Porcelain Tile
(Yes, sometimes you do need to seal porcelain tile,
and you always need to seal the grout.)
How to:
Seal | Clean | Repair | Protect
Strip & Restore | Easy Care
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High fired and very tough and durable. Many color, pattern, and texture options available. Replicates many other materials also, such as stone, slate, wood, etc.
Yes, many of the new versions of porcelain tile need to be sealed. If a water drop darkens underneath itself it indicates some level of absorption and that means a liquid can create a stain. And, of course, the grout needs sealing. See the appropriate sealer choices below.
Tip 1: The very textured finishes of modern porcelain tile will create haze left from the grouting process. This dulls the colors. Compare to the original, ungrouted tile in the carton to see the color you originally wanted.
Read why to not use a sealer (pre-sealing) to prevent grout smears.
Tip 2: These textured tile can be difficult to keep clean. That situation can be greatly improved by creating a low level gloss with super easy maintenance. That can be done with Aldon S-B-S Sealer and/or Aldon Lifeguard. Please review that page to understand why this product greatly enhances your enjoyment of your porcelain tile floor.
Stone or Wood Look and other considerations:
Years ago porcelain tile was totally non-absorbent, therefore, not needing to be sealed except if a rough surface needed a little bit of sealer coating for ease of cleaning. These days, this tile has evolved into excellent replicas of other materials using machine texturing and color processes such as silk-screening. In this process, most of these tiles now have enough absorption and texture characteristics to justify the need for the right sealer. See below.
For textured face tile (looks like stone or wood) - do not use a sealer as a grout barrier (pre-seal).
Also these tile floors are difficult to clean because the texture traps dirt and grabs at the mop. To overcome those problems you need a thin, tough coating for tile and grout. This is accomplished with S-B-S Sealer (create very light gloss level) if you need a sealer.If you now have a grout haze to clean off the tile face, use Aldon Grout Residue Remover.
Efflorescence (subsurface originating white powdery stains) can occur on the grout. However, it is easily cleaned.
Grout can have light efflorescence, but that can be stopped by sealing with the appropriate Aldon sealer.
Some manufacturers ship their porcelain tile with a coating on the face to ease the grouting process (act as a grout release). The coating materials can vary from weak sealers to greases or oils. These coatings can cause problems after installation and should be removed after grouting. See the Aldon Problem Solving section for the Redoing a Previously Sealed Surface as these factory applied coatings fall within that category.
Sometimes porcelain tile will vary from batch to batch in terms of smoothness of finish. If the tile finish or color is uneven or "dull", test Aldon SBS Sealer to even out gloss, enhance dull colors, and seal the grout in the same operation. The sealer's low gloss finish will also make cleaning easier.
- The products you may need for surface Preparation before sealing.
- Pictures of each of the recommended sealers for this surface type. Click the sealer's picture for it's full description.
- Handy tips to prevent issues that others have had before coming to Aldon.
- Perhaps more information than you need now, but might be of interest later.
Surface Preparation before sealing grout.
What you need for your Porcelain Tile project.
You have 1 of the 3 possible situations that follow. The products you need are listed in the sequence that you would use them. Click the picture to add a product to your list.
#1. If the Porcelain tile is not yet grouted
| Use 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|
 Grout Easy
|
 *Grout Residue Remover |
 **Efflorescence Treatment |
** For any white powder on the grout joints.
#2. If the Porcelain tile is grouted, but grout is not sealed.
| 1st | 2nd | ||
|---|---|---|---|
*Grout Residue Remover |
**Efflorescence Treatment |
 ***Grout Restoration |
** If you have white powder (efflorescence) stains on the grout.
*** If your grout is badly stained.
#3. If the Porcelain tile has been sealed in the past.
| Use 1st | 2nd | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Premium Stripper |
*Grout Residue Remover |
**Grout Restoration |
** If your grout is badly stained. Regular stains are usually removed by the stripping process.
Your Choices for Sealing
But First - click here to remove the guess work about sealer results on your project:
Most people have no idea about the history and characteristics of their flooring. You can click this link to see how to easily test with water drops and understand which sealer is most appropriate for your goals.
