Cleaning, Restoration and Sealing | Forum profile

Hi Steven, Welcome! Thanks for your input. Goes to show that there are many variables when working with natural stone. Throw restoration into the formula and you have a consistent challenge.

Did this material come out of a crate with styrofoam strips between all, most or some of the pieces. It might have had some clear plastic sheeting mixed in too but it is the thin pieces of styrofoam I am curious about placed in between the pieces. Was it light colored Limestone or darker like blue?????

Hi Rob - If the application is less than 24 hours old try scrubbing with Odorless Mineral Spirits. Up to several days try Lacquer Thinner to wipe or scrub with. Depends on the state of the excess ... a nylon scrub brush and a bunch of rags are going to help a lot if thr residue is more dry than sticky or wet....

Jim when this happens it usually means there is moisture retained,or something for the mold to feed on like cellulose.Typically a shower drain will eventually get clogged weep holes,or something and the floor part will retain water feeding the mildew.I would look into repairing the shower floor.You can also look in our liberry for mold remediation cures.

If your grout is in good condition, you may want to give this low-effort repair a try: Wash the shower like its never seen before. Let the shower dry out as much as possible. Put a fan blowing on it while you go away for a weekend. When you come back, seal the grout with a good quality non water based sealant. If your grout is chipping, looks overly porous, or is looking like some is missing, do steps 1 and 2 above, but instead of sealing,...

I'm thinking we (TYW) tested five brands a couple years back and they all seemed very much like an acrylic latex paint to me. I think some were a bit tougher than others when cured, but I don't recall any one seeming substantially better than the others. 'Course I don't even remember all the brands we tried. Was our old friend Mike2 tried'em first, then I tried'em myownself and pretty much duplicated his results.

Hi John, thanks so much for the info!! I really appreciate it. I will not get to the job until after Christmas, but I will check back after I have finished the cleaning. Just so I know what to expect, what are my next steps? Should I think about re-grouting? This is very helpful.

Yep, in the shower. 12"x12"'s on the wall and mosaics on the shower floor. I have a post I put up with Kerdi and backerboard questions earlier today. Okay, so I looked up Hydroban. It's light green and drying to a medium soft "moss" green if you will. Hydro Barrier is bright blue. It's also rubberized. Will that stick to the unmodified thin set 'required' by Schluter for Kerdi to tile?

Hi, I have one more question. If I want to use a oil based grout stain to color-seal the grout lines, could I also use the stain to color-stain the latex caulked lines for more uniformly colored look without jeopardizing the reliability of the caulks. Thanks again. KK Law

Grout Boost is a latex additive with fluoropolymers. So it does all the good things using latex instead of water in grout would do, and adds some level of sealer protection. Fluoropolymers are expensive (which is why Grout Boost is expensive) and as Charles said they don't do much of anything on the bottom or sides of the grout line. So you are wasting polymer/money but saving time by not post-sealing. If you look at the test results it...