When using stone, you have to treat it right. New ways of using stone and tiles – larger formats; taking interiors out into exteriors – puts new demands on the materials used for sticking them to substrates, sealing them, cleaning them and enhancing them. But the companies making the products for doing that are constantly improving their ranges to meet the challenges. Here, NSS looks at some of the latest developments.

Exclusively From Stonegate

Stonegate does not just supply diamond stone tools, it is also paving the way with exclusive supplier relationships to enable it to supply a comprehensive range of quality consumables specifically to those working with stone.

Stonegate works exclusively with Federchemicals, an Italian manufacturer of polishes, sealers, waxes, treatments and adhesives for stone.

Federchemicals manufactures high quality, industry-tested stone treatments and Stonegate offers a wide range of specialist Federchemicals products, including some for the end user to maintain their stonework.

Fabricators and kitchen suppliers have long benefitted from Action-3 Spray and now also have the new A-Shine Plus, a stone cleaner developed specifically for use at the end of an installation, leaving the job with a high-shine finish. It is a product that can safely be used every day.

Alongside this is the range of Federchemicals’ stone sealers, including Rep-Oil.

Rep-Oil is a sealer for use on granite, marble and engineered stone. It repels both water and oil, penetrating deep into the surface to provide thorough protection.

Whereas some sealers coat the surface, Rep-Oil impregnates the stone to keep it looking its best for longer and protecting it from all manner of stains from both natural and synthetic sources.

As well as working alongside Federchemicals, Stonegate maintains key relationships with other innovative suppliers – Seam-It, for example, the Dekton-approved ultra-compact surface adhesive.

Stonegate has partnered with Seam-It in order to continue to provide the most effective Dekton adhesives it can find. It is another exclusive relationship to supply the UK stone industry with the products it needs.

Dekton is made by Cosentino and the Stonegate-Cosentino relationship is well established, with Stonegate being an official tooling and consumables partner for Dekton in the UK and able to provide a comprehensive range of Dekton-approved products available for next-day delivery.

Stonegate says it is maintaining and building on its reputation for being the only supplier of consumables those working in the stone industry will ever need, with a comprehensive range of the high quality, innovative consumables.

And with the new REACH (Regulation for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals) Regulations coming into full effect on 31 May, Stonegate has worked hard towards full compliance so there will be no disruption in the supply of its adhesives and chemical consumables.

Carl Hazell, one of Stonegate’s Directors, says: “Building and maintaining mutually-beneficial relationships with our suppliers is key to ensuring we can offer the latest range of the most innovative products possible. Our customers can rest assured that we will continue to source the very best tooling and consumables to guarantee their success.”

Lithofin outdoors

Keeping external stone and tile surfaces in optimum condition is easy with Lithofin’s scientifically advanced products to clean, seal and maintain natural and artificial stone, as well as porcelain, quarry and ceramic tiles.

For patios and outdoor paving, Lithofin Outdoor Cleaner is good for removing marks left by plant tannins, black spores and bird droppings. Garden ornaments will also benefit from a good clean with Lithofin MN Outdoor Cleaner.

If algae is an issue, Lithofin Algex cleans away algae, common dirt and slippery green deposits from terraces, steps, paths and walls. It also contains an inhibitor to help prevent spores re-colonising the stone. Quarry tiles, stone, concrete, plaster and wood can be left thoroughly cleaned and brightened.

For thorough cleaning of outdoor areas, Lithofin MN Power Clean will remove severe general and greasy dirt and is suitable for a final clean of new surfaces at building sites. This product is recommended for all types of natural stone but especially for marble and limestones.

To protect absorbent natural and engineered stone surfaces against staining, Lithofin Stainstop >W< (water-based) is a special impregnator that largely prevents penetration of oil, grease and water, making further maintenance easier. It is ideal for outdoor use, creating an invisible film that is highly effective. A solvent equivalent is Lithofin MN Stain Stop.

Just a reminder: all surfaces must be completely dry before they are sealed. And don’t forget, natural stone can contain a variety of minerals, so always test any applications before using them.

The dedicated Lithofin Technical Support Line (01962 732126) is available 8.30am to 5pm on weekdays with technical experts on hand to advise you on all your stone cleaning, protection and maintenance projects.

Lithofin has a wide range of products for treating natural and engineered stones in interiors as well as exteriors. You can find out more about the whole product range on the website of Casdron (www.casdron.co.uk), which represents Lithofin in the UK.

Fila promotions

Fila has launched a spring / summer promotion with a focus on grout treatment and stone enhancement. The promotion will include special discounts for multiple purchases, complimentary displays and voucher incentive programmes. 

Throughout June, the promotion will focus on grout treatment. Multiple purchases of Deterdek, Fugaproof and grout cleaner Fuganet will qualify for a discount, complimentary point-of-sale materials and a further voucher incentive programme.

In July, the promotion will centre on three best-selling stone treatments from Fila’s protection range: wet-look protectors PT10 and Filawet and the colour-enhancing Filastone Plus – with further discounts and complimentary point-of-sale displays. 

Additional Fila promotions are planned for later in the summer and the autumn.

Fila’s protection range includes treatments to protect and enhance stone, whether it is polished marble or tumbled limestone. All the treatments provide high performance and coverage, while safeguarding natural characteristics and personal safety.

From the award-winning Green Line, FilaPT10 is a water-based colour enhancing sealer designed for both indoor and outdoor surfaces. It protects terracotta and unpolished stone against water, oils, stains and dirt, and creates a subtle wet-look. 

Surfaces treated with PT10 are also weather resistant and easier to clean, and the sealer does not affect frost-resistance. 

The glossy finish makes PT10 the ideal treatment for driveways, barbeque areas and outdoor seating areas, so that stains from food, drink and oil can easily be wiped away. 

Solvent-based alternatives include Filawet, a consolidating, wet-look treatment for tumbled, natural sawn and flame finished stone, and Filastone Plus, a colour-enhancing stain protector for polished, untreated and tumbled stone.

For internal areas that are not wet, Fila also offers a variety of natural stone waxes, all of which can be applied over non-enhancing sealers. They include FilaClassic liquid wax, from the Green Line, FilaMatt, FilaSatin and glossy FilaLong Life liquid waxes. FilaNaturewax is a solid wax for terracotta. 

Waters Group introduces new products from Bellinzoni

Bellinzoni celebrated its 80th anniversary  last year with a move to new, larger premises in Italy that have positioned it for growth in the years ahead, enabling it to continue to develop new products to satisfy the stone processing market.

It is exciting news for the collaboration between Waters Group in the UK and Bellinzoni. The move gives Bellinzoni increased production capability, more efficiency and a new training centre.

New products include:

• A greater selection of colours from the environmentally-friendly Bellinzoni glues
• Sealers, including nano technology, for all types of materials
• Problem solving products
• Special polishes.

The partnership between the Waters Group and Bellinzoni has proved a resounding success that Waters says has seen a rise in sales of all Bellinzoni’s products throughout the UK and Ireland, in particular the Bellinzoni cleaning range.

As well as becoming a leading brand in the stone industry it is also fast becoming a household name, as the Waters Group webshop has enabled end users to purchase the Mangia Macchia range of stain removers to tackle staining on their stonework. Waters Group has struggled at times to meet the demand for these products.

Waters Group also has a strong relationship with Integra, which continues to see sales grow in the UK and Ireland.

New from Integra is The Component Bonder, which Waters describe as “the ultimate in structural adhesive”. It is a non-drip, quick drying, acrylic structural adhesive that bonds steel, aluminium, and fiberglass to all solid surfaces, making it perfect for rodding and bonding clips.

It comes in 400ml tubes that have a two year shelf life. It is mixed in the nozzle and has a working set time of between four and eight minutes. Waters says: “It really is worth giving a try.”

D Zambelis has a stronger adhesive from Sprint

New to the ICR Sprint range that D Zambelis sells in the UK is the R5A Epox Solido, a viscous, clear, strong epoxy adhesive. It brings up to 16 the number of products in the ICR Sprint range available from Zambelis.

R5A is solvent-free, waterproof and with high resistance to yellowing and weathering. It has exceptionally low linear shrinkage and is the strongest stone adhesive yet from Sprint, making it ideal for glueing natural and engineered stone, including the new sintered and thin porcelain products. It is ideal for vertical uses and mitred joints, even on thin material.

The two parts, A and B, are mixed in a proportion of 2:1. It is waterproof, will work even if the stone is slightly damp, and at 20°C glued parts can be handled after eight hours and will support loads after 18-20 hours.

Dimitri Zambelis, who was a marble worker before he and his wife, Stella, decided to start a business supplying the products used to process stone, always tries out any new products before he adds them to the range he sells to make sure he would be happy to use them himself if he were still working stone.

He is certainly impressed by Epox Solido and says it solves problems people have been having glueing the new generation of man-made products. But, ever honest, Stella admits it is not cheap and says for straightforward jobs most of her customers would be better off using Sprint’s Iridium adhesive, which is also waterproof.

D Zambelis has been selling Sprint products for 15 years and have a lot of confidence in the brand. Stella says: “We came to the decision that there’s no point adding a cheap glue and have things falling apart. Just to save 50p on a tin of glue it’s not worth it. It’s better to have a product you can trust from a big, well-established company like ICR Sprint that has a reputation to protect.”

She likes Sprint’s practical solutions as well, such as Diluent thinner that can be mixed with glue and Sprint’s colours to make a worktop repair product. On quartz, she says, it can be a third of the price of the proprietary products sold by the quartz brands.

And now the Sprint products can be bought on the dzambelis.co.uk website, which has had an online ordering element added to it. It is not for the general public (“These are specialist products – we don’t want the public buying them,” says Stella), but the trade can register to use the facility if they find it an easier way of placing an order.

Eco Stone Shield from Stone UK

Stone UK specialises in supplying traditional British stones and more recent alternatives. It has quarries in Yorkshire and Lancashire and processes other stones. It has supplied stone for The Queen’s estate at Sandringham, The Order of St John Museum, Blenheim Palace and many more, offering support from design to creation.

But, says Director David Evans, sometimes clients and architects wanted properties from stone that it could not naturally deliver but they did not like the idea of sealing it. So he asked them what they wanted from a sealer.

It turned out their ideal product would be effective, ecological, contain no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), be non-hazardous from a Coshh point of view, would not change the look of the stone, would be quick to apply and would be affordable.

David scratched his head and thought: “Wow! You don’t want a lot, do you.”

He looked around Europe and the UK for a product that would fulfil the criteria but could not find one he felt fitted the bill. So he decided to create his own in conjunction with a chemicals company he approached in the UK.

The result is Eco Stone Shield. It has British Board of Agrément accreditation, contains no solvents or other VOCs, is applied by brushing or spraying on to the stone in one coat, does not threaten the environment or watercourses, does not alter the look of the stone (although there is now also a colour enhancer version available), allows the stone to ‘breathe’, can be used on horizontal and vertical surfaces and is economical.

Its use is not restricted to stone, either. It works just as well on any porous material, including old bricks and even wood.

David Evans says keeping moisture out of the fabric of old buildings has a further environmental advantage in reducing heating bills, because the evaporation of water from the fabric of a building has a cooling effect on the walls, which, in old buildings, often have no cavities to insulate the interiors from the exteriors.

And because Eco Stone Shield does not alter the look of the stone, it can be used on heritage structures to mitigate accelerated weathering effects of microenvironments just where it is needed without having to treat the whole structure.

The Eco Stone Shield range now also includes a dirt and grease remover and a stone cleaner. And although Stone UK wanted the products to enhance its own reputation, it is selling them to other companies that want to use them.

As this issue of Natural Stone Specialist went to press, a website for the range was nearing completion and might by now have been launched. The URL is ecostoneshield.com.

Codex for use with anhydrite screeds

Floors have never been quite as trouble free as they could be, quite often because they are hurried. Anhydrite screeds might have made it possible to speed up the installation of floors, but they do require fixers to be aware they are fixing hard flooring to an anhydrite screed and to know how to do it.

