Issue with marble backsplash sealer

[SMLWinds]

I just laid some marble tile backsplash (which I got from Lowes, which may be mistake #1) and sealed it prior to grouting. I am using Lustro Italiano ("stone polish with sealants"), which was highly recommended to me as a quality sealant.

The problem I am having is that while 95% of the tiles look great, some are looking odd after sealing them. I have attached 2 examples below. A few of them only look "wet" or "shiny" on half the tile and the division line is a distinct arc, which makes me think it is a different texture from a tile saw or polishing brush when they were created. Other tiles are absorbing the sealant oddly where there is veining (see the other photograph).

As the tiles stopped looking "wet" I covered them with more sealant. They initially look fine but then soak up the sealant and go back to having part that looks shiny and part that doesn't.

Do I have a problem with the tile? Is my sealant wrong? How do I remedy this problem? Thanks!

[SMLWinds]

Here are a couple more pictures. One zoomed out showing most of a wall with only the undercabinet lights on in an effort to make it show up better. Some of what you see is glare but as you can see, there are several tiles that don't "shine" like the rest, at least in certain parts. The second is another example of a tile with the "arc" division line that I think is a production issue.
I would appreciate any comments and possible remedies. In the end, in real life it doesn't look tragic, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist...

[dhagin]

Hi Tyler.

Moved you over to the CRS forum and tweaked the thread title a little to better reflect what you used. "Sealant" usually refers to caulking.

[Houston Remodeler]

Tyler,

Sealant = caulking, Sealer = sealer, and I've never heard of the one you mentioned.

I would focus on the tiles. My guess is the low price is due to the low quality of the marble and the manufacture. Do a few test samples with tiles not on the wall and let us know what happens.

[SMLWinds]

Thanks for your message. The tile wasn't actually terribly inexpensive, although coming from Lowes the quality is probably not there. All the tile I'm doing for our bathrooms and foyer is imported from Italy. It just turned out we couldn't find anything we liked as much as the tile from Lowes.

I did test it on a few pieces not on the wall and all did fine. It really is not a whole lot of the tiles--just a few. Now I'm wondering if I should try a different sealer? Grout it and see how it looks? Or, fix the problem now and rip out a few tiles and replace them? (I dread that to an extent because I've had to do that twice and neither time the wall has survived well...I guess on the bright side I am good at laying solid tile!)

[Houston Remodeler]

What were the tiles set with?

Pic 2 looks like water was in the marble before sealing and got trapped.

[SMLWinds]

Mapei white porcelain tile polymer enriched thinset mortar was used to set them.

I guess water being trapped is possible, although looking at things I can't say that accounts for the differences. Does the veining hold water and absorb the sealer more? It appears that it does on some tiles. Some of the tiles the entire tile is duller and some of them have the "arc" where half is shiny and half is not.

[SMLWinds]

If it is water, is there any way to fix it? Any harm in trying a different sealer to see how it does? The wall doesn't look bad how it is so I don't want to risk messing it up. To be honest, some of the tiles being duller or shinier looks kind of nice! I'm just trying to figure out what is going on and what the options are. Thanks again!

[MDtile]

The Lustrous Italiano is not sealer, it is a polish. It will not seal your marble.

I can't tell from your pics what is going on, maybe you could get a shot that better shows what the problem is?

If you want to get a good quality stone sealer that is also super easy to use, nothing beats DuPont Stonetech Bulletproof.

Search for local suppliers or you can get it from Amazon. Over the years I have probably tried just about every stone sealer made, this stuff is the shizzle.

[SMLWinds]

Thanks, Marty. That is very interesting. I know Lustrous Italiano does make a sealer, but mind does say it is polish with sealer--maybe more of the former.

I will look into another sealer. Should I do anything to clean the tiles prior to trying to seal with something else? How would I clean the polish off?

I am wondering if maybe there was water on the tiles (I know they appeared dry, but perhaps they had absorbed some moisture when we wiped them off earlier prior to sealing).

[MDtile]

If Lustro Italiano makes a stone cleaner I would use that. Rinse several times, and let dry at least 2 days, longer in cooler temps.

Could you post better pics? Is the problem un-even absorption? Shiny/dull? Still not sure what you are describing there.

We should probably determine if it is something other than the polish that is making the un-even look prior to sealing. Did you say it didn't look like that until the polish? Does it look un-even after cleaning the polish off?

[Houston Remodeler]

Normally we wait a few days 4 -6 between setting and sealing so the thinset has time to cure and dry out.

Carefully typed on teensy keys by thinset coated and calloused fingers.

[SMLWinds]

So, I'm not at home at the moment and can't get better pictures but I think you can see what is going on above if I explain it.

In photo 1, you can see the tile in the center (the completely photographed tile) has dark black (which is shiny) to the right of the white veining and on the left it is a duller gray.

The second photo shows where you can see that it is a duller, lighter color around the veining, which was not present prior to sealer.

The 3rd picture shows a view of one wall. You can see some dull tiles but as you can probably tell from that, it isn't as big of a deal when you stand back.

The 4th picture, just like the 1st, shows dark shiny color on the right of the tile in the center of the photo but on the left, it appears much duller and a very different sheen.

In both 1 and 4, the division line is a smooth arc, as if something rotating (a saw blade? a buffing pad? etc.) was used and the right and left sides of the tile aren't the same surface. I can't feel anything when I rub on the surface though.

Any further help is appreciated. I guess at this point I'm leaning towards trying to clean the tile then letting it sit, and trying to reseal. I read on the internet that a mild steel wool is good to clean it off with. I was leary of that but my wife tried it on a scrap piece and said it didn't scratch it and did well on that. Any thoughts?

[SMLWinds]

Just to be clear, Marty. Yes, the problem is shiny/dull (images 1 and 4) when the surface feels the same and looked the same prior to sealer.

As seen in image 2, the other problem is that it is shiny/dull again but instead of being a smooth division line the dull surrounds the veining on both sides kind of like an amoeba while the remainder of the tile is shiny.

[Houston Remodeler]

I don't know about regular steel wool leaving rust behind so I would go with stainless steel wool but I've never done it before

Carefully typed on teensy keys by thinset coated and calloused fingers.