I moved into a house that has about 800sq ft of 12" X 12" tera cotta (I
think) tile floor. Some of the areas with high foot traffic are not sealed
anlonger. This is obvious after damp mopping and seeing the places where
the water "stains" the tile until it dries completely.

In places with no foot traffic the surface finish seems like a "semi gloss"
finish.

Questions that I hope you can help me with...

Do I need to "strip" off the old sealer before applying new? If so, what do
I use?

How can I tell the type of sealant used before? e.g. water based or ???
something else?

Obviously the floor needs to be clean - is there any other surface prep?
Will the new coating of sealant adhere to the old?

Do I need to use more than one coat of sealant???

What brand sealant have you found that works the best? Is the most durable?

Any other tips/hints would be much appreciated..

Djay

djay wrote:
I moved into a house that has about 800sq ft of 12" X 12" tera cotta
(I think) tile floor. Some of the areas with high foot traffic are
not sealed anlonger. This is obvious after damp mopping and seeing
the places where the water "stains" the tile until it dries
completely.

In places with no foot traffic the surface finish seems like a "semi
gloss" finish.

Questions that I hope you can help me with...

Do I need to "strip" off the old sealer before applying new? If so,
what do I use?

No
________________

How can I tell the type of sealant used before? e.g. water based or
??? something else?

Oil based sealers/top coats would have made the entire floor very
dark...like the spots that show up after mopping; therefore, your floor
most likely has a water based top coat.

I say "most likely" because it is entirely possible to seal the floor
with a water based acrylic sealer and top coat that with an oil based
material. In that case, the finish would have a *slightly* yellowish
cast which it would not had the top coat been water based.
__________________

Obviously the floor needs to be clean - is there any other surface
prep? Will the new coating of sealant adhere to the old?

It should adhere well enough, always has for me. The remaining top coat
has already been scuffed up a bit from foot traffic.
____________________

Do I need to use more than one coat of sealant???

Yes and it will help you if you stop thinking "sealant". Think sealant
*AND* top coat. You need to get on sufficient coats of a "sealant" so
that they no longer wet out. At that point, three coats of top coat are
usual.
_____________________

What brand sealant have you found that works the best? Is the most
durable?

Brand doesn't much matter. Most wear resistant generally available to
home owners is polyurethane for the top coat.

Any other tips/hints would be much appreciated..

In the old days, the usual finish for a terra cotta floor was boiled
linseed oil - many coats - followed by waxing. I doubt yours has that
but you can easily check by looking carefully...is the unabraded
semi-gloss finish *in* the tile or *on* it? Assuming it is on it - a
top coat - here is what I do with my own terra cotta floor (3500 sq.ft.
of Saltillo tile)...

1. After laying and grouting I seal it with an acrylic sealer.
Specifically, Seal Krete Original. I mop it on with a sponge mop, let
dry and repeat until no more "wet" spots appear. This is not the
intended use of the product and I have never known anyone else to use it
in this manner. Works fine for me, YMMV.
http://www.sealkrete.com/original.htm

2. I then apply 3-4 coats of oil based semi-gloss polyurethane varnish,
generally with a pad appliator. Sponge works OK too but is more likely
to make small bubbles (which don't bother me - it is a floor for
heaven's sake!). Brush works fine too for smallish areas.

There are reasons I do it this way: I want the floor to stay close to
the unfinished color and if I used just the oil varnish it would turn
out very dark. By sealing first, I avoid that.

One could skip the sealer and go directly to water poly but those floors
suck up a lot of material and Seal Krete is 1/4 the price of poly.
Additionally, I like the slight yellow cast from oil poly...to me, water
poly looks cold and dead.

Once done, the finish will last from nearly forever to two or three
years depending on foot traffic. The problem - no, not
problem...characteristic - of Saltillo tiles (which yours probably are)
is that the surfaces are irregular. That makes them far more
comfortable to walk on than other tiles but the high spots will wear
faster. Not hard to refinish though and one need only refinish the worn
areas - even if it is just one tile. The trick is in knowing what the
original finish was. In your case, I would guess water based
polyurethane varnish.

If I were you, I wouldn't mess with a separate sealer, I'd get a small
can of semi-gloss water poly and test it on one tile in some
inconspicuous place. Once it "builds", see how it looks compared to the
others and go from there. It will probably be likely that the worn
areas on the tile will look slightly different from the non-worn areas
after finishing. Think of it as a "bonus" terra cotta is *supposed* to
look rustic.

--
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

"dadiOH" wrote in message
news5kne.10700$m%3.959@trnddc02...
djay wrote:
I moved into a house that has about 800sq ft of 12" X 12" tera cotta
(I think) tile floor. Some of the areas with high foot traffic are
not sealed anlonger. This is obvious after damp mopping and seeing
the places where the water "stains" the tile until it dries
completely.

In places with no foot traffic the surface finish seems like a "semi
gloss" finish.

Questions that I hope you can help me with...

Do I need to "strip" off the old sealer before applying new? If so,
what do I use?

No
________________

How can I tell the type of sealant used before? e.g. water based or
??? something else?

Oil based sealers/top coats would have made the entire floor very
dark...like the spots that show up after mopping; therefore, your floor
most likely has a water based top coat.

The floor is probably less than 5 years new and I believe that the topcote
is waterbased as you have suggested.

I say "most likely" because it is entirely possible to seal the floor
with a water based acrylic sealer and top coat that with an oil based
material. In that case, the finish would have a *slightly* yellowish
cast which it would not had the top coat been water based.

