James "Cubby" Culbertson wrote:
Needless to say, there
are spots of dark red that don't appear to have sealer on them but
just won't dry.

Won't dry in how long? Gotta remember that Saltillo is very
porous...one tile can suck up a pint of liquid.

I grouted some last Thursday or Friday, had a fan on it 24 hours a day
and it is just now (Monday evening) almost dry. I won't reseal and
finish it for another couple of days. Took extra long because the tile
was sealed after laying but before grouting and the only way for
moisture to escape was through the grout lines. However, I lay it
unsealed and that also takes days to dry from the moisture in the
thinset.

I've never tried stripping any of the Saltillo I laid in my house, never
would, no idea what would happen with the residual stripper soaked into
it. Not to mention the original sealer and topcoat which I kinda doubt
can ever be totally removed.

After laying, I seal it with a locally made acrylic sealer (SealCrete)
then topcoat (3-4 coats) with oil poly. I use the sealer because it is
only $12/gallon, the tile dries with nearly the natural color and the
oil poly doesn't darken it as it would if the tile weren't already
sealed (one could get the same color results using just water poly but
the tile would suck up a lot if not already sealed). When it wears, I
do the same thing in the worn areas. Works well for me, been doing it
for ten years.

--
dadiOH
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