You might be wondering what is the big deal about grout! It is just a cement mix added between tiles to join them. But this minimal looking substance is actually packed with importance. Grout is decorative, i.e., it enhances the overall look of your flooring. Some people invest in differently colored grouts to match with their tile color. Apart from raising the aesthetic beauty of your surface, grout also joins the tiles well. A cracked or missing grout can easily dislodge the tiles, causing damage to your flooring. Grout also is susceptible to wear and tear and easily gets discolored, stained and moldy. With so many problems always lurking around grout, it is necessary to maintain it well by sealing it. A grout repair can help you restore your grout just like new.
To know about a proper grout restoration procedure, you should first know about the problems with grout and its varied solutions. Many people wonder whether is grout porous, otherwise how does it manage to get stained and molded so often. The following factors will give you better explanation about the porosity factor.
Problems with Grout:
- Grout easily cracks or wears off due to wear and tear, giving a dirty and unmaintained appearance to your flooring.
- The gaps from where the grout has cracked stores water making it stagnant. Stagnant water is an excellent breeding ground for mold, fungus and mildew.
- Grout is highly porous by nature as it is concocted from sand and cement.
- Mold and mildew, if not cleaned immediately, leads to eye problems, runny nose and other respiratory problems.
- An unsealed grout becomes stained or discolored giving a blacking appearance to your tiles, thereby ruining the look of your costly tile.
- If you find missing grout on shower floor, the tiles can come off loose without the presence of a good joint between them. This can be very dangerous to someone walking barefoot on the flooring.
- Grout in shower areas is always exposed to water splashes, which leads to greater water absorption and mold formation, eventually causing grout damage.
Problems with Grout While Tile Installation:
- Sometimes grout wears off if the underlayment at the time of installation is not proper.
- Another issue with grout is when it is not packed properly, leaving air gaps. Grout laid on top of an air gap will eventually make it fall back into the gap, leaving a space above, which appears as missing grout.
- Grout easily cracks if it is mixed with too much water or left to sit for too long before use.
With so many issues regarding grout, it is necessary to get grout sealed to prevent the occurrence of stains and mold on the surface. If your contractor advises you to go for regrouting for your grout restoration, then you should be aware of the problems with regrouting.
What is Re-grouting and is it Worth it?
Re-grouting is nothing but adding another layer of grout over the existing grout as a band-aid solution to the missing and cracked grout. It is not actually replacing cracked grout, but adding another layer of grout just to fill in the gaps and crevices. By getting re-grouting done for grout maintenance, you are not using any new procedure or product, but repeating the same mistake again as the new grout layer will also soon develop mold and stains due to its porosity.
Does Grout Need to be Sealed?
By sealing grout on floor tiles, you add a protective layer on the grout surface, thereby preventing it from absorbing any water or moisture inside its pores. Sealing your grout also makes it waterproof and undisturbed by frequent water splashes or food and beverage spills.
When to Seal Grout?
Grout sealing has to be done systematically. You need to first clean the grout and then seal it. You cannot seal a dirty grout else you will find a hazy and cloudy look on your grout. It has to be cleaned and thoroughly sanitized to remove all the stains and mold.
How to Seal your Grout?
Grout sealing is necessary but you get the best results when you adapt the correct procedure. You need to follow a step-by-step process for grout cleaning and sealing.
The proper procedure for restoring grout is explained below:
(If you are too busy or cannot read the entire article, we have made it easy for you. Read the easy-to-read-and-understand infographic below, and you are good to go!)
Cleaning Grout:
For grout restoration, cleaning grout in floor tile should be the first step. It should be done using a deep penetrating cleaner, which releases dirt, stains and mold from each layer of the grout without damaging it. Such deep cleaning removes the mold on grout.
Repair Damaged or Missing Grout:
After deep cleaning grout, the next step is grout repair that entails filling the cracks and gaps with a powerful epoxy grout adhesive. Such a filler can repair grout cracks and deliver a uniform grout line. These fillers form a permanent bond on the surface and do not ever pop off from the grout.
Sealing Grout:
After you have repaired broken grout, the next step involves sealing it. Sealing gives the ultimate grout protection. Grout is very porous and absorbs dampness and moisture becoming breeding ground for mold. After repairing missing grout, grout should be sealed with an epoxy resin sealer, which seals the grout and also makes it waterproof. New age grout sealers have made coloring grout possible. You can also go for grout recoloring and sealing if you want to change the color of your grout.
Sealing Tile:
Only after the grout has been restored and sealed, one should proceed to sealing tile surfaces to give you a completely hygienic and healthy shower or flooring.
Grout Maintenance:
After the grout has been sealed, grout should be cleaned regularly with a maintenance cleaner, which removes the superficial stains and dirt accumulated on the surface.
Grout replacement will not be necessary once your grout is properly sealed. If you are seeking one such expert grout restoration company, then contact D'Sapone®. We have highly-trained experts who will render your grout just like new. We have all the necessary skills and products to restore stained grout or to fix grout cracks in shower. We have also patented our services and offer a 5 year labor warranty on our grout repair services.
If you have any questions regarding grout repair and maintenance, do leave us a message and we shall clear all your queries. If you have liked our article, do express your views by leaving us a comment below.
