Honey Onxy in a shower stall

First of all I would like to thank you for this site!! God,I wished I had found it first before I had my shower installed with Honey Onxy tile. (After reading some of your articles, its apparent that the installer is not knowledgable about tile, stone,etc) Before I let them start the grout, I have a few questions. To prevent scratching of the onxy,should they use sanded grout on the floor and non-sanded grout on the walls. After reading several of your articles, should or should I not have a sealer applied to honey onyx? Also, the floor was installed with tumbled mosiac tiles, (to prevent sliping)is their an easy way the tile can be polished. Please, please help asap!

 

Dear Monica:

When dealing with a material like that, any sand should be banned!

If you ask me, I would have them grout your shower stall with color-matching latex caulking material instead of grout. Make sure that they leave a 1/16” grout gap and that they take their time to push the caulk deep between the tiles.

No, you can't seal Honey Onyx. Besides, it is never a good idea to seal stone installed in a wet environment.

For the tumbled mosaic floor, sanded grout will be the fine.

Polishing it?

Not an easy feat, assuming that's possible at all.

Now remember, it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – as it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about routine care from your dealer or installer. Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/helpful-hints.htm , you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay- per-download format in our Educational Literature section at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/literature.htm .  

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Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Maurizio Bertoli

 

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