I hate grotty tile grout !!!

[joe90]

I am beginning to plan for my bathrooms/cloakroom and I like tiles, I am pretty good at tiling BUT I HATE GROTTY GROUT,!!. Grout gets grotty because its porous I guess and I have seen grout sealer but does it work?, can anyone recomend a good grout sealer and does it work?

 

I am also considering wall panels which does away with the dreaded grout but we still need the dreaded silicone which still gets grotty with time. Is there a good alternative to silicone?

[Gone West]

@joe90 I've never used it but Is epoxy grout porous?

Edited March 22, 2017 by PeterStarck

[Nickfromwales]

13 hours ago, joe90 said:

Is there a good alternative to silicone?

Clear CT1 is excellent stuff. I did a couple of bathrooms with Mermaid panels and used my router to do all the cuts, scribing perfectly to the shower trays etc. The base trims they sent were utter crap and a PoF for sure, so I binned them and devised my own solution. 

Basically a half inch bead of clear CT1 with absolutely no voids at the foot of each panel and then the panel dropped into / onto the bead. The panel then displaced whatever it didn't need and the excess was tooled off and cleaned away with a combination of masking and cleaning ( with wet wipes first and CT1 MultiSolve spray ) afterwards. 

The result is a clean sharp edge and a neat, near invisible watertight seal which is also an adhesive bond. 

CT1 also doesn't suffer and degrade like most silicones do, but you do then also retain the option of retrospectively siliconing over the CT1 to give a purely cosmetic seal, ( with a colour matched silicone for eg ) which can quickly and easily be removed and redone every few years if so required. 

Fwiw, regular non abrasive cleaning will massively decrease the intervals between the silicone needing replacing / redoing. 

[billt]

13 hours ago, joe90 said:

I am also considering wall panels which does away with the dreaded grout but we still need the dreaded silicone which still gets grotty with time. Is there a good alternative to silicone?

We used wall panels in our shower room and there is no visible sealer. The vertical corner and edges are finished with a narrow metal trim which has sealer internally, but isn't visible. The bottom overlaps the vinyl floor covering and doesn't have any sealant, but you would need sealant round the bottom edge if the panel was meeting a shower tray.

 

We like the panesl a lot, much easier to keep clean than tiles.

[joe90]

Thanks guys, all good info but SWMBO is still talking tiles for some area,s so what about grout sealer?

[Pete]

I have been using limestone tile sealer on grout in my rental properties for years and it works a treat. 

[Nickfromwales]

Sealer will work, but you'll have to keep re-applying it in a high frequency area such as a shower. Prob once every 6 months at an estimate. 

It takes minutes to do a shower area so no real grief TBH. 

Regular light cleaning will pay dividends. 

[bassanclan]

Epoxy grout is good, but a pain to put in. I will take a photo when I get 2 mins

[bassanclan]

it is a bit difficult to see in this photo as the grout I so well matched to the tiles, but its Mapei Kerapoxy, about 7 yrs old. You can see the Dow Corning sealant I mouldy (should have used ct1) but the grout is smooth, mould and mildew free and non porus

[Nickfromwales]

On 22 March 2017 at 20:27, bassanclan said:

Epoxy grout is good, but a pain to put in. I will take a photo when I get 2 mins

Any good tips as I may well use it on the next wetroom floor?

[ProDave]

A dose of bleach will have that sealant clean and shiny in no time. Forget all your "bathroom cleaning" products,. neat bleach works wonders.  I paint it on with a paint brush. leave for a while then rinse off.

[bassanclan]

When you are putting it on you have to work quickly and make sure it is nice and smooth because there is no second chance to go back and smooth it out, like you do with normal grout.

Make sure there is good ventilation

Make sure you are wearing good rubber gloves

[Nickfromwales]

On 27 March 2017 at 22:29, bassanclan said:

When you are putting it on you have to work quickly and make sure it is nice and smooth because there is no second chance to go back and smooth it out, like you do with normal grout.

Make sure there is good ventilation

Make sure you are wearing good rubber gloves

What about cleaning the excess off the tile face after spreading it around / in ?

[bassanclan]

Its not like traditional grout, where you have a powdery consistency, imagine expoxy resin for fixings etc, so its a 2part paste you have to mix up.

 

I would borrow some scales and weigh about 250g for the first time until you get used to it as you only get a short window before it goes off.

 

You clean the excess off the tiles (diagonally) as you go with lots of warm water and a scotchbrite pad or similar. Its useful to have a kitchen scourer sponge too for smoothing the final grout line.

 

I have only used it on polished porcelain as I think it might be a nightmare to get off "open textured" tiles