any reason why I can't seal porcelain tiles before laying?

[2db]

I'm realistic enough to know I'm no good at tiling and happy to leave it to the experts.

With the kitchen coming out and replaced in a few weeks time, the kitchen fitters are on a tight timescale.

SWMBO has found some ivory white porcelain tiles @ topps for the flooring (the colours elsewhere are not quite right apparently). We originally planned for conventional ceramic tiles ... hence the timescales were planning to exclude an extra day delay for allowing sealant to dry (I'm presuming an extra day is needed here?)

I'm keen to preseal the tiles in advance to avoid an additional day delaying the fitters between tiling the floor and then grouting.

Ignoring the practical issues of finding space for the tiles, is there are reason why I can't seal the tiles in advance of them being laid?

thanks

 

[Richard C]

What makes you think they need sealing, not all porks need to be & some actually come pre-sealed! If the tiles are highly absorbent, you would be wise to pre-seal but to further minimise risk of addy staining, use white powder addy not grey. I would advise to seal again before grouting to avoid any possibility of grout staining.

Your efforts to save time may be thwarted depending on the type of addy being used & tile size, you may have to wait up to 16 hours before grouting so the tiles could be sealed/re-sealed then. On largish floor areas such as a kitchen, I will generally tile one day & grout the next so it may not be a problem in any case.

 

[2db]

thanks Richard,

dumb question (I appreciate it will vary product by product), but in general, presuming sealing needs to be done (I will of course be testing with samples), how long should sealant be left to impregnate before grouting?

 

[Richard C]

A water test will tell you if you need to seal the tiles but it rather depends on the sealer & weather its water or solvent based. Temporary water based sealers can be grouted after 60-70 minutes but, assuming your looking for a permanent solvent sealer, these can usually be grouted between 2-4 hours (depending on successful water test) but a final protective application (after grouting) will take around 24 hours to reach full cure.