Bleeding grout and hard water = Impregnator vs sealer or both

[diyingmomma]

I hurt my wrist so ended up having my tiles done by a company. It was installed over a month ago (so definitely should be cured) It is a dark Italian ceramic tile in my bathtub shower area. We have exceptionally hard water that makes terrible watermarks (and corrodes fixtures when the water sits on it. I used Mapei Grey Grout.

When I went over everything with a sponge a second time to make sure all was washed before sealing (it had been sitting for a month so all should definitely be cured...lol), it dripped some grey color onto my white tub. I called Mapei and they sent me a sealant (Mapei Ultra Care Grout Sealer) to put over the grout that they should take care of the issue.

I had bought 511 Impregnator Sealer that I was going to put over everything. I hoped that it would help with water spots and give an extra boost to the Mapei grout (that isn't supposed to need to be sealed). Mapei sent this grout sealer and said to do two coats of that.

My question is...

1) can I used the grout sealer on the grout and then put the 511 over everything as a second coat (I will wait a day to make sure everything is dry) to help with the hard water

2) if I can't use both products, what should I do? Use just the Mapei or go for the whole thing with the 511

(Side question, is that common to have the color bleed after so much time or could this be an install error?)

Thank you SO much for any advice...I really appreciate it!!!

[cx]

Welcome, KK.

Please tell us more specifically which MAPEI grout you used. If you have a link, just spell it out with an extra space in the www and a moderator will light it up for you (you'll be able to post links after a couple more posts).

Is this the sealer MAPEI sent you? I know you said sealant, but this is a penetrting sealer, not a sealant. There's a large difference.

1. I'm not sure why you'd wanna do that, but please don't. One, the MAPEI product, is a water based product, while the other, the 511, is a solvent based product, I do believe. I don't know that one would do more good than the other in your situation. Actually, I don't know that either can prevent your washing color out of your grout. Perhaps I'm missing something. What exactly did the MAPEI rep tell you it would do?

2. Either of those products can be used on your entire floor. Whether either will have any meaningful effect on the tiles I cannot tell. Might do nothing but cause a haze if not cleaned off the tile surface properly.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[diyingmomma]

Here are several pictures that show what grout was used, 2 sealers that I’m considering using, and a picture of my tile with the grout along with a picture of how the grout still is bleeding — and that’s a pretty weak picture a lot of them are more dark gray and if I use a sponge to wipe the grout, grout color is coming up on the sponge.

I just need to know what sealer to use? Do I use the Mapei one directly on the grouch and don’t worry about the hard water for the tile or can I use that mapei one on the grout and then in a couple days use the other sealer on the tiles so that I have more protection against hard water for the tile and the grout is protected for the color from the first sealer? Or do I forget the mapei sealer that mapei sent me for the grout color issue and just put the 511 on everything?