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Reply to: Wow! I am dumb-founded by this but, after checking with Dawn at Sonoma Tilemakers, I've confirmed that these REALLY are their instructions for installing their crazed product in a wet enviroment. BUT, even after spending hundreds of dollars on the extra sealer and paying even more hundreds of dollars to have someone soak and towel-polish these tiles to prevent streaking, you will STILL have to keep a regular maintenance schedule to re-seal them every 6 months or so!!! I'll admit when I'm wrong, and I was wrong here. This manufacturer really does insist on a 5-minute soak in sealer for it's crazed tiles. Who would'a thunk? So, it would appear to me that this precaution is solely intended to give the manufacturer some legal "cover" as it does not extend any more lasting protection than a thorough sealing prior to and following the application of grout. Shaughnn

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Reply to: As a follow up to my post above, when installing a average-sized shower with Stellar ceramics, with just a normal glaze, I pre-soak my tiles in water and then allow them to drain before installing with thinset. 6 gallons of water easily absorbed by that tile. Were you to follow those instructions about pre-soaking in a penetrating sealer you could expect to spend about $500 extra. Shaughnn

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Reply to: Danger! Danger!!! Danger!!!! To Brendog, regarding the Sonoma Tilemakers Stellar Crazed tiles. This is a type-o. The tile body is super-absorbant and needs to be soaked in WATER prior to installation to prevent the moisture from the setting mortar from being wicked out and arresting hydration. The tiles should be "saturated" with penetrating sealer for 5 minutes in preparation before grouting. Were you to soak these tiles in penetrating sealer, you would spend an insane amount of money on sealer and ruin the bond (as already explained by Bill Vincent). I've installed quite a bit of Sonoma Tilemakers stock and it's a beautiful material. I'll call them tomorrow and confirm that this is really the instruction that they want on their website. Shaughnn

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Reply to: I just thought I'd chime in on this one, we're in the midst of renovating our shower and tub surround and we've just purchased Sonoma tile in the Stellar line, 3x6 subway tile in Crackle finish. On the website, they give explicit instructions on sealing the tile, in fact the manufacturer recommends submerging the tile in sealant for 5 minutes prior to installation. They also say that any time you have to cut a tile to re-seal it prior to installation. This obviously means more work for me and the tile installer, but I'm hopeful that if we follow the sealing and installation instructions, we'll have a beautiful result. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has Sonoma Stellar tile in crackle finish and how it came out.

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Reply to: The person who supplies the product takes responsibility for the product. It would have been nice if the tile installer had said that some of the tiles were faulty, but with 30% warped he would presume they were designed that way. That's different from culling a chipped tile.

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