Photo of Merideth's bathroom floor during Tile Grout Coating application.
When we first toured our current home, the one thing we loved about the bathroom was the penny-tiled floor. The previous owners had done a small scale DIY remodel when they had moved in ten years prior: a paint job, floor installation, and new classic white porcelain pedestal sink managed to update the bathroom while still fitting the overall look and style of the rest of the house. However, if you have a small-tiled bathroom floor like us, you are probably well aware of how dirty the grout can get--
and how difficult it is to clean...
Progress report of Merideth's bathroom floor...
After asking around, a friend of ours suggested we try using a steam cleaner on the grout. After getting tired of the grimy grout in the bathroom of her 1920s apartment, she spent a few evenings with a steam cleaner to try and clean out years and years of dirt from previous tenants. While this option did help the floors somewhat, we went online to see if there were any other solutions out there.
And that's how we found Merideth's Flickr: Showing off her recent bathroom project, Merideth used Tile Grout Coating to whiten her bathroom floor back to its original, pristine white. Just judging from her photos, we're willing to shell out for a bottle or two of this stuff. The coating is waterproof, biodegradable, and cleans up with water.
An 8 oz bottle of Tile Grout Coating runs for $7-$8, covering about 55 square ft per bottle. Available at Aubuchon Hardware.
Check out more photos of Merideth's DIY projects of her bungalow on Flickr. A lot of the restoration was done by Merideth and Beth, including replacing the windows, buying and refinishing their front door on eBay, and retiling their front steps.
What a difference!! They actually look better !
view Marie-Eve's profile
no doubt they look way better. buuuut... what happens if you coat over mold or mildew?
view deeboyayay's profile
The flickr link says she used muriatic acid to clean the grout.
Maybe I'm looking at the wrong picture?
view scf's profile
how can something be waterproof and cleans up with water?
view Jason's profile
I'm with scf ... flickr caption says she used muriatic acid. I can't see that the Tile Grout Cleaner contains any of that.
view jolo's profile
perhaps she cleaned it with the muriatic acid and then sealed it with the coating? It seems you would need to clean it first, then coat it to prevent it from getting dirty again. And I think the coating adheres to the grout making it waterproof but the remainder smeared on the tile cleans up with water.
view Enamorada's profile
"no doubt they look way better. buuuut... what happens if you coat over mold or mildew?"
Nothing?
"how can something be waterproof and cleans up with water?"
it probably means it cleans up with water and when it is fully cured, probably a few days, it becomes waterproof.
view Archie's profile
She cleaned with muriatic acid first and then sealed it with Tile Grout Coating. There's a pic of the bottle in her Flickr stream.
view mudrick's profile
Not to burst anyone's bubble, but I tried the Tile Grout Coating, and it got dirty again very quickly. When it dried, the grout coating has a plastic or rubbery consistency, and dirt sticks to it. Then you can't effectively clean it without removing it.
I have had better luck just chipping out grout and refilling it in.
:-(
view NancyInLA's profile
There are plenty of products that are both water based and water proof.
These products use water to suspend other compounds in, when they are free from their bottle/can/tube the water evaporates, leaving the heavier particles behind which bond to each other.
view pinky speedway's profile