We recently purchased a home with a shower stall that has 12 x12 granite tile - Emser Bianco Catalina from Lowes. At the bottom of the tile it looks as if it is absorbing the water. There was a baseboard around the bottom of the tile, I have removed it and we have not used the shower for 3 weeks. Some of the tiles have dried and some have not. The tile had been sealed 2 years ago. What do I need to do to get the tile to dry out before sealing.

Thank you,
Erin

Hello Erin,

You need to be sure that all water behind the granite tile is gone. Then you can rent a propane heater (sometimes called a salamander because of the way it looks) from Home Depot or Lowes. Use it to dry the granite.

Note: If the tile has been wet for a long time, you may have a mold issue behind your granite This is very bad and can cause serious health issues for your whole family. I want you to do a Google search, “black mold” and see if you have in your shower looks like Black Mold. If you do, the wall board needs to be replaced by a professional with proper protective equipment. You should have a professional do this because disturbing the mold will release the spores that cause health problems. Hopefully, your substrate is cement board in which case you will not have this problem.

Best wishes,
Tom Cordova

This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 11:25 am and is filed under Answers to Granite Questions..., Maintenance Help, Sealer Questions, Stain Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.