Mapei Grout Refresh

[DaTileJedi]

Hello all. I have a project where the owner is unhappy with the grout color they chose in a seashell shower with a ton of grout lines. It’s a lot darker than she was expecting and wants to use grout refresh. I’ve never colored grout and have no idea how long it really lasts and the actual outcome. Can anyone chime in? The grout in the shower now is epoxy grout. It’s a brand new home so no one is living in it yet and she doesn’t want to remove the grout as it will be too expensive. Any recommendations and info would be much appreciated.

[cx]

I would direct you first to the TDS for the Grout Refresh product, Jared.

Some years ago we (TYW) tested a handful of such grout "stain" products, but I don't recall if this MAPEI product was among them. In general I found them to be much like latex-based paints, rather than stains. We didn't test them on epoxy grout at all, and I'd be a bit skeptical of such an application, even thought the TDS indicates epoxy grout as a suitable substrate. And no clue as to longevity as the testing was not done on actual, in use, tile installations.

And saving money over removing and replacing epoxy grout? Yeah, but on a surface with "a ton of grout lines," it's gonna take somebody a long, tedious time to paint those grout lines. And to hafta do it again sometime in future? Not sure the customer shouldn't just schedule some therapy that would allow her to embrace the grout color she has.

[Jason@mapei]

Grout refresh is a topical stain, it can be used on Epoxy grout. Being topical it will wear off over time, and there are a lot of variables that will contribute to how long it lasts. Cleaning frequency and products used, how many times the shower is used. So there is no way for me to guess how long it will last.