Travertine Sealer

[Mbella]

Scott, are you folks reccomending one sealer (for travertine) over others? If so, Why?

[ScottSears]

The company that has been working with us for the last couple of years is probably 15 years ahead in the sealer industry. Due to the nature of travertine and the capillaries that run thru it you need to use a breathable sealer. We are now having our Andes Collection travertine acid washed in Peru prior to crating it for shipment. This process takes away all of the dust from the processing and enhances the color. V-Seal is the sealer company that manufactures our Andes Collection Paver Finish WB HD 127 product. This is the recommendation for our pavers as it covers 400-600 sq ft per gallon of product, only needs to be reapplied every 4-5 years, and does not greatly affect the natural skid resistance of the product. We have recommended and had manufactured other solvent based products in the past; however with the VOC regulations being what they are we have switched over to the water based product and installed the acid baths in Peru to enhance the color like the solvent based sealers used to do. We also have some other products for interior applications.

[Mbella]

Great info. Scott. How long does it take for the V-seal to dry?

Also, where is the V-seal available?

[ScottSears]

356

Mike,

Here is an attachment of the label for the PF WBHD127. I hope you can open it. It covers all of the particulars for application rates, methods, and drying time (2 Hours) This sealer is available thru our distributors.

Scott

[MuirView Design]

Scott,

When working with the existing stock that isn't acid washed, would you recommend an acid wash first before sealing? If so, what type of acid would you recommend. Also, what would you recommend to remove existing solvent based sealer from travertine to reapply the water based? I had trouble with the solvent based sealer becoming too slippery. Will the water based sealer be better for this?

[ScottSears]

Adam,

Which solvent based sealer did you use? Depending which one it was there are different products to use for removal. I am attaching the specs on acid washing the product. It is more of less the same concept that has been used for years on natural stone. Let me know if you have problems opening it.

378

[MuirView Design]

Adam,

Which solvent based sealer did you use? Depending which one it was there are different products to use for removal. I am attaching the specs on acid washing the product. It is more of less the same concept that has been used for years on natural stone. Let me know if you have problems opening it.

378

Thanks for the instructions! Scott, do you think it would make more sense to seal and then sweep in the sand? I did it with the sand first, as per your instruction sheet, and the polymeric sand, even when hardened, still has residual loose sand on the surface which gets caught in the sealer and is noticable in the sunlight. I always thought it would make more sense to seal and then sand.

As far as the sealer I used, I don't remember specifically, but it was a wet look paver sealer as recommended by Woodward Supply where I bought the Andes from late last season. I believe it was Techni-Seal. I had problems with yellowing and slipperiness. I imagine the yellowing was from not acid washing first and slipperiness from using a solvent based sealer. You might want to shoot Barbara at Woodward a copy of the .doc you sent me. I know they are having a lot of problems with sealer on their travertine display and I also know they sell a good bit of travertine, so it would be good if they passed on the correct procedural information to their contractors as their misguided recommendations have cost me a lot of frustration, time and money.

Thanks for the help!

[SzotAllied]

The sliperiness(sp?) is not a matter of solvent or water base, it's a matter of film forming or non-film forming. Some sealers while penetraing into the pore/capillaries of the paver still form a coating on the surface, smoothing the texture of the paver, some strictly penetrate and leave no film on the surface, not affecting the texture of the paver. This is a general statement, may not apply to sealing travertine. We are new to the trav. product at Allied.

[ScottSears]

Adam

There is a good chance that you could use soy gel to remove the old sealer on the product prior to acid washing and resealing. The soy gel basically reactivates the sealer and makes it something of a slurry that then needs to be removed. This is still going to take some time and create some mess to deal with. I can put you in touch with Bob from V-Seal about what your options and actual proceedure would be. My thought would be find out exactly what sealer you used and then see what the manufacturer's recommendation is for removing their product. We had a few installers in the past put down our older SB product too thick (to the point where when I scraped it with my knife it looked like wax peeling off). We used xylene as a method of reactivating the product (since that was the carrier to begin with) to remove the excess.

[MuirView Design]

Adam

There is a good chance that you could use soy gel to remove the old sealer on the product prior to acid washing and resealing. The soy gel basically reactivates the sealer and makes it something of a slurry that then needs to be removed. This is still going to take some time and create some mess to deal with. I can put you in touch with Bob from V-Seal about what your options and actual proceedure would be. My thought would be find out exactly what sealer you used and then see what the manufacturer's recommendation is for removing their product. We had a few installers in the past put down our older SB product too thick (to the point where when I scraped it with my knife it looked like wax peeling off). We used xylene as a method of reactivating the product (since that was the carrier to begin with) to remove the excess.

Someone else I talked to recommended Xylene, maybe I'll give that a shot. Anything that is going to re-emulsify the sealer so I can squeegee it off or suck it up with the wet vac would be ideal. So far I've used a gel stripper of some kind, regular floor wax stripper, an equipment cleaner made to remove sealer from sprayers, Detergent 600, Custom Masonry Cleaner, Vana Trol and another tile stripper I bought from Home Depot. I've used deck brushes, abrasive pads and even used a floor scraper with a razor blade to try and get it off. I've been back at this customers house at least 7 times and spent over 20 hours fighting with the sealer. I'd say 60% has been removed and is dull, while a spotty 40% remains in patches. The customer has been patient and is just happy that it is no longer slippery when wet. I've done three travertine jobs since and haven't sealed any of them because of this bad experience. Hopefully with your recommendations, i can do it right the next time around so taking it off is not an issue.

[ScottSears]

Adam,

Anything I can do to help just let me know. You may want to consider "Shark Grip" for at least this current job if the customer has great concerns about slippery surface. I posted under The Supply Yard -- New Product Thread more details about Shark Grip.

[MuirView Design]

Adam,

Anything I can do to help just let me know. You may want to consider "Shark Grip" for at least this current job if the customer has great concerns about slippery surface. I posted under The Supply Yard -- New Product Thread more details about Shark Grip.

Thanks Scott. You've been a big help already!