Sealant Jobs help

I used Thompsons water based clear sealant but my pump sprayer leaves these lines. The customer is nice but doesn’t like these lines, which I don’t blame him. This job was yesterday but the customer called back and said about 80% of the lines are gone but 20 % still remain. Will these lines go away after time? Or is there something I can do to fix this?

Stock nozzle huh? Stone is porous, tompsons is mainly water, the lines are where your nozzle fan had the heavier amount coming out and you didn’t overlap or cross spray. Give it another day, but your looking at a minimum of getting a better nozzle on your tank and spraying it again. go with a cone instead of a fan and overlap.

just one guys opinion, I wasn’t there.

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This is dead on, stock nozzle. So you think it’ll dry out? I called Thompsons and they said I applyed too much and I need to use a degreaser to get the lines off.

Here is my .02, so take it with a grain of salt and seek more professional opionions on this forum. It MAY dry out, It MAY not, hard to say, depends on how porous that substate is. I hoped you shook the snot out of that thompsons before using it. I’ve done some experiments with thompsons on stone, and it varies from types of stone, some aren’t as porous and they will film towards the top, others it goes right through like a collander.

Two options as I see it 1) strip it and redo it 2) respray with a cone pattern and overlap and hope it is evened out.

Here is the kicker, if you strip, some stone doesn’t look quite the same as it did beforehand.

Either way you learned to test spray with your nozzle before application, but at a price. Sorry, I’ve had to learn that lesson the hard way too.

I just tried out the cone tip and it is by far the way to go, so if anyone is doing sealing, definitely use the cone, NOT the fan. Thx Dirtyboy.

Now I just need to go to the customers house and spend a nice amount of time scrubbing, fun!

one word of caution, you can leave lines with a cone too, think almost a mist, overlapped, but not too heavy. the heavy vs. light is what leaves the lines. A video would be better than my dumb brain trying to explain it.

If you sit back and look at it after spraying you should immediately see what areas are lighter than others, then rehit some areas being careful not to overapply. When you do stone it is different than wood or gypsum, because it isn’t really flat and it is porous. Wood and gypsum suck in paint stain too, but different.

a pump up isn’t the optimal piece of equipment for this, but it can be done.

Good luck to you. I hope you illicit the help of some others on this forum with way more experience sealing stone than me. I suggest a cone vs. a fan on that pump up as those nozzle tips don’t seem to fan well. If you used an airless it would do fan pattern way better.

A lot of people are using siloxones and siloxanes for stonework, thompsons is cheap and easy, but you kinda get what you pay for there.

I feel like I am writing a novel and I just want you to head in the right direction. That one pic made is seem like you kinda went across the surface once and quick, but I wasn’t there and I don’t know, kinda guessing.

No you nailed it. I just pumped up some Thompsons spray it with the fan tip then rolled it with a paint roller. Maybe it’s time for a new technique.

Why use Thompsons?

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Cause its clear, multi use. Plus I live really close to Ace who always has it in stock.

Oh. Okay.

Start over

Thompsons is junk. It’s basically a one kind fits all product that doesn’t last. I would recommend using a better product. Even if you don’t want to order try and find a local masonry store or stone and tile store and seeing what products they have. Many times they don’t cost that much more. You pass the cost alone to the customer so even if they do cost more might as well use a good product.

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Thompson’s is crap like MG said. Use this instead:
Enhancer-Shield-WB

I get it from Southern Stain and Seal in Nashville.

Excellent products. No problems. Great customer service, contact David Phillips if you’re interested in learning more.

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I cleaned this today:

Going back tomorrow to seal it with the Enhancer Shield.

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