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| Hi all,
I am close to tiling the backsplash,(yeah) my question is...has anyone installed Sonoma brand tile? Did you seal the tile after installing and before grouting? We have the Stellar tile, not crackle or artisan, and have heard conflicting instructions. While we are generally capable DYI, I really don't want to mess up almost 2 grand of tile!! Thanks for all your help..I have learned a lot from the collective brain trust of this web site! |
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| I have Sonoma tile for my backsplash. I forget if it's Stellar or Star, but it's the less expensive one. It's crackle so my understanding is that it should be sealed *before* grouting and that's what I told my tilesetter. They said they would, but I honestly don't know if they did or not. In any event, no grout (mid-light gray) seeped into any of the crackling on the cream colored tiles. I sealed the grout myself. |
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- Posted by Madeline616 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 12, 12 at 16:48
| Hi, FWIW, I have Sonoma arch herringbone, from the Stellar collection. I had to waste $3,000+ of tile because my guy sealed it before setting. Not after setting and before grouting, but before setting. Following the instructions, he soaked the tiles in a very heavy duty sealer (admittedly, the sealer was actually meant for stone and not ceramic or porcelain), and it filled up all the pores, rendering the tiles slippery and unable to adhere to the thinset. The tiles were literally falling off the walls. The instructions do say to seal before laying the tile (or they did 6 months ago when my b-splash was done), but I had a few tile guys say they'd never do that in a million years. I can't speak to sealing after setting and before grouting...I personally wouldn't, because I'd be afraid the grout would crumble off and not stick in the same way that the thinset didn't stick, but that may be me being paranoid after my experience. My local store was able to get me replacement tile for cost, but it was still a huge loss. |
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| Wow, Madeline, that's a horrible experience and waste of money and tile. At GW the advice is crackle tile must be sealed before grouting and logically it seems it would include the edges where the grout makes contact. In my tile store, a couple of salespeople weren't aware of this. I hated the color of the first grout and had them remove it within an hour. Even if they had sealed (again I asked them to but have no actual proof they did), perhaps the seal could have come off with the original grout. The grout didn't make any visible inroads into the crackle. On the other hand, my tiles aren't perfectly flat and I have lippage. Fortunately it's only visible if I turn on the UCL, so guess who doesn't use the UCL? Bummer. It's a beautiful tile, but I wouldn't get this line again. |
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| Thanks for the info, the instructions say to seal after installation, but the tile people said only the crackle tile needed to be sealed, but to seal the edge of any cut edges of tile. The grout has sealer in it already. I think that your story of sealing and then the tiles not adhering has convinced me that the salespeople are correct. Thanks! |
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