The grouting on my new quarry tiles are dirty

[Joanm]

Last year I had my kitchen retiled with quarry tiles but already the grouting has become really dirty. I don't want to spend my life regrouting or cleaning grouting, does anyone know of anything which could solve the problem i.e. is there a sealant which would keep the grouting clean?

 

[Richard C]

You can get sealers which will help to a certain extent but what colour is the grouting?

 

[Joanm]

Thanks Richard appreciate quick response. The grouting is light grey but at the moment it is dirty grey in certain areas. Would it be worth getting the tiler to regrout with a darker coloured grout? What sort of sealer could be used on the grout to avoid this problem?

 

[Richard C]

It’s a mistake to pick light colour grout for floor tiling even in a bathrooms but the problem is far worse in kitchens where there is always a lot of muck & greasy food flying around. Grey goes with most tiles & is usually OK but a lot depends on quality & (no offense) the amount of abuse your kitchen floor gets. Re-grouting will require the old grout to be raked out first, a messy & time consuming job so won’t be exactly cheap to do. I would try a proprietary grout cleaner & then a sealer first to see how successful it is.
Couple of links here;
http://www.tiledoctor.co.uk/Remover.html
http://194.223.92.131/pdf/Technical Data Sheets/B & C Technical Data Sheets/BAL_Microsheild_TC.pdf

but there are loads of other products available. Unfortunately it’s not something I’ve ever had to do so I’ve no idea which products work best but if you stick to trade products rather than DIY stuff, they should be more reliable; I think

 

[Joanm]

Thanks Richard you're a star! Thanks for the advice. I think I got a bit carried away renovating my house, wanting something in keeping with the period cottage and didn't think about the grouting getting dirty, or maybe thought the tiler would seal it. Didn't think it would look so dirty so quickly.

 

[Richard C]

For what it's worth, I’ve got a mid brown pattern porcelain tile (laid by me of course) with a dark brown, wide joint grout in our largish kitchen extending through a door into a large conservatory. We live in a muddy rural lane & have a large garden so they get all sorts of abuse, we also have stuff going on here throughout the year which usually involves messy grandchildren & folks trudging through from the garden etc. Our garden has a grandstand view of our local Rugby club firework display so every year we host a bonfire night of our own to take advantage of it & have family, friends & neighbors around. If you were to see the state of the floor the next day you would not believe it but even after 6 years they always scrub up OK next day.

The grout colour you pick is important but product quality also plays a very large part IMO; you tend to get what you pay for with tiling products.