I have a problem with our new bathroom floor tile. The tile is white ceramic tile with a black band around the perimeter of the room, and the grout is white as well. The only problem is that the colour of the grout is not uniform. Parts are white and other parts more a beige. It appears dirty and I don't like it. I am getting the tiler in to look at it. Any ideas what is wrong?
Before getting in touch with him, we washed and then sealed the grout. Oh Oh. Are we in trouble?
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For treating such discoloration, clean the floor with the solution of warm water, baking soda and white vinegar. Your problem will be resolved with this.
Chickadee: No, I know nothing about the stuff. But, I expect that if you posted on John Bridge's web site then you could get opinions on it from contractors who have used it.
How does the new grout look? Is it a) the right colour, and b) uniform in colour?
After 3 days of cutting out the old grout the tiler has now got new grout laid - he used Accucolor XT which is a stain resistant grout. Nestor do you know anything about it?
Maybe now I can get the rest of the bathroom finished - sinks, toilet, vanity mirrors, roman shade and it should be all done.
I got the feeling from the gc that it was simply dirty from the work that occurred after the grout was finished. But there was no suggestion that they clean it, so I tried with general floor cleaner and a toothbrush.
The shower is going to be re-grouted as well, and it had not been sealed.
The job of re-grouting does not sound pretty, but they will be putting in a grout that has a stain and sealer in it. So that is good.
The middle of the floor is covered in octagonal tiles 4inches with the same in the shower. Not easy. The perimeter of the floor is 12 inch square tiles with a black pencil line separating them from the smaller tiles.
I will let you know at the end of the week how it goes. We are so close to finishing this project. It will be good to get it done and get moved back in to our bedroom.
But regrouting will mean that they're going to have to cut out the old grout (presumably with a saw), and that's going to create an awful lot of dust.
You might want to ask your contractor:
1. How much grout is he going to be removing. That is, how deep will the cut be. You want the depth to be at least the same as the width of the grout joint, so I'm guessing at least 1/4 inch.
2. Cutting through the grout with a masonary blade is going to create huge amounts of dust. How does he intend to control the dust and keep it confined to the bathroom when doing this work? Normally they will at least tape a plastic sheet over the door way, but maybe your contractor has a way of spraying water onto the grout and saw blade while he's cutting to keep down the dust, and has a helper working behind him collecting that water with a wet/dry vaccuum cleaner.
I don't believe the sealer caused any problem there. If you hang around any DIY Q&A forum, you'll hear about floor grout drying either to the wrong colour, or spotty or whatever. It's something that happens and I don't think anyone really knows why. You're also going to have to decide whether to seal the new grout. What are the dimensions of your tiles and how wide are the grout joints between them?
Great news the tiling contractor has decided that they best option will be re-grouting the floor. I feel responsible because I sealed the floor. Anyway no one had told me that I shouldn't do it and the floor did not come clean.
I am seeing the tiling contractor today and he will tell me about the stain. I hope it stains it white this time.
Thanks Chickadee.
I've never stained grout and I don't even have any idea of how well that would work or what potential problems, if any, could be created by staining the grout. Hopefully it'll work well and won't create any new problems.
But, if I were you, I would ask Harry and the people on John Bridge's web site what they think of your contractor's gameplan. You aren't the first one with discoloured floor tile grout, and I'm sure other tiling contractors have stained the grout darker in order to fix the situation when it occured to them. See if they think that's the best route to go.
I'm hoping that other people in here might read this thread and realize that things like this do happen and no one really knows why. 100 floor tiling jobs will go fine, and one will end up having discoloured grout even though nothing was done differently. (I really don't know how often this happens, but I do know that it's not uncommon.)
Hi NK
The latest news... the tiler is coming over tomorrow with some grout stain. I have been in touch with both the web sites you suggested and they were very informative. But everyone seems to have a different answer. So I hope this stain does the trick and lasts forever.
I will let you know what it looks like.
Chickadee:
Well, I think this is turning out to be another case of discoloured floor tile grout. I've heard of this happening, and it's not at all uncommon in coloured grouts.
