Must I use same product to re-seal grout?

10 years ago

The tile sub contractor is coming today to seal the grout in our new bathroom. We have porcelain on the shower walls and floor and on the main floor, with glass/marble mosaic outside the shower.

Down the road when I need to re-seal the grout, must I use the same product they use?

Thanks!!!!

-Babka

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Comments (8)

OldTimeCarpenter1
10 years ago
Nope. But why did you use a grout that needs to be sealed rather than one that doesn't, like the new urethane grouts?
Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
This isn't a DIY. The GC hired the sub who did the work. I guess I didn't do enough homework or I would have specified pre-mixed grout. Nuts.

-Babka
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theanimala
10 years ago
I used presealed grout for my kitchen and bathroom and hate how the color of the grout is not even. I searched online and there are tons of complaints on the pretreated stuff. For that reason I am going old school and doing my master bathroom with standard grout and then I will spend the time to seal it myself. I just don't feel it's worth the risk as there are just too many issues with the predone stuff...
Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
The owner of the tile installation company came out to seal our grout. I asked him why they didn't use the urethane grout? He said it is way more expensive, and I wouldn't be able to use my no rinse shower cleaner spray on it.

The whole reason for having porcelain and patterned frame-less glass in this shower is so that we don't have to squeegie or scrub anymore. The Clean shower "a few sprays after each shower" worked wonderfully well in our old shower keeping the glass and old ceramic tiles spot free.

So in the end, I guess the dry-mix grout is best for me. But thanks for the quick response and the info that I don't have to use the same product when it is time to re-seal.

-Babka
Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
Duplicate post. ;-(

This post was edited by Babka on Thu, Jun 20, 13 at 17:45
OldTimeCarpenter1
10 years ago
Hummmm! We set a lot of tile, and I have never heard that you could not use a "no rinse" shower cleaner on it. I do it all the time.

Urethane is more expensive, but taken as a percent of the cost of the whole tile job, it's peanuts compared to years of having to clean and reseal cement grout.

As for "pre-sealed" grout. That's not urethane, and I generally would not recommend it because the pre-sealing sometimes affects the product's ability to adhere properly.

However, it you take care of the shower properly, it will give years of faithful service.

1. Don't use hard soap. Use a body wash instead, and make sure it does not contain talc. Hard soap is the source of soap scum. Soap scum in cement grout has to be scrubbed out.

2. Use a shower rinse like Shower Clean or the (more expensive) Tilex version after EVERY shower. This is just a liquid that breaks up the surface tension of any water drops left in the shower so they don't dry, leaving behind mineral deposits. I make my own home made version for about 25ÃÂ¢ a gallon. There are several recipes on the web.

3. Inspect the shower about 1xmonth for any sign or mold or mildew and kill it quick with a 10% chlorine bleach solution, or Oxi Clean.

4. Thoroughly clean the shower 1x week.

Best wishes.
Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is where I found the "no-rinse cleaners" info. 4th bullet down the list.

Isn't this a urethane grout? Are others different? Clean Shower is a no-rinse thing.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: QuartzLock info page
Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
Duplicate post. I'm seeing a lot of this happening in Garden Web the last few weeks. Sorry folks.
-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: QuartzLock info page

This post was edited by Babka on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 0:09