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Shower's Tile Grout Will Not Turn White!

7 years ago

This is killing me. My shower is 1 1/2 years old with honed carerra marble hex on the floor (silver-colored grout - brand unknown but can find out) and ceramic tile nearly to the ceiling with Bostik white unsanded grout (G00719-22 BOS DTG 6X5# WHITE H152). I don't believe the contractor originally sealed the tile/marble/grout and I started to develop Serratia Marcescens which required me to re-grout quite a bit of the shower. 100% bleach and hard scrubbing did very little. After the regrout, the grout was white again and I sealed the entire shower using Miracle 511 Spray-On Grout Sealer. After a month, the grout is slowly turning yellow

(https://www.flickr.com/gp/145332759@N08/v9Ws2L). My fear of ruining the marble hex on the shower floor is over and I started to using a diluter bleach solution (32 onces to 1.5 tb of bleach) which cleaned the marble nicely but did little to the cermic tile with the Bostix white grout. Every day I am now using Soft Scrub with Bleach on a white hand towel and scrubbing the grout while completely drying down the entire shower after use. It still isn't white. What am I doing wrong here? My other 15 year old bath has WHITE grout!?

Featured Answer

PRO

Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech

7 years ago

Just use the Fusion Pro from HD. It holds it's colour, is antimicrobial, never needs sealing. It's my "Go To" grout. (I hate callbacks...)

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Comments (7)

User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Yikes, hopefully a pro will chime in...

I had white grout installed a little less than 2 years ago and it's still white. It's a sanded brand from HomeDepot I think, so nothing fancy...

They do sell white grout markers... I have no idea if they work but there are some good reviews on this one-

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rejuvenate-White-Grout-Restorer-Marker-Pens-RJ2GMW/203221031
shawn_august
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Thanks. However, that is covering up a problem given it isn't occurring in the other bathroom.
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I don't know what the sealer recommends for drying time before using it on the grout, but 9 times out of 10, when the sealer turns white, it's because there was moisture in the grout, and you're going to have a bi*ch of a time getting rid of it. I won't even go into the aversion I have to aerosol sealers to start with.
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Vertise
7 years ago
I believe there have been other reports here of white grout yellowing. Trying doing a search if you haven't already.
shawn_august
Original Author
7 years ago
There's a ton of turn grout white and I've tried countless products/chemicals. At this point, I can't tell if it is yellow or the return of Serratia Marcescens
Olychick
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Here's an old thread on this issue...one pro suggests it's the iron in the water used to mix the grout, that distilled water should have been used.

Yellowing grout
shawn_august
Original Author
7 years ago
I plan to have it re-gouted and use something like TEC Power Grout or the Fusion Pro. It can't be iron in the water if the yellow/orange is limited to the bench. Why not the rest of the shower?

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