Advice needed about kitchen floor tiles.

[conny]

We live in a rented property with a ceramic/porcelain(?) tiled kitchen floor. (See pics.)

The grout is looking quite grubby and cleaning with a steam cleaner seems to have no effect. We are now thinking about re-grouting but don't know where to start. i.e. Is there a special grout we have to use? Does it have to be below the level of the tile surface, and if so by how much?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lee@TileTown]

Hi @conny can you check these are porcelain/ceramic, as they look like natural stone to me. Steam cleaner isnt going to do the grout any good either IMHO.

If its NOT natural stone, there is a product on the market called universeal grout rescue colour and seal. Grout Rescue' colour sealer can restore even the dirtiest, damaged and ugly grout to a new look finish. This process will permanently colour and seal the grout to make the grout look even better than the day it was installed.

 

[conny]

Thanks for your reply Lee. They do seem to be natural stone, (they have pitted holes and grooves etc), but because they have a sheen on the surface I thought I may be mistaken and they could be porcelain or ceramic.

Assuming they ARE natural stone what is the best grout to use and would I need to remove all the old grout first?

 

[Lee@TileTown]

the grout looks a jasmin colour to me, pop into a local tile shop, ask to see there grout colour swatch, they should have a jasmin, see if it matches. It looks like a travertine you have, i bet that using the steam cleaner it has stripped all the sealer off the tiles (travertine like most natural stone requires a maintenance program, deep clean and re seal.

if you do re grout, its likely to go like this again using a steam cleaner. we would advise using a ph neautral cleaner like universeal easy clean for regular cleaning. i would also use a grout protector spray on light colored grout.