"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
m...
Arfa Daily wrote:


Sounds to me like its a water based acrylic polish. I think the
dilute solution idea is for porous tiles to seal the surface, bit
like painting plaster. Polished granite sounds non porous to me, so
neat would be the way to go.

Black is always tricky to polish, speak to any car valeter, they hate
black motors.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk



That's kind of my thinking too. On the tile box, it also told you to
use the stain protector product on the back surface, before
cementing, as the granite is porous. For sure, this stuff, which is a
bit like a thin varnish with some sort of volatile 'carrier' liquid,
sank into the back of the tile, so granite is porous in its 'naked'
form.

That sounds like a silicone or flurocarbon protector - does water 'bead'
up on it?

However, it doesn't seem to be when it's been mechanically
polished to a high shine, as these tiles have been at manufacture.
Water will just lay on the surface until it dries, so I don't know
whether there is any chemical intervention during the polishing
process, which achieves this.

Certainly marble & terrazzo can be vitrified using an acidic product &
mechanical means. The surface hardens & becomes non porous. Not sure if
granite can be vitrified, but high gloss surfaces are usually less porous.

The reason it said on the tile box to
use the shiner product - which does seem to be a water based polish
as you say - for protecting the tiles, is that they can be stained by
such things as citric acid. It struck me that a kitchen was a good
candidate for a source of citric acid, so that was why I wanted to
get the protection which was supposedly going to be afforded by it.

Is this water based stuff a white emulsion? Any acid can damage natural
stone - vinigar, fruit juice, cola etc so its sound advice.


Yes, exactly that

Arfa


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk