bandrsn
07-11-2006, 02:00 AM
I'm new to the group and need some advise on a sticky situation with linseed oil on saltillo tiles. I put two coatings of linseed oil on Home Depot saltillo tiles which soaked in well although I didn't know about the 50/50 mix with turpentine at the time (I wiped off the excess before drying). The tiles appeared "dry" and nicely darkened. My installer recommended a penetrating sealer before installation so we used one coat of Aquamix penetrating "natural look" sealer. So far so good. My wife and I were debating whether to go with a dull finish or the "Aquamix Low Sheen" but were concerned about slipperyness when the tiles were wet. We waited a couple weeks and the color started to lighten and show some small scratches, so another application of linseed oil was done. This darkened the tile again and got rid of the scratches, however here is where I screwed up. I left the oil on overnight (straight again - w/o turpentine) and about 90% of the tiles stopped soaking up the oil overnight and left a sticky, almost solid residue on the surface. I tried turpentine on a rag, but it's going to be a lot of hard work to get all of the mostly dried stuff off 800 square feet! Any suggestions on a better method, longer waiting time, scrubber, chemicals, etc.? Or perhaps I should surrender and go with another coat of linseed oil (and turpentine mix!) which will result in a shiney or wet look and then apply wax or a sealer. I'll probably end up in the doghouse with this cop-out though due to the slipperyness when wet! Hopefully someone has a better approach to remove the excess sticky oil. Thanks!