Dec 17 2007
Maintenance Monday: Grout Care
If you’re anything like me, then you barely know what grout is — and don’t much care to know anything more. That was me about a year ago. Then we shelled out gobs of money to have two bathrooms remodeled. In the interest of protecting our investments, I learned about grout. Or, more specifically, about sealing grout and keeping the grout from falling prey to mold and mildew.
I’m 43 years old and have been taking showers for as long as I can remember. Every shower in every bathroom in every house and apartment that I’ve lived in had a tiled wall surface. It was not until one year ago that I learned that one should, on a regular basis, reseal the grout lines in one’s shower. Did you know that?
The way to tell if your grout needs to be resealed is to apply water to the grout. If the grout absorbs the water, it’s time to reseal. If the water beads, the grout is properly sealed and thus properly protected.
The grout in showers will need to be resealed on a much more frequent basis than the grout in, say, a kitchen backsplash or your tiled floor. On average, I reseal the grout lines in our showers every 12 or so weeks — about 4 times a year. I reseal the grout lines in my tiled kitchen backsplash once a year. And I reseal the grout in our tiled bathroom floors twice a year.
Resealing grout is not a task I particularly enjoy nor look forward to. The one consolation is that it’s much quicker and easier to do than the initial job of sealing brand new grout.
When preparing for the task, make sure you have to right tools for the job and that you’ve done your prep work. The day before you’re going to reseal, wash the surface of your tile and your grout. Then let the grout dry thoroughly (24 hours). Make sure you’re using a high-quality sealant — quality is extremely important in this case and you’ll get much better results over the long term if you shell out the extra money to buy a good sealant. You’ll also need gloves and clean, lint-free rags or a clean sponge. [I prefer to use clean painter’s rags.] If your tiles are ceramic or non-porous, it will be important that you not get sealant on the tile surface. Make sure to wipe up all drips; the sealant will leave a cloudy residue on ceramic tiles. If you’re working with a porous tile (natural stone, for example) then the surface of the stone can and should be sealed/resealed along with the grout lines (make sure you’re using a sealant recommended for your stone and grout types). The sealants I’ve used do not have toxic fumes but I always run the bathroom fan just to be safe.
As much as I dislike sealing grout, it does give me a sense of satisfaction and I love knowing that I’m actively prolonging the life of our new bathrooms and protecting the money we invested in those remodeling projects.
3 Responses to “Maintenance Monday: Grout Care”
instead.
Hi,
Interesting piece on sealing the grout in the shower. I did not know it had to be done so often. I did reseal the grout but got drips from it. Now I have a haze and don’t know how to get rid of it, any suggestions?
Rose,
Funny you should post a comment today — resealing the children’s bathroom shower grout is at the top of my “to do” list today.
If the tile you’re working with is already sealed or glazed (like regular ceramic bathroom tile — that’s what I have in the children’s bathroom), then the sealant instructions are usually quite specific that you should wipe up any drips — and exactly for that reason: haze.
Like you, however, I got drips. Especially the first time I sealed. I can’t promise it will work in your case but heavy-duty elbow grease is what worked for me. I used a clean, dry terry-cloth rag and just scrubbed. The other mistake I made was to put the wet sealing rags in my new porcelain sink and really clouded up it up. It took mega elbow grease over a period of months to get most of that off.
Thanks for your post. It’s news to me. I’ve been a homeowner for 6 years now. I have tile throughout my kitchen and other areas. One question I have… The grout in my kitchen is now a darker cement color. The grout in the other areas (bathrooms & fireplace) are very light in color - not gray looking at all. The kitchen floor gets cleaned more often than the rest for sure. Is this color difference just the need for the grout to be resealed or is something else wrong? I never noticed a sudden change, so I’m guessing it’s come about slowly over time (likely from repeated cleanings). Thanks in advance for your help.
Jessica