a 3rd finish coat. Sound ok?

[Rd Tile]

Never used either product so can't comment on them, but seeing this should all be done by now, how did it turn out?:)


I see you have another thread on this, maybe someone can combine them.:)

http://johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=25546