I think you should register on Harry Dunbar's web site as well as John Bridges. Tell them what you told me, including how long after grouting that you first noticed the beige discolouration and how long after that that you washed the floor and how long after that that you sealed the grout. They're going to want to know the sequence of events and the time line just to rule out the possibility that you washed the grout too soon, or sealed it too soon.
The grout sealer you used was an acrylic film forming sealer. It should not have caused any discolouration. It's really just a latex paint that dries hard and clear.
If you want to show Harry and the people on John Bridge's web site what grout sealer you used, just highlight the following URL and press Ctrl-C (hold the Ctrl key down while pressing the "C" key) to copy the URL to the Windows "clipboard". Then, when posting in Harry's or John Bridge's web site, press Ctrl-V to copy the URL from the Windows clipboard into your post.
http://www.homehardware.ca/Products/index/show/product/I1626789/name/sealer_grout_acrylic_473ml
This certainly won't be the first time either of them have heard about discoloured floor tile grouts, and maybe they might know by now what caused it and what can be done to correct it.
Sorry I could't find any silver bullets that would set everything right for you. Let me know what you're tiling contractor intends to do.
NK - Thank you for your advice - I found the sealer in the Home Hardware page you sent - the product number is 1626-789 the first one on the page.
Well our tile guy came today and sadly he was not able to improve the grout colour. He scrubbed and sanded it, and left frustrated. He can see why I am not happy with the colour and he says he is committed to fixing it for me. He is getting in touch with his boss to see what the next step should be. I am feeling worried that it won't get fixed.
If I knew how to post a photo, I would send one to show the discoloured grout.
Hello Chickadee,You may want to have a look at our Ceramic & Porcelain Tile article. It has some basic information about types of ceramic tile.I hope that helps!Please let me know if you have any other questions.Gwen McAuley (gmcauley at hhmedia.com)
Are these broken green glass tiles on the floor or on the walls. I wouldn't put glass tiles on a floor because I'd expect them to crack just from the impact of foot falls.
Are all the cracked tiles in the traffic areas?
I might have led you wrong with the sealer. We noticed the beige discolouration in the grout before we sealed and washed it. It did not get much better after washing it. Then we sealed it.
The tiler was here yesterday and he assured me that he would fix it. He thinks that the tile grout is dirty because of the work that was going on after the floor was laid and grouted. He is coming back to try to clean it. I am hopeful he will be able to do something about it. I will let you know later this week.
Thanks for your interest NK. We live in an old house and have never done any tiling before.
Further to our problem in our ensuite, we also completed our main bathroom and tiled it with square white ceramic tiles interspersed with small green glass tiles. We have been using this bathroom regularly since we moved out of our master bed and bath (about 6 months ago). Four of the glass tiles have cracked. They are going to be replaced, but I am concerned they will continue to break.
Can you identify which sealer you used on this web page:
http://www.homehardware.ca/Products/index/index/Ntt/grout+sealer
Also, I'm presuming that it was the tiling contractor that did the grouting, not yourself. There are plenty of things that newbie DIY'ers do when grouting for the first time that can cause the grout not to cure properly.
I can say that you certainly didn't seal any moisture in the grout. Several weeks should have been more than sufficient time for the fresh grout to dry sufficiently to be sealed. And, if you waited another week after the washing to seal, that shouldn't have been a problem either. The grout should have been both fully cured and sufficiently dry when you sealed it. I'm presuming you followed the manufacturer's directions in applying the sealer.
From what you're telling me, the problem you're having with the grout was not your doing, or at least I can't see that you did anything wrong. But, if you didn't see any discolouration of the grout during the first several weeks after grouting, that would mean that it was the sealer that discoloured the grout. Certainly, I'd expect that you would have noticed any beige discolouration when you washed the floor, and couldn't help but look at it's entire surface.
Can you take a nail or any sharp metal object and scratch the surface of the grout in an inconspicuous spot where it's beige to see if the discolouration is just on the surface, or if it penetrates deeper into the grout. I'm hoping that the beige discolouration may just be dried up excess sealer that can be removed with another cleaning (this time with a solvent, maybe).
