Seal grout on new porcelain tile bathroom floor?

[Jackoskye]

Hi There!

I have just had a new porcelain tile floor put in my bathroom. The tiles are 12x12 and the grout used was a sanded antique white. The grout lines are 1/8. The perimter was not grouted, we will be putting up wood baseboards. The tiles are a white/cream color so the installer used the darkest grout to match. It was the darkest of the 3 recommended colors to use with the tile. I would have prefered a darker color, but I know with the tile being so light, it wouldn't have looked right. The floor looks amazing, but I know that grout can get UUGLY when it gets dirty.

So I am assuming that I need to seal the grout if I want to keep it looking so pretty :o .

How long do I need to wait until I seal it? The installer told me to wait a month, but I'm sure it will start getting dirty during that time and defeat the purpose. I would like to seal it while it's so clean and bright!

Can I seal it myself or should I have my husband or a professional do it?

And lastly, what is the best product to use that would have the least amount of fumes. The bathroom is quite small and not very well ventilated :loaded: .

Thanks for your help!

Kim

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[diego79]

The installer said one month because that's one grout gets pretty much fully cured but most sealers can be applied after 72 hours (usually will give directions on the bottle)


Although there isn't much talk of it 'round here I recommend drytreat. www.drytreat.com for bathrooms.

But it's pretty expensive and pretty fumey so it doesn't meet your requirements.

The only problem is that with other sealers you can remove/break them down by using acidic cleaners and virturally all "tile cleaner" or "mildew removers" for bathrooms have an acid as their active ingredient.

Drytreat is the only product that can't be removed or broken down by acid cleaners or any cleaner for that matter. That's it's "claim to fame" and why they offer a warranty for 15 years.

I wouldn't usually recommend it for every situations but for bathrooms I highly recommend it. Since I do alot of bathroom regrouting I see how much abuse these areas get, what type of chemicals are under the counter and how much effort is required to restore them when they start to build up soil and stains.

But hey, that's just me.

Otherwise, if it's too much of a hassle cause you have to find a distributor, go with a stone tech sealer which are still very good or pehaps some aquamix. Go for the water based variety which are less smelly.