Baird,

Trying to put a gloss on any ceramic tile will be a challenge, usually anything that will add a gloss to the tile will also wear off fairly quickly. The StoneLoc products would probably be your best bet, however the tiles that are smooth you may have a bonding issue with the Stoneloc product. On the tiles that are rough the stoneloc would attach and last for sometime.

any coating you place on the floor will be just a quick fix and will only make the floors look worse as time passes. the coating will collect the dirt seeing the coating is softer then the tile and the dirt and grease from the restaurant will get into the finish.

Another thing the restaurant owner needs to be concerned with is the risk of slip on a floor that has more shine. BY adding a gloss finish to the floor you could actually be increasing the possibility of slip issues, especially in a restaurant where there is always water, grease and other spills on the floor. Discuss this with the restaurant prior to doing anything to the floor.

if they still want a shine then try the stoneloc or some of the ceramic tile polishes that are on the market. StoneCare Central has a ceramic tile polish that is reported to work well.

My recommendation is give them a GOOD chemical clean using a good alakline stripper degreaser, and set it the cleaning on a monthly or bi- monthly cleaning cycle. this would give the floors a fresh clean look.

John E.Freitag

The Stone and Tile School

-----Original Message-----
From: "Baird Standish" <bairdstandish@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 8:13pm
To: "Restoration and Maintenance" <sccpartners@stoneandtilepros.com>
Subject: [sccpartners] Some gloss for rough tile?

Hi Everyone,
We were recently asked to provide a recommendation for shining up some  
rough "quarry" tile on the main floor of a restaurant.  The restaurant  
has approximately 1500 square feet of a ceramic tile stamped to look  
like a quarry tile.  It really fooled me until I noticed that the  
exact same pattern is replicated on the surface of every tile.  About  
half of the tile on one side of the restaurant is really rough.  That  
is, rough to the touch and also matte with very  little gloss.  The  
tile on the other side of the floor looks identical except that it  
appears to have more factory glaze on it which gives it a somewhat  
smoother finish and a little more gloss. The manager would like to  
have the whole floor shined up to give the restaurant a fresh crisp  
look.  Not sure if she knows exactly how glossy she wants it.
So I am looking for some recommendations for sealers that might be  
appropriate.  Things that I have been thinking about are:  first, the  
tiles on either side of the restaurant  are slightly different from  
each other.  Secondly, the tile is ceramic, not quarry or natural  
stone.  I'm afraid that a polymer might peal.  Stonelok MLT that was  
suggested by John Freitag on another job comes to mind because it  
would perhaps bind better.  At the other end, maybe a very light  
coating of something that needs to be replenished often on a  
maintenance contract would work.  I told the manager I would put  
together samples of a few products to show her. Probably a good idea  
to give her a range of slightly glossy to very glossy.  I know she is  
not looking for an acrylic wax, which I dismissed anyway.  Below are a  
few photos.  Thanks much.
Baird

 
--
Powered by http://DiscussThis.com
Visit list archives, subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription preferences:
http://www.discussthis.com/members/sccpartners@stoneandtilepros.com
Start a new conversation (thread): sccpartners@stoneandtilepros.com