Tumbled travertine | Sandstone tile | Limestone tile | Split face travertine

4.1 Natural stone installation

When installed correctly natural stone is one of the most durable flooring material. Toughness is combined with luxury and beauty to make natural stone of the best choice for floor and wall covering.

Before Installation

Stone comes from nature and no one sample can indicate all the possible permutations that may be present in a stone. To have well laid-out floor or wall it is preferred to spread out some tiles prior to installation, in that way it is possible to see the whole diversity of the range and decide for the best combination.

General guidelines on installing natural stones

Adhesive bedding

The size of the stone can range from mosaic size up to large floor slabs of more than 1 meter square. Bedding of natural stone should be done by cement-based adhesives when using solid bed method.

Use a white cement-based adhesive with light coloured stone tiles where a dark adhesive would show through. Spread the adhesive 5mm in thickness by holding a notched trowel at 45۫ angle. Slightly butter the back of the tile as well and when the tiling is done allow 24 hours for curing.

Grouting

The grouting fills the joints thus that the long term performance is accomplished. With deep narrow joints between natural stone floor tiles the grouting technique may have to consist of at least two applications to progressively fill up the joints. This is because the initial application of grout mortar may sink down into any voids at the bottom of the joints as the trapped air slowly escapes. Stones with textured surfaces such as antique stone tend to have larger joint widths of 6-10 mm, whilst honed and polished stone joints can be 3-5 mm. Cement-based grout mortars are most appropriate for stone jointing. Grout need to be cured for about 70 hours.

Sealing

The area should be cleaned with water and dry completely prior to sealing. The sealer protects the surface from chemicals and enhances the colour of the tiles. More on sealing please click here.

4.2 Sealing

In order to determine whether you should seal or not, first we must know what sealing exactly means and what happen when we seal natural stone. Sealers, in stone industry called impregnators due to their impregnation of the interior of stone with silicones and resins that funnel through the pores of surface.

The most important purpose of sealer is to shield the interior of natural stone tiles from staining. Sealers help prevent fluids from penetrating through the pores. Sealers do not protect the top surface of stone from scratches or acid spills. However the sealer will keep the acid out of the stone, as a matter of fact stone sealers work like exterior wood sealer, protect the interior surface.

The sealers also bring out the real color of stone and fill your home with the beauty it deserves. Although stone has been sealed it is still needs to be maintained and cleaned with proper stone products. It is like polishing your car it is still needs to be washed frequently. The seal also need to be reapplied every year or two depending on the traffic and usage, it does not last forever.

The best way of testing sealer strength is by applying moisture to the surface. If the moister penetrate the stone it is darken and a new coat needs to be applied. Depending on the porosity of the stone some sealers require one application while other requires two or three.

Share to Friends