Wax vs Solvent-based Chemical to seal cotto floor

10/15/2010 - 08:13

We have new cotto floor tiles that have already been treated with a matt finish impregnating product but are still proving to stain easily. We are looking to seal it with a wet look product and our geometra recommends that we go for the traditional wax approach. This sounds like a lot of messing around as it needs to be taken of an redone every few years and is a lot of work to apply in the first place. We bought a solvent-based resin (Nordcotto per Interni) this summer but haven't applied it yet. Does anyone have any thoughts on this or any experience with this Nord Resine product?

Topic

Renovating

Location

Umbria

Comment

Or here..... I'm afraid maintaining cotta tiles is really hard work, expensive and in my opinion a complete pain in the a**e. You are brave having them layed. In new build houses today, terra cotta floors are becoming a bit of a rarity. Modern lifestyle...these ��s know what they are doing.... If I was starting over again I would go with a different flooring material but thats only my personal opinion so does'nt count for much. That said, (I'm getting there), I've seen tiles treated with a similar product to the one you mention. The floor is in a friends house and the tiles were treated in the spring of this year. It may be too early to say but they seem happy with the result. They are definitely easier to clean and I've not seen any staining. I would add, however, that I think the finish looks slightly artificial...a bit too glossy for my (traditionalist! not) taste but as I said they are happy with the finish. Why don't you treat a few spare tiles and see if you like the appearance and spill a few things on them to see how they clean? Also have a look at the range of fila products: = The company is generally considered to be at the top end of the market. Very best of luck.

This was really useful. I tested the product bought on a few spare tiles this summer and it wasn"t too shiny. Will give it a go in the spring. Thanks a lot

We used a resin product on our external tiles, apart from being expensive, it appears to work well, as the staining from the peat in the pots of basil wash off. This other article could help if you want to go the wax route.

thanks for this. The traditional wax method does seem like a rather drawn out process compared with painting on a couple of coats of resin and I'm not sure it will actually look any different with wax. I have also heard that wax surfaces are still prone to marking/staining.