The floor is not yellowish at all.
__________________

Obviously the floor needs to be clean - is there any other surface
prep? Will the new coating of sealant adhere to the old?

It should adhere well enough, always has for me. The remaining top coat
has already been scuffed up a bit from foot traffic.

So on the low wear areas I won't have to scuff at all - that's a good thing!
____________________

Do I need to use more than one coat of sealant???

Yes and it will help you if you stop thinking "sealant". Think sealant
*AND* top coat. You need to get on sufficient coats of a "sealant" so
that they no longer wet out. At that point, three coats of top coat are
usual.

Are you saying that the "sealant" and "topcoat" are different products?

_____________________

What brand sealant have you found that works the best? Is the most
durable?

Brand doesn't much matter. Most wear resistant generally available to
home owners is polyurethane for the top coat.

Any other tips/hints would be much appreciated..

In the old days, the usual finish for a terra cotta floor was boiled
linseed oil - many coats - followed by waxing. I doubt yours has that
but you can easily check by looking carefully...is the unabraded
semi-gloss finish *in* the tile or *on* it? Assuming it is on it - a
top coat - here is what I do with my own terra cotta floor (3500 sq.ft.
of Saltillo tile)...

Correct the finish is *ON* top of the tile.


1. After laying and grouting I seal it with an acrylic sealer.
Specifically, Seal Krete Original. I mop it on with a sponge mop, let
dry and repeat until no more "wet" spots appear. This is not the
intended use of the product and I have never known anyone else to use it
in this manner. Works fine for me, YMMV.
http://www.sealkrete.com/original.htm

2. I then apply 3-4 coats of oil based semi-gloss polyurethane varnish,
generally with a pad appliator. Sponge works OK too but is more likely
to make small bubbles (which don't bother me - it is a floor for
heaven's sake!). Brush works fine too for smallish areas.

There are reasons I do it this way: I want the floor to stay close to
the unfinished color and if I used just the oil varnish it would turn
out very dark. By sealing first, I avoid that.

I think I would have to go this route anyway since I still have 80 percent
of the floor tile still "sealed" with the old sealant, yes?


One could skip the sealer and go directly to water poly but those floors
suck up a lot of material and Seal Krete is 1/4 the price of poly.
Additionally, I like the slight yellow cast from oil poly...to me, water
poly looks cold and dead.

Once done, the finish will last from nearly forever to two or three
years depending on foot traffic. The problem - no, not
problem...characteristic - of Saltillo tiles (which yours probably are)
is that the surfaces are irregular. That makes them far more
comfortable to walk on than other tiles but the high spots will wear
faster. Not hard to refinish though and one need only refinish the worn
areas - even if it is just one tile. The trick is in knowing what the
original finish was. In your case, I would guess water based
polyurethane varnish.

I would agree completely.

If I were you, I wouldn't mess with a separate sealer, I'd get a small
can of semi-gloss water poly and test it on one tile in some
inconspicuous place. Once it "builds", see how it looks compared to the
others and go from there. It will probably be likely that the worn
areas on the tile will look slightly different from the non-worn areas
after finishing. Think of it as a "bonus" terra cotta is *supposed* to
look rustic.

So no Seal Krete? Just go over the existing tile finish with semi gloss
water poly?


dadiOH thanks for the very informative post Djay- once upon a time a cincy
boy.
--
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

djay wrote:
"dadiOH" wrote in message

I say "most likely" because it is entirely possible to seal the floor
with a water based acrylic sealer and top coat that with an oil based
material. In that case, the finish would have a *slightly* yellowish
cast which it would not had the top coat been water based.

The floor is not yellowish at all.

It would only be noticeable - and slightly at that - when comparing a
bare area vs coated.

__________________

Obviously the floor needs to be clean - is there any other surface
prep? Will the new coating of sealant adhere to the old?

It should adhere well enough, always has for me. The remaining top
coat has already been scuffed up a bit from foot traffic.

So on the low wear areas I won't have to scuff at all - that's a good
thing!


I don't
____________________

Do I need to use more than one coat of sealant???

Yes and it will help you if you stop thinking "sealant". Think
sealant *AND* top coat. You need to get on sufficient coats of a
"sealant" so that they no longer wet out. At that point, three
coats of top coat are usual.

Are you saying that the "sealant" and "topcoat" are different
products?


Not necessarily. I'm saying that the *purpose* is different. The
sealer seals so that the top coat won't penetrate and therefore the top
coat *is* a top coat. You could use what you are topcoating with to
seal too but - as I said - these tiles suck up a lot of material.
Expensive material. I used a separate product for sealing because it is
cheaper and because if I'd used oil poly on the raw tile it would have
wound up very dark.
_____________________

If I were you, I wouldn't mess with a separate sealer, I'd get a
small can of semi-gloss water poly and test it on one tile in some
inconspicuous place. Once it "builds", see how it looks compared to
the others and go from there. It will probably be likely that the
worn areas on the tile will look slightly different from the
non-worn areas after finishing. Think of it as a "bonus" terra
cotta is *supposed* to look rustic.

So no Seal Krete? Just go over the existing tile finish with semi
gloss water poly?

Yes, but myself, I'd try it on *ONE* tile first just to be sure of the
results.
_____________________

dadiOH thanks for the very informative post Djay

NP

- once upon a time a cincy boy.

The breaded tenderloins in NE Indiana are better than those in
Cincinnatti

--
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