Expert Answers in

ANSWER – Slate will wear from the exposure to the weather.  If it is spalling (flaking) it could be due to the stone be subjected to excessive moisture.  The white chalky spots could be efflorescence,…

ANSWER – Hollow sounding tile is not a defect per industry standards.  Although a hollow sounding tile can be a symptom of a defect.

If all of the floor sounds hollow or a portion of…

ANSWER – The standards say that a tile with a grout joint of 1/4″ or less is allowed to have tile lippage, where one edge is higher or lower than the edge of the adjacent…

ANSWER – The black stain in the water has to be coming from somewhere and caused by something.  The question is where and what?

The question is what type of tile do you have?  There…

ANSWER – The CBC (California Building Code) and ADA  (Americans with Disability Act) are vague and subjective regarding slip resistance requirements.   There are quantitative standards for ceramic tile in ANSI A137.1 that…

ANSWER – The proper way to cut glass tile is either with a continuous rim diamond blade either wet or dry.  Also you can cut glass tile with manual tile cutters.  The glass tile is…

ANSWER – The best counter tops for laboratories that is known to be chemical resistant is soapstone.  It is a natural stone that has been used for many years in these types of applications.  It comes…

ANSWER – Any ceramic tile can chip, but some tiles are more chip resistant than others.

Normally the way we can tell if the edge of a tile was chipped prior to installation is by seeing…

ANSWER – It is possible heat the surface of the granite tile after it is installed with a torch to obtain a flamed finish, but it can result in damaging the stone by causing it…

ANSWER – There is always a grout haze after grouting a tile.   For cementitious grouts, the haze should be polished off with dry clean cheese cloth soon after the tile surface dries leaving a…