Browse Forums Building A New House Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 61Aug 03, 2010 9:17 pm OMG!! That was my tony!!! no wonder he was late!!! lol I was sitting out the front of the house at 4pm and he rang to say sorry he was running late and would ring me when he got to geelong!!! Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 62Aug 03, 2010 9:19 pm It is a SCARY small world!! He said he was doing a quote and then the neighbour came over and requested a qoute aswell?? Poor guy drove down to geelong and left my house at 7pm to drive back to melb!! He was the most lovely guy! Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 63Aug 04, 2010 8:57 am Hhahah! Yes that was me! My neighbour was at my house and he saw the stuff and loved it so got Tony to quote him, my neighbour booked him then and there and is getting his done on Tuesday. I'll ring Tony today to book mine in. He was really lovely wasn't he. Sorry he was late for you My karma ran over your dogma Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 64Aug 04, 2010 10:25 am Hey guys can you please pm me to let me know how much you got quoted together with Tony's contact number. Hopefully I can afford it and get him to seal my floors. =-) Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 66Aug 08, 2010 12:25 am this thread is really handy.. just finished building and decided to do a DIY grout sealing.. will probably use either one of the Aquamix ( Grout Colourant or Sealers Choice Gold) that Ash recommended or the SureSeal Tile Impregnator that kek used. What I am looking at doing to make the job easier is to put a masking tape (painter's masking tape ???) on the sides of the tiles and then just use a small paint brush to apply the sealers. The tiles should be straight so applying the masking tape should be easy. Of course I will buy that knee pads and microfibre map that the others recommended. Will do a quick clean using the microfibre mop before sealing the grout. I read about sealing the shower screen. Is this the shower glass? Why do you need to seal it? Any recommendation on what to use? Thanks all. Oxford 22 @ Stage12a Point Cook Site Cut : 05/03/2010 Slab Pour : 24/03/2010 Frame Inspected : 06/04/2010 Pre-plaster Inspection: 22/04/2010 PCI: 16/07/2010 Final Inspection: 30/07/2010 Landscaping: who knows??? MyHomeoneThread Our Oxford22 Blog Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 67Aug 08, 2010 8:07 am Hi may I please have Tonys details? thanks! ************* First time renovator VIC Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 69Aug 08, 2010 11:25 am Can I please have Tony's number too? We will have to clean and colour seal when we leave our place (toilet/bathroom/shower/kitchen/meals/laundry). It'd be great to have a recommendation. Many thanks Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 70Aug 08, 2010 12:06 pm To set the scene, I had a big night out last night Especially after the wallabies loosing to the ref and the All Blacks Anyway back on topic So let me get this right. You pour a slab and cover it with tiles, upwards of $35 sq mtr(that is cheap I hear[How much did your tiles cost?]) Have them glued and grouted @ upwards of $35 sq mtr( how much was laying?) Supply the adhesive and grout @ upwards of $10 sq mtr Then Seal the grout @ $5.50 - $10 sq mtr once every few years. $85+ sq mtr And polished concrete is 'expensive' @ $100+ sq mtr and never needs maintenance? I think I am missing something I am glad for everyone 'with tiles' that there is an industry that can 'repair' crappy looking grout Sorry if anyone takes offence at anything I have said, but I feel after being in the construction and building industry for a few decades, primarily domestic, I could have my say, and lend some experience. :runsawayandducksforcover: Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 71Aug 08, 2010 12:30 pm Onc, fair point there! Methinks it takes someone to stand back and look at it as a grand plan. This takes both insight and foresight. With that perspective we can all make better choices. But most DON'T take this route. Too often decisions are made that are short sighted and impetuous. And people are like sheep... following trends and are tragics to the latest marketing of this or that surface, colour sheme, furnishings etc etc etc. This is partly why I harp on about the many dumb floorcovering choices that people make.... such as filling a house with expensive hard floors in a cold climate, and then spending a heap more $$$ on rugs. They pay maybe $120 per m2 for floorcoverings, only to place other floorcoverings on top at extra cost! Then pay a stack more on heating to make the place comfortable! Ash. Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 72Aug 08, 2010 12:57 pm hmmmm point taken....but....I hate the look of polished concrete...pretty simple. Yes Im not happy with my tiles ONLY because the grout was not what I expected. Had the grout been 'right' this would never have been an issue. So its not about being 'cheap' and should have gone the concrete, Its just a matter of personal taste. I see your point that the concrete is not that 'expensive' in the big picture, but not everyone likes it and for that cost I would never have it in my home. Having said that, I have seen places where it looks awesome. But it has to be in the 'right' home Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 73Aug 08, 2010 1:22 pm My point was not 'at' cheap anything. More at maintenance=cost v benefit(look etc) I've said this before... another few years and people will not consider tiles in the main areas. As it is there are many retro fits