Anhydrites are more popular because they provide a quick, cost effective and eco-friendly alternative to labour intensive sand and cement screeds.

According to the British Standard, anhydrite screeds should be left to dry until 75% RH (relative humidity), or 0.5% with the carbide bomb method, before tiles, porcelain or natural stone are installed.

Installing tiles before the screed is dry can cause failures due to a reaction between cement-based adhesives and the gypsum. Traditional damp proof membranes can also cause problems where the risk of retained moisture can lead to the degradation of the screed and ultimate failure.

Codex, part of the Uzin Utz Group, after years of investigation and testing, developed a system that allows porcelain and natural stone to be installed on to anhydrite screeds with residual humidity up to 95% RH or up to 90% RH with underfloor heating.

As always with anhydrite screeds, the weak surface layer (laitance) must first be removed with abrasives and the surface cleaned to remove all dust and any other contaminants. Then two coats of Codex PE 425 penetrating primer are applied to reinforce the screed. When they are dry, two coats of Codex FG 500 S damp proof membrane are installed followed by a coat of codex FG 500 H gritted primer.

This creates a barrier between the screed and the tile adhesive so porcelain or natural stone can be laid without having to use a gypsum-based adhesive. Any suitable Codex adhesive can be used – such as Codex SX 80 or Codex SX 60, both developed especially for use with stone to prevent any surface discolouration. Codex grout finishes the job.

This is an ecological approach for flooring as all the Codex products have been awarded EC1 Plus classification for being solvent free and very low emission.

Ardex Uncoupling Matting Adhesive

With Ardex AF 200 Plus, uncoupling matting can be installed in as little as five or 10 minutes after the adhesive has been applied, although due to its long tack time, it can also be up to an hour later. Once the matting is laid, tiling can begin immediately.

AF 200 Plus is ready mixed and the packaging is resealable. It can be used on timber, concrete and sand & cement screed subfloors, with or without underfloor heating, although it should not be used in wet areas. It is cost effective with up to 45m² coverage from a 14kg tub (6kg tubs are also available).

Fleece-backed matting can be fixed without priming and AF 200 Plus has a high initial grab that prevents the matting from curling.

Instarmac introduces UltraTileFix

Having acquired Granfix in 2016, Instarmac has now launched UltraTileFix, which merges the best and most popular qualities of its UltraTile with Granfix products to provide a range of premium products for all project types, backed up by service and experience.

Instarmac says UltraTileFix will be bigger and better than ever before, with clear, strong branding, comprehensive product ranges and straightforward product selection.

As part of the rebranding, Instarmac has invested £300,000 in a new packaging machine (the only one of its kind in the UK) for its grouts. This new packaging is visually striking to make selection easy and keeps the product fresher for longer.

Each product now includes a handy product selection table, which makes choosing the perfect product swift and easy, and the quick reference symbols on the front of each bag ensure you know precisely what are the capabilities of the product.

Many of the products themselves have been enhanced to improve their technical performance and make them easier to use. And every product in the UltraTileFix range comes with a lifetime guarantee.

A new product brochure includes useful installation guides, colour references and product information, and if you are selling the products rather than using them, there is eye-catching point of sale to promote the range plus banners, window stickers and posters.

Rapid set Biogel from Kerakoll

Kerakoll UK has added a rapid set version of its Biogel adhesive, which was launched last year in powder and hybrid gel form.

The simplicity of Biogel adhesives (not to mention a bargain price) has already won over a chunk of the tiling community.

They are simple because the same adhesive can be used for all tiling materials and all substrates, no matter how deformable, making them easy to specify. They are also smooth and easy to apply, hold their shape, do not dry out in the bucket and wet the whole tile, which makes them easy to use.

The new rapid setting adhesive is Biogel Revolution. It joins Biogel No Limits (C2 TE S1 standard set powder form) and Biogel Extreme (R2 hybrid gel). Biogel Revolution can be grouted after three hours under normal conditions, but does not thicken so is still workable for up to an hour, saving time but still making the job easy for the fixer.

If you want any advice on the use of these adhesives, or any other Kerakoll product, Kerakoll UK is more than happy to help at the specification stage as well as offering technical support both on and off site.

