Do Matt Porcelain Tiles Need Sealing

A mop won t dig out the dirt and often snags on the floor.

Do matt porcelain tiles need sealing.

But is this strictly true. Mount the tile as usual putting down a layer of thinset mortar with a notched trowel and pressing the tiles into it. The first generation of porcelain tiles were actually so dense that sealing was not required at any stage. Keep a 1 8 inch line between them.

Tiles generally fall into one of two categories those with a polished or glazed finish and unpolished or matt tiles. Porcelain tiles are generally fully glazed even the matt porcelain tile is fully glazed so this means they won t need to be sealed unless they are textured see below however the textured tiles can trap dirt in the groves unless sealed and thus will need to be cleaned out with tile doctor pro clean and rinsed with. After a porcelain tile has been glazed it doesn t require any further treatment or sealing. Glazed porcelain tiles are available in gloss matt or semi polished form.

And from our water test there doesn t seem to be any absorption of water at the surface of the tile. Do porcelain floor tiles really need to be sealed. Textured tiles can prove difficult to keep clean as they have high low surfaces. Sealing is done to strengthen tile or grout s defenses against dirt spills and erosion of grout but not all tile needs to be sealed.

Stone is naturally porous and will absorb spills and stain fairly easily. However during the polishing process micro pores are opened up. Porcelain tiles have changed a lot over time and today there are a variety of differing standards associated with them. Our installation used wooden base boards and not the tile.

There s an argument to say that you d only seal a polished porcelain tile and would leave a textured or matt surface well alone. If your tile is ceramic or porcelain it probably won t need to be sealed. However with unglazed porcelain tile the use of a sealer may or not be needed for several reasons which we will discuss here. Porcelain tile are a different material than ceramic tiles.

Many consumers believe that a polished porcelain floor tile doesn t need sealing. Some polished porcelains are sealed as part of the manufacturing process to protect them during installation but a further seal after a thorough builders clean is recommended to offer additional protection for the tile and grout joint. It seems you may have a grout problem. Pre grout sealing grout will stain light colored unsealed porcelain so the top of the porcelain has to be sealed before grouting.

With glazed porcelain there is not a need or benefit to using a sealer because the various types of glaze used to make this type of tile truly impervious. The key factor is the type of porcelain used. If your tile is stone slate marble granite travertine etc then it will need to be sealed. Unlike natural stone which is routinely sealed porcelain often doesn t require any protection but this isn t the case for all types of tile.

There are some exceptions to this so check with your manufacturer to be sure.