Hi all,
Just finished grouting our new shower room. I used a waterproof cement based grout (says suitable for swimming pools), which went on very nicely.
I was wondering about the possibility of sealing the grout - does anyone have any experience of using a grout sealer? Are they worth using? Do they give good results?
TIA
Whether it is worth doing if you have a waterproof grout, I am not sure. It may not have any effect. Is the grout fungicidal?
For stone tiles and grout in the kitchen, I used Lithofin sealer which is a solvent based silicone. This is certainly good and the grout easily wipeable.
I've used several Lithofin products, as have others here with good results. Not the cheapest, but you don't need a lot and do what they say.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
It is supposedly fungicidal, but IME the fungicidal qualities of grouts and/or sealants are fairly short lived.
The thinking behind sealing it is simply to make it easier to clean - if I do seal, it will probably be only the area within the shower cubicle, not the whole room (which is all tiled).
Yes, I've read lots about these from you and others. So it's a solvent based silicone - once the solvent has evaporated, it leaves behind a polymerised silicone layer - what does this look like? Does it make the grout shiny?
Thanks for your thoughts Andy.
Mmm. good point.
OK, well I used MN Stainstop on walls of tumbled marble tiles in the kitchen with quite wide grouting - typically about 8mm.
The tiles, as a result of the tumbling, end up with random rounded edges and a smoothish matt finish on the front.
I didn't want to raise the sheen at all on this because it would have looked wrong - I had previously rejected ceramics because I couldn't find any that I liked that weren't screen printed, so I'm very picky.
The MN Stainstop has done a good job and has not raised the sheen that I can see on tile or grout. We have a small number of these tiles with motifs of fossils which have then had another sealer over them when they were made. I can just about see a slight sheen on these, but it wasn't influenced by the Stainstop.
You might see a slight difference in certain lights between areas that you do and those that you don't but I did the lot.
Not in what we did at all, not even a hint towards satin.
I notice on Lithofin's site, there is a KF version of Stainstop for ceramic tiles. Whether it is really different I don't know. If you look in the problems/solutions section at ceramic tiles in bathrooms it steers you to this product.
What I would be inclined to do is to make up a small test board with some spare tiles on a piece of ply or something and then buy the smallest size of the appropriate Lithofin and try it before committing to the whole room. It might also be worth contacting their distributor, Casdron and asking.
Expect to pay about £30-35 for a litre, although depending on the area and number of coats (probably 2), half that might be enough. It goes a long way.
You're welcome.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Superb - I think I'll give it a try.
When seen as part of the whole tiling project, this isn't very much at all. Anything that makes cleaning easier has to be worth a shot.
Not from what I've seen. I've generally applied it with a brush, taking a little care not to splash it everywhere but not much. The first coat tends to soak in a lot and the second a little.
I put it on the kitchen wall (marble) tiles 2 1/2 years ago and it's still fine even with regular wiping. I don't use aggressive chemicals on it because it isn't necessary.
I believe the data says 5 years lifetime on average.
Never thought of that.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Thanks John. I wonder whether it would wipe off the tiles ok - the idea is to seal the grout, but leave the tile surface as it is.
There's a thought...
If they are glazed tiles it wipes off.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Sorry I misread. Lithofin wipes off of glazed tiles.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
They are glazed. I'd assumed that Lithofin would wipe off from their literature and your previous posts. I'm just wondering how easy the polyvine product would be to remove.
(I don't know why I repeated that - I knew what I meant, you knew what I meant...)
Another product you may consider is Polyvine dead flat varnish
I've also applied Thompson's Waterseal Ultra to tiles and grouting to waterproof them: it leaves absolutely no trace in terms of colour difference or gloss, but I don't know if it'd be any good for preventing staining (I'd guess not much).
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.