Other news…

Pro Gyp-Base Fast Track Sealer, new from Norcros Adhesives, reduces the drying times of anhydrite screeds. Sold as a three-stage preparation kit containing all the elements necessary to achieve a successful bond, including a primer, moisture suppressant and gritted primer, Pro Gyp-Base Fast Track Sealer avoids the need for the special tile-to-gypsum adhesive that would normally be required.

Pro Gyp-Base Fast Track Sealer can be used with or without underfloor heating. A 15kg kit will seal approximately 25m2 and in an ambient temperature of 20ºC drying times are two hours for the first primer coat and 24 hours for the second. The moisture suppressant and gritted primer require a total of three hours drying time before tiling can begin. Screeds need to be a minimum of seven days old and have a maximum relative humidity of 95% before work begins.

Once sealed, tiles can be fixed with the new Norcros Pro Gyp-Base Adhesive, a white, cement-based, flexible, fibre-reinforced, thin bed cementitious adhesive specially formulated for fixing stone, fully vitrified porcelain and ceramics to Norcros Pro Gyp-Base Fast Track Anhydrite Screed Sealer. It has a setting time of three hours at 20ºC for quick trafficking of the tiled installation. The adhesive has excellent thermal ageing properties, making it suitable for use on heated floors. It is sold in a 20kg pack.

Mandy Searle, head of technical services at Norcros Adhesives, says: “This new system from Norcros Adhesives is designed to tackle one of the key issues associated with the increasingly popular anhydrite screeds, namely extended drying times, which can be up to 80 days for a 60mm screed.

“This new system solution should prove a real benefit on-site for flooring contractors and tile fixers.”

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New from Guard Industry are DToxGuard Indoor and DTox Guard Outdoor. These are colourless liquids applied to surfaces that remove pollutants (such as nitrous oxide from diesel fumes) from the air.

The product was supposed to be introduced in London on 27 April, but due to unforeseen problems with the venue the launch event was cancelled. Nevertheless, the product is being introduced and it is about to be used on a school in Birmingham, which will be the first school in Europe to have DToxGuard Indoor applied to one of its classrooms to improve the air quality for the pupils and teachers.

The product is said to work by photocatalysis, which is a process that uses light to accelerate a chemical reaction.

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UK manufacturer LTP has added the Ecoprotec range of ecological products in1, 5 and 25 litre containers. Sales & Technical Director Mark Atkins says the range had to perform to the highest standards, be quick and easy to apply and work quickly, all of which has been achieved.

All the products are waterbased. The three impregnating sealers are suitable for both polished and unpolished surfaces and leave either a natural or enhanced finish as required. Among the cleaning products in the Ecoprotec range is one for the removal of graffiti. And to protect them from further defacing, use Ecoprotec’s Graffiti Sealer.

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Tilemaster Adhesives has launched Magix, an easily worked lightweight S1 wall and floor adhesive. A 10kg bag will cover the same area as a 20kg bag of sand-cement adhesive. Available in white and grey, Tilemaster Magix comes in two formats: Magix-R, a rapid-setting formulation that allows for light foot traffic and grouting after three hours; Magix-S, a standard-setting adhesive for longer working times and an extended pot life of 3-4 hours. It has a 16-hour set.

Magix can be used on solid substrates and substrates with some degree of movement (such as plywood overlay to underfloor heating systems). It can be used inside and out, even in areas subjected to prolonged wetting. It has excellent slip-resistance for holding large format tiles while still allowing adjustment time for levelling up and exceptional wetting-out properties to achieving full coverage on natural stone.

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BAL Pourable One tile adhesive is a new and improved alternative to BAL Stone & Tile PTB, although it retains all the benefits of the previous product. It can be used with natural stone and large format ceramics, porcelain and terrazzo.

It is is a white adhesive, making it the pourable solution for floor installations using light, translucent stone.

Suitable for internal or external use, it can be grouted after only three hours for fast track installations.

Highly flexible, it can be used with underfloor or undertile heating with a single application of up to 25mm bed depth. It is ideal for patch repair and uncalibrated stone.