Saltillo rush job?

[house_trained]

Hello!
I rent a little adobe house in southern New Mexico. My landlady had these tilers come in and tile about 900 square feet (four rooms) in unglazed, unsealed saltillo. The tile placement itself looks good and is well done, especially considering there isn't a single straight wall in the house. But in watching the work being finished, there have been several issues that have concerned me.

1. Some tiles were not completely dry before the pre-grout seal was applied.

2. They turned around and grouted almost as soon as they finished applying the pre-grout seal

3. Grout was not thoroughly removed from the tile surface before subsequent layers of sealant were applied. So there are smears of grout here and there.

4. It seems one tile was chipped already and this has been repaired with grout. (I hope I am wrong about this one).

5. After applying the grout they straightaway turned around again and applied the subsequent layers of seal... hmmm maybe this is what caused the grout to smear?!

Basically, they took one day to prep, one day to lay the tile, one day to seal, grout and seal again. I think they have been rushing it because they underestimated the job.

The lady owner of this property lives just over a thousand miles away so I have had the responsibility of keeping an eye on things. However, I am just a single thirty-something female and I get the feeling these guys think they can pull the wool over my eyes. I have raised my concerns with them but they've been rather patronizing and have avoided answering my questions.

I would like to raise these issues with them again but I would really appreciate some advice from people in the know. In my humble opinion (after scouring this site and the web for info), I think that we will have to strip and reseal the floors. What do you think? I would like to say I have spoken with some tiling experts before I tackle them again!

Thank you in advance for any input,
Katy
:dunce:

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[doitright]

Hi Katy, Welcome! :)

Don't underestimate yourself!

Would your floor (as is) be installed in a tile showroom to sell the product? I doubt it, from the way you are describing your installation.

There is no doubt (IMHO) that this floor needs to be stripped, properly cleaned, and resealed.

[house_trained]

Hi John,
Thank you! I got home last night and the owner of the company had actually stripped and cleaned the floor a little and resealed. It's not great but it's better. I now know this was a real budget job. I looked online at typical saltillo tiling costs and these people came in about half price.

I am quite fed up with having people coming and going so I think what I'll do is leave the seal for now and see how it wears and then strip and reseal myself. I have a feeling that this may happen sooner rather than later! I have noted the other posts on this on this website regarding acid and light sanding. So when it becomes 'due' I will follow those snippets of advice and hopefully come up with a cleaner looking floor.

One good thing - I have learned someone else's lesson here! You get what you pay for! If anyone else reads this post ---- take your time with saltillo!

Thanks again,
Katy

[az]

Katy, sorry I didn't post earlier.

As for the structural integrity of the installation, I can't help much. But for the rest of it, here are some ideas. As for the grout on the tiles, that should have been taken off before the finish/sealer was applied. It will now have to be removed using an acid (readily available at many stores) and a good rinse. Of course you will have to strip the finish first.

If you ever decide to do the stripping/refinishing on your own, keep in mind it will be a very labor intensive job. I strip/refinish saltillo quite often, and every job has it's own problems. Contact me before doing such a job. Keep in mind that saltillo can hold 40% of it's weight in water, so what the installers did (seal while wet) is wrong. It needs to be dry first, otherwise you can get a milky sealer from the trapped moisture. I would also never "sand" a saltillo. The color you see on the surface does not go in very deep into the tile. If you sand it, you will remove the surface color and every tile will be the same "red" (no color variations).

Let me know if I can help....

[cx]

Welcome, AZ. Please add a first name to your signature line. :)

If you're in the tile business, stop by the Professionals' Hangout and start a thread of introduction and give the rest of the folks a bit of professional background.

Would also help if you add a little bio information in your user Profile so folks can see who/what's responding to their questions. :)

[house_trained]

Hi AZ,
thank you so much for that advice. I will certainly get in touch when it comes to resealing and cleaning. What you say about the milky sealer rings more than a few bells. There are a few milky patches. So I think that this job will be coming up sooner rather than later and may be best started this summer when things start to heat up. The house is very old, built on no foundations and has the typical damp associated with poorly maintained adobe (another ongoing project) - there's no heating right now so despite the low RH here in the desert, there's not much energy to get that floor drying thoroughly. Another thought ... for resealing, I suppose I should try to avoid the really high temperatures in July?

And I will not sand! Thank you for letting me know... I will check out the acid.

Once again I very much appreciate your advice and I will contact you for sure before I start (probably after the Spring semester is over!)

Katy

[az]

Katy, you're welcome! Anything I can do....the high temps in july are o.k., just makes for a sweaty job. It is better to do in the warmer months so that the saltillo drys out better, and the sealer/finish cures faster.

cx, no problem, when I get time I'll add some info. I don't usually because I put a link for anyone wanting to check me out.