SweetieCake, if your primary criterion is resistance to mildew and your next most important criterion is long-term maintenance, then your only choice should be epoxy grout. Professional tile installers will disagree, because epoxy grout requires more care in installation and is less forgiving of installation mistakes, and the installers just want to get in and get out and get paid. But epoxy grout is a much less receptive host to mildew than cementious grout is, does not require sealant, even initially, and is more permanent.

When you mix up the components of epoxy grout, you have a short window of time to get it installed and the excess completely wiped off the tile surfaces before it sets. And when it sets, it is VERY permanent; you cannot wipe off excess the next day, period. For that reason, for large jobs, it is common to do the grouting as a series of small jobs (for instance, one wall at a time) rather than as a single huge project.

The chances are, if you want epoxy grout, you will have to do the grouting yourself. When we retiled our shower several years ago, we could not find ANY tile installer in our large metropolitan area who would agree to do the job with epoxy grout, so -- with no prior experience in grouting -- we gritted our teeth and decided to do it ourselves. We enlisted friends (also with no prior experience) to help us with the exchanges of buckets of water, rinsing of towels, etc., and did a couple of dry runs before we did the actual grouting.

We are very, very glad that we took the trouble to install epoxy grout in our shower, and cannot overemphasize the degree to which it is superior to the cementious grout that the previous tiling in that same shower had.

Mapei (the Kerapoxy line) and Laticrete (the SpectraLock line) both make epoxy grout kits for DIYers that you can buy at the big-box stores. You will be happier mixing up a couple or a few of small size kits, one at a time, than one big kit that you will have to install in an unseemly rush.

Herring Maven - thank you for your comments. I'll check with my GC about the expoy grout. It sounds like the way to go.However, I don't think I'm up to a DIY!

those additive's don't really work well you can use regular grout and then clear seal the grout with grout shields clear seal the company you are refering to is mirical sealents who is trying to ride my coat tails by useing my name grout shields

Here is a link that might be useful: groutshields home page

I've used epoxy grout. It is as good as they wrote, above.

I've used "Grout Boost". It is probably as good as the claims about it make it out to be. We'll see.

I've used regular grout without any "Grout Boost", and it has all the problems we all know about already.

The product claims "Never Seal Grout Again" and is supposed to repel moisture and resist staining. It is also anti-microbial to make the grout more resistant to staining caused by mildew.

If you're using an unmodified grout (and the only company I can think of off hand that still makes one is Hydroment) this is fine, and will do what it says it'll do. But for most of the grouts made today, like Laticrete's Permacolor, or Mapei's Ultracolor, they've already got polymers in them, and using another modifiying latex product could cause an adverse reaction in the grout. I'll guarantee you if there's a problem afterward, you've lost any warranty protection from the grout manufacturer. Also, the grouts made now, the two I mentioned in particular as well as another one from TEC whose name I can't think of off hand, all have all the same benefits already in them, and adding this grout additive won't make them any more beneficial. IMO, it's a waste of money.

You know what Bill your right those additive's are a waste of money and time again i hope people are not confusing my company GROUT SHIELD DISTRIBUTORS with the company that trying to ride my name my products are a grout color sealer that will change the color and seal the existing grout

"Grout Boost" is made by TEC, so it's compatible with TEC grouts. They also warrantee it with some of their competitors' grouts. Go see, read, and report back.

Again, as I said, even if it IS compatable, it's still a waste of money, being that these grouts I've mentioned already do what these grout additives claim they'll do for you.