happening at the moment. But choice is just that... and sometimes economics are overlooked in view of taste, thank goodness. All is fair and my comments should not be considered as saying something is wrong if the floor is not polished concrete. It would be a boring place if we all thought the same Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 74Aug 08, 2010 2:23 pm I agree with you Onc... if I had the money then I definitely would go for a polished concrete floor. Some of them can look sooooo pretty!! Much easier to maintain and no need to worry about cracked tiles. Being FHOG makes it abit harder for us and I guess if I had researched it properly in the first place, polished concrete would have only been a little more expensive and would've definitely been the way to go. (Although I don't think the builder would've that us have that! ) It's definitely something I would look into for our next house if we ever get to build again Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 75Aug 08, 2010 3:07 pm Agreed... personal taste will always mean a variety of surfaces are chosen, and quite rightly so. But the 'grand plan' of choosing the right combination of floor-coverings for the various areas of our home is always the best way! That is, research and compare your choices carefully before building, consider the likely lifespan of each floorcovering, and what service and maintenance requirements it will have. Then budget and plan to maintain the floorcoverings correctly. Often people fail to do this, and the result is their floors are wrecked prematurely. They then moan about the floor and replace it with a different type of floorcovering, only to repeat the same mistakes with their new floor. I find this very wasteful. I know its easy for me to say! But for those planning to build a new house, this is good news, as you are in a perfect position to plan and choose carefully. If you are in an older home and contemplating a change of floorcoverings, I suggest you look at investing carefully in surfaces that have good longevity and performance for its given service, and plan to maintain it well. Ash. Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 76Aug 09, 2010 8:44 am OMG, I haven't visited this thread for ages, and now that I've read it from start in one go, firstly I want to say that it's not often on this forum to see someone "in the know" to take such care and attention to selflessly describe all the tiny details, give sample pictures, recommendations, hints and tips and all the rest - like our own Ash here. I think Ash deserves a huge thank-you from everyone reading this thread. Now to my small clarification question - royalblue It wouldn't cause any harm, it just may leave a film on the surface of the tiles which would take a lot of elbow grease to remove with a scourer. I use a small sponge and run up the grout joints, then buff off the surplus. Pretty easy! How do you manage to remove the sealant from the tiles and not from the grout? I think (but haven't tried it yet) that I would also remove at least some of the sealant, especially from the edges of the grout, since the grout channel is almost at the same level as tiles My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 77Aug 09, 2010 9:23 am Lex- Tiles are not porous the product sits on the surface ready to be wiped off. He's a good boy isn't he. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 78Aug 09, 2010 10:32 am @ Lex, its that wretched altruism at work again! @ Onc, yes the colour seal hangs on to the porous grout surface, but forms a skin on the tile surface which can (not necessarily easily) be wiped off. This can be a real PITA, depending on how we do it. There is a US based forum just for tile & grout cleaning contractors, endlessly discussing the virtues and problems of various brands and methods of grout colouring. Some products are applied and cleaned up differently to others. Because it is a fiddly time consuming job, some have developed ways of making the job more efficient and streamlined. Generally though, the grout surface sits just below the tile, forming a slight gully. This assists in the process. Some contractors apply the colourant and quickly remove the excess from the tiles with a damp microfibre chamois before it has dried. They buy these in bulk for this purpose. Other types of colourant is allowed to dry for a certain time, and a skin forms on the tiles. Then this is emulsified with water and scraped/rubbed off with white nylon scourers. Its a matter of careful timing coz its a real bugger to get off if left too long. I've bought all sorts of specialised applicators and tried different ways to do it. But no matter what, I've found it a PITA, but has real good benefits so is worth it for the results achieved. Oh I should clarify.... the above description is for grout colourant. The quote that Lex posted was talking about wiping off CLEAR sealant, which is meant to be done before it dries. Ash. Re: cost to seal grout? rough cost for whole house 79Aug 09, 2010 10:57 am FWIW - Silane/siloxane can be used as a repelant(reduces dirt pick up) for any porous surface such as terracotta tiles. Also used as a waterproofing agent for rammed earth, rammed limestone, mortar lines on single skin walls and driveways, as it is a penetrating sealant it doesn't wear of or become damage by UV. It doesn't change the colour and is not visible to the naked eye once cured. Costs about $240 for 20 ltrs. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... 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 5200 4 14305 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 12896 |