Floor Tile Grout Color Sealing
 

So I’ve gotten two quotes for color sealing my grout and the prices are close (Sure Clean and Groutsmith). I just can’t decide whether to just get the grout cleaned or cleaned and color sealed. I thought, possibly incorrectly, that if I color sealed my grout, I could clean my tile as usual, with my steam cleaner, and not have to have the grout cleaned again for the length of the 10 year warranty.

Sure Clean said my steam cleaner would be enough and Groutsmith said the grout would have to be cleaned every year. Which is it?

If you’ve color sealed your floor tile, what has been your experience? Also, how soon before you could put your area rugs back down and walk normally on your floors?

If you’ve used either of these companies for floor tile grout color sealing, what was your experience?

Thank you.

Color grout DIY
 

Colored bathroom grout couple years ago with bottle from Home Depot. Cleaned existing grout with disinfectant cleaner, applied color from bottle to grout lines and had to scrape excess off tiles with sharp knife. Cost about $10 some work and patience on knees, but well worth the finish.

I did the entire house, tiled area about 1800 square feet with a product from Grout Shield, it is very similar to the Mapie product at Lowes and color matched the original grout. Took 2 weeks about 3 to 3 sometimes 4 hours at a time to move furniture, clean floor, and apply colored grout sealer, then replace furniture. I used a wheeled stool (like used in automotive work) to save my knees. This has held up very well for several years, and the cost was $60, and I still have product for touch ups if necessary.
I used the Mapie product with I tiled the lanai, for some reason the grey grout dried in slightly different shades for grey, the colored sealer fixed this problem.

So back to your question, I would definitely have the grout cleaned and color sealed, and make sure that whoever does the work leaves you with some extra sealant. In my case the color match was so good that I actually missed a couple of areas which showed up immediately when the floor was mopped.

Thank you for your replies, gentlemen. After color sealing, did you still need to have the grout cleaned every year?

No, but we have a light colored grout so every 3 to 4 years I do a cleaning.

No one annual cleaning. The grout color match is like thick paint. Had to scrape off over flow with knife. It holds up after light frequent floor cleaning.

From my experience, color sealing is worth it — it protects the grout and makes cleaning much easier. With a good seal, you usually don’t need deep cleaning again during the warranty, just regular care. I use a steam cleaner too, but always on a gentle setting.

Most floors can be walked on in a few hours, and rugs go back after about 24 hours. I’d just confirm with the company what maintenance is required to keep the warranty valid.

Had Sureclean do the color seal in showers. It started to come off where you stand after a couple months. They came out and redid it. Started to come off again after a few months. Gave up.

Grout sealing
 

I used grout smith twice. First time was ok. Second time I was not satisfied. Would not use them again. The color didn't take in several spots and they returned to redo. Several spots in the master bath shower were missed. Probably due to contractor messing up my toilet..

Both are good but SureClean was outstanding.

Have used Sure Clens twice. Their work is superb and staff very friendly, efficient and thorough. We had grout cleaned and color sealed. Highly recommend.

On a new construction house, immediately after closing and before moving into the house, we had Sure Clean clean the tile (the house was tiled throughout) and then seal the grout with their clear sealing product. We were told that sealing the grout would void our Villages warranty, but warranty work was done on a couple tiles and no one could tell that the grout had been sealed (at least the person who did the warranty work did not say anything). Sure Clean left us some sealer, so we spot sealed the areas that were addressed under warranty. We sold the house and moved after living there full-time for 3 years and the tile/grout was still beautiful when we moved. Because of this experience, I highly recommend Sure Clean.

I’ve read lots of good responses to your questions. Here’s another: after investigating the various methods for tile grout upkeep I’ve chosen a very simple method that we use on all our tile floors. I use a high quality exterior latex paint using very thin artist’s brushes (Amazon) to apply. Wipe off excess as you go along. Minimal time and expense required. Redo whenever you want and easily change colors. For the shower floor grout — same method and then grout lines are repainted/sealed with General Finishes High Performance Flat sealer. (I use this for table tops, furniture, even sealing a car dash to preserve from degradation due to Sun exposure). GF makes great products. Good luck DIYers.

Thank you everyone for helping us make our decision. 👍👏