I just had a brick fireplace tiled with marble tiles.

Should I seal it with natural stone sealers? Is there a chance water would
form behind the tiles and migrate into them from the back? The fireplace
feels colder than room temperature during the winter -- the back side of the
fireplace is the base of a chimney outside the house.

Three contractors came to bid on the job. None of them mention anything
about sealing the tiles. Perhaps tiles on fireplace don't need to be sealed?

You should seal with natural stones and if you can do so install it otherwise select any good reputed company and make a deal with them.

On 5/31/2013 12:34 AM, bob wrote:
I just had a brick fireplace tiled with marble tiles.

Should I seal it with natural stone sealers? Is there a chance water
would form behind the tiles and migrate into them from the back? The
fireplace feels colder than room temperature during the winter -- the
back side of the fireplace is the base of a chimney outside the house.

Three contractors came to bid on the job. None of them mention anything
about sealing the tiles. Perhaps tiles on fireplace don't need to be
sealed?

yes, if not simply for ease of cleaning soot off them.

I would seal the marble to prevent it becoming discoloured with soot from the fire place. I would use "Matte Sealer & Finish" made by Tile Lab and available at Home Depot.

The contractors didn't mention anything about sealing the tiles because it's best to apply multiple coats of sealer until you build up a protective film over the surface of the marble, and that means multiple return visits to spend 5 minutes putting on another coat. No contractor wants to break up the work he's doing just to drive across town for 5 minutes. They'd rather you do that, but they don't want to mention anything about sealing to you because then you're going to be upset that the quote you got doesn't cover the "whole" job. They'd prefer to get the job, do the work and get paid. Whatever happens after that is your problem. It's exactly the same story with sealing grout in the tiling around a bathtub or in a tiled shower. The contractor doesn't want to do that work because it means breaking up whatever job he's working on next repeatedly until the sealing is done.

Just wet a white cotton rag about the size of a napkin or so and squeeze out as much excess moisture as you can. Fold it up, pour a bit of Matte Sealer & Finish on it and fold in half again and wipe down your marble. Keep the rag in a zip lock bag with the air squeezed out of it between coats so that the rag doesn't dry out and get stiff. Apply more Matte Sealer & Finish as the reserve in the rag gets depleted. You want to apply multiple coats and allow time for each coat to dry before applying another coat. You can also apply the sealer to any grout lines between the marble tiles with a brush if you want. Again, it's best to apply multiple coats to build up a film of sealer over the grout.

You can get a glossier finish on the marble if you use "Gloss Sealer & Finish" also available from Tile Lab and sold at Home Depot. This is just a matter of personal preference. Both Matte and Gloss come in very similar plastic bottles, and both can be removed quickly and easily using Tile Lab's "Heavy Duty Cleaner & Stripper", also available at Home Depot. If the sealer film on your marble ever gets discoloured with soot, you can restore it to it's original appearance by stripping off the old sealer and applying a new film of sealer over the marble (and grout).

You can also apply Gloss Sealer & Finish over the Matte Sealer & Finish and vice versa if you change your mind and would prefer a glossier or flatter appearance to the marble. The difference between the two products is that the Matte contains tiny solid particles almost large enough to see with the naked eye that make the Matte film dry to a film with tiny "bumps" in it.

You want to use a WHITE cotton rag because all acrylic paints, floor finishes, sealers and even women's nail polishes will contain a coalescing solvent that could dissolve the dye on any wiping rag you use. So, if you use a red wiping rag, you could find that the sealer you're wiping on is pink in colour, and you could end up with pinkish looking marble. Use a white rag which won't have any dye on it to avoid that issue.

On May 31, 2:34*am, "bob" wrote:
I just had a brick fireplace tiled with marble tiles.

Should I seal it with natural stone sealers? Is there a chance water would
form behind the tiles and migrate into them from the back? The fireplace
feels colder than room temperature during the winter -- the back side of the
fireplace is the base of a chimney outside the house.

Three contractors came to bid on the job. None of them mention anything
about sealing the tiles. Perhaps tiles on fireplace don't need to be sealed?

Are yuou saying the wall lining of the firepit itself is marble tiles??

No, I'm sure he means that the front facade of the brick fireplace was tiled with marble to make it look nicer.

We know from Roman historians that near the end of the Roman Empire, Roman citizens tore the marble off the walls of the Colloseum and burned it in fires to make lime for making cement. So, marble simply can't take the heat of a flame directly on it's surface without breaking down into calcium oxide and I expect any tile setter working on fireplaces would know that.

On Jun 1, 12:29*am, nestork wrote:
;3071534 Wrote:



Are yuou saying the wall lining of the firepit itself is marble tiles??

No, I'm sure he means that the front facade of the brick fireplace was
tiled with marble to make it look nicer.

We know from Roman historians that near the end of the Roman Empire,
Roman citizens tore the marble off the walls of the Colloseum and burned
it in fires to make lime for making cement. *So, marble simply can't
take the heat of a flame directly on it's surface without breaking down
into calcium oxide and I expect any tile setter working on fireplaces
would know that.

--
nestork

That's what I was thinking, but the OP description was rather lacking
in specitivity.