Carrara Marble Shower Base

We installed a Cararra marble mosaic tile shower base. The area where the shower water hits always looks wet and dark-grey even when it is dry to the touch. We let it dry completely over 2 weeks then sealed it 3x with Miracle Porous Plus but the problem came back immediately. The material supplier is pointing to an installation problem (plugged weep-holes) but the installer is pointing to the material saying that Carrara is absorptive and that we should apply a topical sealer, rather than penetrating. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Dear Sharon:

 

“ but the installer is pointing to the material saying that Carrara is absorptive and that we should apply a topical sealer ”

 

That's quite interesting… Let's see… First off, I never even heard of a topical sealer for marble; but what's most baffling is the idea that White Carrara is absorptive.

The last time I checked it had an absorbency rate of 0.1% to 0.2%, which classifies it among the 200 or so densest stones on planet Earth (out of several thousands). So I reckon we would have to re-write the books on how to define stones by absorption!... J

In fact, the impregnator you applied only accomplished the noble task of helping his manufacturer to put his kids through college. An impregnator must be absorbed by the stone to work, and I can promise you that not one iota of what you applied to your stone ever went in, and therefore your stone never got sealed, due to the high-density of White Carrara marble.

But that's a good thing (other than the total waste of money and time), because the last thing that you want to do is to seal stone in a wet environment (not even my own excellent impregnator!) – unless special circumstances make it recommendable – especially if you consider the fact that the water that you see is under your tiles!

What do you wanna do: seal it in??!...

Of course, you have grout or caulk missing and water keeps finding its way behind and under your tiles and gets absorbed by the stone from beneath. The most important aspect of the installation of a shower stall is to make sure that no water will ever find its way behind the tiles.

What you have to do is to stop using that shower effective immediately, open up all the lower grout lines and stick sheets of Bounty paper-towel in them. Leave that stall alone with its door wide-open until the paper towel is completely dry (by then the stone should be dry, too. It may take several weeks if the weep holes are indeed clogged), and then have the grout lines filled again with caulking instead of grout. Only then will you be able to use your shower stall again.

Of course, if your installer in his infinite wisdom set your tiles butt-jointed (with no grout gap, that it), then the situation is terminal, unless you can find someone to widen the gap in between tiles with a thin blade, so that grout could be applied. If not, the image of a jack-hammer is crossing my mind… L   I sincerely hope it's not the case!...

Oh and BTW, besides the totally useless and technical impossible sealing thing, did they ever tell you how to take care of your stone on a daily basis?... I didn't think so!

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Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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