Also, you might want to look for any Customer Service 1-800 phone number on the bottle of grout sealer. If you allowed plenty of time for the grout to dry and followed the manufacturer's instructions when applying the stuff, and yet this still happened to you, it's likely to have happened to plenty of other people that used this same grout sealer. Hopefully the manufacturer is aware of the problem and knows what caused it and how to correct it.
I'd register on Harry's and John Bridge's web sites. I'm not seeing anything wrong here, but they have forgotten more than I'll ever know. The only thing I'm thinking is that the beige discolouration may be excess sealer that can be cleaned off. When floor tile grout discolours, people will see that discolouration as soon as the grout is dry, or within the first week or 10 days or so. In this case, there didn't seem to be any problem until the sealer was applied, so that points an accusing finger at the sealer.
See if you can you identify which of the grout sealers sold by Home Hardware in the above web page you used. If Harry or someone on John Bridge's site has had problems with that sealer, he'll certainly remember it. People that do home repairs and renovations won't remember much of the uneventful jobs they've done, but will clearly remember every product or installation method that created problems for them afterward. They make a point of remembering those cases to avoid future problems. Your case sounds like the sealer caused the discolouration, so hopefully someone will have encountered this same problem before with a different sealer or a similar problem with this same sealer. If so, and if the problem was ever corrected, they'll certainly remember what probably caused it and what had to be done to correct it. One thing's for sure; you certainly won't be the first one there asking about floor grout discoloration. I've never tiled a floor, but I'm even aware of the potenial for grout discolouration there.
1. I waited several weeks to wash the floor because there was other work going on. Then we sealed it a week later. The seal was from Home Hardware. I believe it was a penetrating seal. The shower floor looks the same, but there is no seal on it.
2. The floor grout was basically the same - maybe a bit lighter after I washed it.
3. The beige colouring fades in and out among the tiles. It is not a distinct area.
4. The floor is not wet. The plumbing is not all in yet. So we are not using it.
Chickadee:
We need more info.
1. After the tiling contractor grouted, how long did you wait before washing the floor, and then how did you dry the floor (if at all) and how long did you wait before sealing the grout? Also, what product did you use to seal the grout?
2. Did you notice any difference in colour before you washed the floor and sealed the grout?
3. Is the beige discolouration spotty, or is there a pattern of any kind to it? Does it just affect some areas and not other or is it uniformly distributed over the entire floor?
4. From the way the grout looks, is it possible the "beige" grout is simply wet grout? Do you remember the colour of the "biscuit" which is the clay body of the tile? I'm wondering if it was a brownish biscuit and what you're seeing is light reflecting through wet grout from the edges of the tiles.
I'll help if I can, but even though I've tiled the walls in more than 20 bathrooms, I have yet to set my first floor tile. And, I've never had any problems or experience with discoloured grout. But, from hanging around DIY Q&A forums for the past dozen years, I can tell you that floor grouts drying to a non-uniform colour is a problem that seems to happen too frequently. Generally, though, the problem occurs with coloured floor grouts, not white grout.
If you don't get any answers in here, there's a fella by the name of Harry Dunbar who's a knowledgable and experienced ceramic tiling contractor in Ontario that I met on the internet years ago. Harry has a DIY Q&A forum much like this one on his web site at: http://www.ontariotile.com where he tries to answer (as best he can) all questions posted there. Pop into that forum (you may have to register first) and see if Harry knows what would cause this.
If Harry doesn't know, he may refer you to http://www.johnbridge.com
That's a web site operated by John Bridge where there is also a DIY Q&A forum, and a lot of tiling contractors hang out there and answer questions from DIY'ers (mostly newbie homeowners). Discolouration in floor grouts seems to be a not-so-uncommon problem, and hopefully someone in there has first hand experience with it, and may know how what' probably caused it and how to correct the problem. Mr. John Bridge wrote a DIY book on ceramic tiling, and he's widely regarded as an expert on ceramic tiling in DIY circles on the internet.