I had a ceramic tile floor put in about 2-3 years ago in my kitchen and
off-kitchen room. The tiles are a matte finish, not entirely matte but it
looks like it had a bit of a sheen to it. They are certainly not like my
glossy bathroom tiles.
The floor has recently been looking rather grungy no matter how much I clean
it and it seems to hold the dirt more than I think it should.
Whatever sealer was put on by the installer most likely needs to be
reapplied, but not before I use a heavy duty tile cleaner/degreaser.

I stopped in my local HD and I see they have a matte finish sealer or a
glossy finish sealer. I'd prefer to purchase the glossy sealer and apply
that over the matte tiles/grout. The guy at HD said that I could do that
and it would make the tiles glossy(er) but not quite as though they were
originally glossy tiles. This is the effect that I am looking for anyway.
In retrospect I probably should have purchaseed glossy tiles to begin
with....

As the sealer, whether matte or glossy, would be absorbed into the
tiles/grout anyway and any remaining would dry on the surface I don't really
see any problem with using glossy instead of matte.
I guess it is a personal taste issue more than anything else but can anyone
see any downside to doing this?

Thanks.
Walter

Walter Cohen wrote:
I had a ceramic tile floor put in about 2-3 years ago in my kitchen
and off-kitchen room. The tiles are a matte finish, not entirely
matte but it looks like it had a bit of a sheen to it. They are
certainly not like my glossy bathroom tiles.
The floor has recently been looking rather grungy no matter how much
I clean it and it seems to hold the dirt more than I think it should.
Whatever sealer was put on by the installer most likely needs to be
reapplied, but not before I use a heavy duty tile cleaner/degreaser.

There is no point in applying a sealer to tile that has a glazed surface,
matte or not. Sealer on grout, yes; sealer on tile, no...all it can do is
add a film which gets dirty and is hard to clean. As you are experiencing.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Ceramic tile may or may not be glazed


"dadiOH" wrote in message
news:Zic8g.3216$Fh.1013@trnddc02...
Walter Cohen wrote:
I had a ceramic tile floor put in about 2-3 years ago in my kitchen
and off-kitchen room. The tiles are a matte finish, not entirely
matte but it looks like it had a bit of a sheen to it. They are
certainly not like my glossy bathroom tiles.
The floor has recently been looking rather grungy no matter how much
I clean it and it seems to hold the dirt more than I think it should.
Whatever sealer was put on by the installer most likely needs to be
reapplied, but not before I use a heavy duty tile cleaner/degreaser.

There is no point in applying a sealer to tile that has a glazed surface,
matte or not. Sealer on grout, yes; sealer on tile, no...all it can do is
add a film which gets dirty and is hard to clean. As you are
experiencing.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

PipeDown wrote:
Ceramic tile may or may not be glazed

I know. That's why I restricted what I said to "glazed surface".

dadiOH
_______________

"dadiOH" wrote in message
news:Zic8g.3216$Fh.1013@trnddc02...
Walter Cohen wrote:
I had a ceramic tile floor put in about 2-3 years ago in my kitchen
and off-kitchen room. The tiles are a matte finish, not entirely
matte but it looks like it had a bit of a sheen to it. They are
certainly not like my glossy bathroom tiles.
The floor has recently been looking rather grungy no matter how much
I clean it and it seems to hold the dirt more than I think it
should. Whatever sealer was put on by the installer most likely
needs to be reapplied, but not before I use a heavy duty tile
cleaner/degreaser.

There is no point in applying a sealer to tile that has a glazed
surface, matte or not. Sealer on grout, yes; sealer on tile,
no...all it can do is add a film which gets dirty and is hard to
clean. As you are experiencing.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Sealer is for grout, unglazed tile(like qury tile) and stone.

Sealer on glazed tile just sits on the surface. Any tile that was
previously glazed and is so worn than sealer would would actually soak in
probally has to be replaced.

BTW The installer only sealed the grout. Not the tile.


"Walter Cohen" wrote in message
...
I had a ceramic tile floor put in about 2-3 years ago in my kitchen and
off-kitchen room. The tiles are a matte finish, not entirely matte but it
looks like it had a bit of a sheen to it. They are certainly not like my
glossy bathroom tiles.
The floor has recently been looking rather grungy no matter how much I
clean it and it seems to hold the dirt more than I think it should.
Whatever sealer was put on by the installer most likely needs to be
reapplied, but not before I use a heavy duty tile cleaner/degreaser.

I stopped in my local HD and I see they have a matte finish sealer or a
glossy finish sealer. I'd prefer to purchase the glossy sealer and apply
that over the matte tiles/grout. The guy at HD said that I could do that
and it would make the tiles glossy(er) but not quite as though they were
originally glossy tiles. This is the effect that I am looking for anyway.
In retrospect I probably should have purchaseed glossy tiles to begin
with....

As the sealer, whether matte or glossy, would be absorbed into the
tiles/grout anyway and any remaining would dry on the surface I don't
really see any problem with using glossy instead of matte.
I guess it is a personal taste issue more than anything else but can
anyone see any downside to doing this?

Thanks.
Walter