Some questions you may not be thinking to ask right now that could become important:
. Was it sealed in the past? Does that matter?
. Will a new sealer be compatible with whatever was used before?
. What Aldon sealer will give the visual results you want?
. Will you also be able to have an Aldon sealer solve problem(s)? ( Answer: yes. Just know which to pick.)
Add to Project List
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S-B-S Sealer is a low solids sealer that is perfect for Porcelain tile projects. In addition to sealing and protecting, it creates some color enhancement and an easier to clean surface with a low gloss level. Retain natural traction of the tile in slippery areas by keeping the gloss level very low.
The aerosol makes doing back splashes, countertops, and other small projects easy.
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Add to Project List
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Add to Project List
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Easy Care Products: for a Porcelain floor or wall.
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"Maintain" - for no streak wet mopping of Porcelain and all other types of flooring.
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"Dust Whiz" - easy dry mop dust pickup at 1,000 sq. ft. in 3 minutes.
Items of Interest
How to select a sealer
An Aldon sealer does far more than just bead water and look pretty! To see what that is click here.
Your results may vary somewhat from these pictures due to variations in computer display and the surface materials themselves. Nevertheless, you will be able to see the differences well enough to make good choices.
Important: If your project has had any sealer applied in the past, it must be evaluated differently. To see why, Click here!
Sealer "solids" levels?
Here are the relative solids level of our petroleum solvent based sealers:
Lowest: SBS Sealer
Next level Higher: Penetrating Paver Sealer
Another level higher: Porous Stone Sealer
Highest level: Mexiglaze
A porous surface will require more gallons (more money) of a lower solids sealer than using a higher solids level sealer. That, plus different surfaces have different requirements, is why we make the different solids levels. They all work as described, so it is only a matter of which is best for your needs.
The more porous the surface, the more solids will be required to achieve the desired effects of gloss, strengthening, stopping efflorescence, etc.
The more porous the surface, generally the greater the need for the sealer to create a stronger surface.
An old sealer below the surface, even after stripping, will lower the absorption and porosity to some degree. Sometimes it is uneven below the surface and can create an uneven coloring effect with a color enhancing sealer applied later. Another reason to test first.
To see more of why the price per gallon has little to do with what will be your total project cost, click here. For other questions about sealers, see the FAQ Sealers link on the slide out menu.
Do not believe yet that you have the type of surfacing you were told:
Do not "pre-seal" - apply a sealer BEFORE grouting.
Colors fading?
You can stop efflorescence (white powdery stains)
Efflorescence (subsurface originating white powdery stains) is common with many surfaces. This can even occur before installation. However, it is easily made to disappear without scrubbing by using Aldon Efflorescence Treatment. If the white powder is old and is now "crystalline" that is bonded to the surface - it can be eaten away with Aldon Grout Residue Remover.
Renew a glossy finish
Aldon Sealer applications can be made hours or years later, but do not apply thin layer upon thin layer. Apply a sufficient quantity to insure below surface penetration & bonding. Or, for the solvent based penetrating sealers, test spraying lacquer thinner as an alternative to slightly melt and reform the surface and not build too much gloss or create sealer "layering". A layer of sealer on top of another layer of sealer can result in poor bonding between layers and that can cause separation peeling that looks grayish.
Concerned about Doing It Yourself or what your contractor says?
If you are concerned about doing it yourself - consider that the satisfaction of a project is directly related to YOUR knowledge of what needs to be done and how. Who actually does the work is less important. We estimate that 50% of the usage of Aldon products is by "do it yourself" homeowners and we know they are happy because we hear from them.
Our goal for our contractor customers - NO CALL BACKS. A good contractor will understand the logic of Aldon application instructions on the labels and will not take shortcuts. If a contractor does not agree, feel free to let us find out what is so unusual about this particular project so the contractor does not have to return.
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Aldon Corporation and protected under applicable USA and international intellectual property law.
Our goal for our contractor customers - NO CALL BACKS. A good contractor will understand the logic of Aldon application instructions on the labels and will not take shortcuts. If a contractor does not agree, feel free to let us find out what is so unusual about this particular project so the contractor does not have to return.
Aldon Corporation and protected under applicable USA and international intellectual property law.