Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 30, 2010 7:52 pm So based on my tile dilemma (the grout being much tighter than I anticipated) would it be worth entertaining the idea to have someone come in and seal the grout? And would anyone know what cost would be associated with such a thing?
On another note, does anyone else have darker floor tiles with a lighter grout, and how have you found the wear/cleanliness of them (pics please Im thinking of maybe mopping my floors with cofffee a few times to see if this will stain them! lol Re: cost to seal grout? and is it worth it? 2Jul 30, 2010 8:07 pm From what I've been told you can easily seal your own grout and it is supposidly quite cheap. We have a shimmering silver grout inbetween our slate grey tiles and i'll be doing the same Dear J.K. Rowling, Your books are entirely unrealistic. I mean, a ginger kid with two friends? Sincerely, Anonymous Re: cost to seal grout? and is it worth it? 3Jul 30, 2010 8:20 pm We have dark tiles/light grout in our bathrooms and laundry and it's still perfect after 21 months. That might be because I sealed it. Sorry, don't have any pics... It's easy to DIY, although I don't know if I'd fancy doing large living areas. Re: cost to seal grout? and is it worth it? 4Jul 30, 2010 8:24 pm well its definately not a job id want to do so i wonder if there are tradies that actually do it? hmmm I have only heard of HORROR stories about light grout, your is the first ive heard a positive, so there may just be hope for me yet!! The tiler did mention getting a good steam mop, ive never had one before, but at the moment im willing to try anything Havnt even moved in and im dreading it! lol Re: cost to seal grout? and is it worth it? 5Jul 30, 2010 9:01 pm We had darker tiles with a mid grey grout and didn't get it sealed with our reno and it's something I regret. I'd highly recommend getting the grout sealed, it's something we'll be doing next time round. ~ trying to build our dream home by the sea ~ Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 7Jul 30, 2010 9:47 pm ok, so ive decided to at least do a ring around tomorrow and ask about 'colour sealant' on my floors...kil 2 birds....seal AND make the colour slightly darker. Ive searched the forum inside and out and i cant find anywhere an approx cost to expect to have this done (and I do NOT want to do it myself) lol the whole point of us building was cos we had renovated our last place and i refuse to do any of it again. Call me a princess, but i dont care I quizzed the tiler about this when he was grouting and he reckons ;you cant re colour, you cant re grout, you cant do anythign basically unless you just get a good steam mop! But after reading HEAPS tonight, it seems pretty common? Do you think using a color sealant would make a noticable difference and be worth it? At the time i was willing to fling the tiler $1500 to do a cashy and change it (some how) but he seemed pretty hell bent that it cant/shouldnt be done and therefroe i didnt bother asking. So how much do you think? Im spewing now, I should have just got what I wanted......floorboards!!! Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 8Jul 30, 2010 11:24 pm I just renovated a place which I have now sold. In the bathroom we re-tiled with a light coloured tile but the grout we used was way too dark. We definitely had to change it! We had to buy a grout removing tool and on hands and knees scrape all of the grout out (horrible job). Then we re-grouted in a lighter colour. We sealed the lighter grout afterwards. The sealing wasn't a hard job and it was very cheap. We bought the sealer (you can get it from Bunnings, I can't remember what we paid but wasn't much) and painted it on the grout with a fine paint brush. It will probably take a full day or so to do all of your floors but it will be worth it. Maybe get a bunch of friends over and have a grout sealing party - get the job done much quicker Sealing grout is much easier than scraping out the grout and re-grouting. BTW I love your tiles with the light grout, they look gorgeous. Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36205 Land Settled - 19 Jul Site Scrape - 23 Aug Slab - 2 Oct Frame - 27 Oct Locked Out - 1 Dec Handover - 11 Mar Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 9Jul 31, 2010 1:45 am makoby I quizzed the tiler about this when he was grouting and he reckons ;you cant re colour, you cant re grout, you cant do anythign basically unless you just get a good steam mop! But after reading HEAPS tonight, it seems pretty common? Do you think using a color sealant would make a noticable difference and be worth it? At the time i was willing to fling the tiler $1500 to do a cashy and change it (some how) but he seemed pretty hell bent that it cant/shouldnt be done and therefroe i didnt bother asking. So how much do you think? : Makoby, the advice the tiler has given you is worth zip! The solution is to have your tiles & grout professionally cleaned and colour-sealed. Now if I can ask the rude question.... what is your location? I might be able to recommend such a professional. It really is helpful if people have their location in their profile! Price will depend on a number of things, but should be from $25 to $35 per square metre for floor tiles. It would be money well spent! Cheers! Ash. Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 10Jul 31, 2010 5:41 am Firstly, your tiles are beautiful and I looove the white grout. I think it's a modern trend to do the white grout with dark coloured tiles - looks great!! But yes, I agree that light coloured grout will be a bugger to clean and I speak from experience. We had polished porcelain floor tiles in our kitchen in our last house with white grout (I think it was called alabaster or something). Gawd, trying to keep the grout looking clean was a nightmare . I would have to individually clean every grout line by hand to keep it looking nice otherwise it looked stained and dirty - not attractive at all in my brand new kitchen. Definitely look into sealing your floor grout - imho it will be worth it to keep your floor tiles looking as nice as they are! Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 11Jul 31, 2010 8:01 am Hi makoby, there has been a few threads over time on grout sealing..... Hope these help a little........ viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27205 viewtopic.php?f=7&t=26276 viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16294&p=202559#p202559 viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6288 viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6047&start=20 This one says $25 per square meter but it's a few years old viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9508 Bel Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 12Jul 31, 2010 8:14 am Thanks guys. Royal blue, im in Geelong. I would appreciate any recommendations. And if the house is brand new, would they need to clean it first? God that sounds steep! I think I have just over 100 sq of tiles Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 14Jul 31, 2010 8:39 am i guess they might ahve to to get rid of the 'residue' grout? hmmm who knows But im realising now that my $1500 was probably unreasonable, god i wish i had of got floor boards!! It was 8k extra, but my tile upgrade was 1700 and now this! I can find SOOOO many before and after pics of dark to light grout but NONE that have been color sealed darker! The last thing I want is to get this done and think 'why did i bother' I want it to end up the way it was supposed to, and now im trying to work in how I will get it done in 3 weeks time BEFORE we move in, cos i sure as hell dont want to wait til after and im thinking the cost may come down if they are brand new and no furniture to work around ? Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 15Jul 31, 2010 10:17 am ive rang a couple of tilers cos I cant find ANYONE in my STATE that offers the colored grout sealant and they have said 'not worth it' 'waste of money' businesss just trying to sell a procuct and people will buy it' bla bla bla so in the end, ive had a cry (yes I really have) and really feel as this has ruined my build. I know it sounds far fetched, but i just hate my floors. Im not even excited now. The tilers all said 'would have spent 3 hrs tryng to talk you out of light grout' so WTF cant the builders be a little bit more helpful. they knew i wanted lowest maintenance possible and the sales girl at beamonts was just that ...a sales girl, didnt give a crap, didnt care and didnt know. Or why did the tiler think 'gee, silly idea grouting this color' perhaps could have consulted first yes, yes...my fault, my choice, but im honestly just trying to place blame now, cos im so upset Re: cost to seal grout? and is it worth it? 16Jul 31, 2010 10:23 am kek We have dark tiles/light grout in our bathrooms and laundry and it's still perfect after 21 months. That might be because I sealed it. Sorry, don't have any pics... It's easy to DIY, although I don't know if I'd fancy doing large living areas. Kek- did you DIY yours? If so what did you use?? Can you also do grout on shower walls? [quote="royalblue Makoby, the advice the tiler has given you is worth zip! The solution is to have your tiles & grout professionally cleaned and colour-sealed. Now if I can ask the rude question.... what is your location? I might be able to recommend such a professional. It really is helpful if people have their location in their profile! Price will depend on a number of things, but should be from $25 to $35 per square metre for floor tiles. It would be money well spent! Cheers! Ash.[/quote] Ash- would you be able to recommend someone in Eastern Victoria? I am also considering sealing my tile grout, unlike Makoby I don't want to change the colour but am interested in sealing..... Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=32574 Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 17Jul 31, 2010 10:38 am Well, there are these guys who I had junk mail from recently: http://www.groutworx.com.au/ ETA: I have no idea how good they are or anything. Status: sold our first house, moved in with parents, bought our second in Pakenham, still planning to build in a few years time. Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 18Jul 31, 2010 10:47 am sorry you are feeling so awful about this makoby try Jasmino or Jansimo, sorry can't remember the spelling, but he is a member of this forum and does colour sealing for your grout and can match the colour to any Dulux paint!!! He came out to give me a quote, I'm in west Melbourne but I reckon he'd do Geelong as well. unfortunately it was too expensive for us but if you are that upset about it it might be worth spending a bit extra for your peace of mind. He showed me a sample on my tiles, it looks like great stuff. good luck. "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 19Jul 31, 2010 11:13 am donuts...what was the cost if you dont mind me asking? we have about 100sq metres so yep....a looooooot of tiles Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 20Jul 31, 2010 11:33 am Makoby, it may seem odd but most tilers will hardly have a clue about grout sealers. If you have new tiles, the cost to colour-seal will probably be much less, but will certainly be worth every cent and more. It will cost less for larger tiles, as there will be a lot less grout. If new, they will probably at least give it an acid wash, which provides a good clean surface and slightly etches the grout. This is rinsed to neutralise and then it must be dried. This is all good preparation so the grout colour seal will hang on to the surface. Once it is colour-sealed, it will be so much easier to care for and look good than unsealed grout. So really, you are in a perfect position to get it done from new, which will save having to get your tiles professionally cleaned that you otherwise would probably need to. And everyone......... please drop the thinking that "sealed is sealed" There are lots of different types of sealers, with enormous variation in cost and performance. And then clear sealers are nowhere near as effective as colour sealers. I'll see who I can find in your area. Is "Yellow Brick Road" in that area? Ash. I need to replace the worn mohair seal on my sliding window, but I can't get access to the end to slide the old one out & push the new one in. I could probably rip the old… 0 5184 4 14277 Thanks splashers, that makes sense. The waterproofing guy used this Davco product, I will raise the issue with builder and hopefully get resolved with him - if not… 2 12890 |