Grout and tiles...

Leikela

Hi everyone,

My husband's cousin just redid our whole bathroom. The only thing he didn't do was seal the grout on the floors and walls. We have ceramic tiles on floor and walls.

He told us we could do it ourselves. Well, it is the only full bathroom in the house and we don't have any place else to take a shower so he said it was ok for us to shower without the grout being sealed.

Is this true? It is ok for the grout to be exposed to water and moisture? The sealer that we have is the kind you spray on. Is this adequate? He also said to caulk the joints with clear cauk after we seal. Is this correct?

Also, there is a small hole in the grout on the floor. Can this be patched by adding fresh grout? Did this hole occur from not sealing it first?

Thanks for any advice anyone can give! I hope we haven't done irreparable damage.

Floorwizard

Yes
For a bit, sure.
if it is a penetrating sealer, yes.
If it is not already caulked, then it needs to be...yes.
yes.....before sealing
nope. Somewhat normal from grouting.
Sounds like your in good shape.

Good luck....

Leikela

Thank you Florcraft!! You have eased my mind tremendously. I am going to touch up with grout this weekend. Thanks again!

HJ1

DON'T USE THAT SPRAY SEALER IN A CAN. Do a search on google and check this stuff out. It's killing and disabling people. No bs. DON'T USE IT.

Floorwizard

hmmm... I have not heard of that.
the sealers used around here are wiped on, so I guess it's worth looking into then eh?

HJ1

Florcraft

I tried to send you a pm with a link to info on the spray sealers. Apparantly I need at least 20 posts before I can do so. Can I post the link here?

http://www.thefloorpro.com/community...t=spray+sealer

Floorwizard

that link sent me to a post but no literature to back it.
Any links to some solid evidence?

HJ1

He is a link to cbs news that came from the other link I sent you to.

http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/loc...314000033.html

Also if you google this you'll find many hits and many articles. This is some bad stuff.

Here's more

http://johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=26036

http://www.scottcallahan.com/standnseal.htm

HAASEMAN2003

I used 3 cans of this crap last year from HD. Have not heard about this before. I still have some. I guess I had better check a little more into this. Bummer! It was nasty stuff that’s for sure. I didn't use any more because it did screw with my lungs. Even with a mask on.

bigboyjoel

I used a bit of the spray stuff this morning. I could barely smell anything but I also don't want to use it again. Do you guys see any big deal if I bought something like aquaseal and resealed the grout tonight, will this have a chemical reaction of any type, I can't hink that it would since alot of people say that it evaporates before it even has time to seal?

Thanks,

Joel

HAASEMAN2003

Joel this not all spray just the stand-n-Seal. I used it and sealed over after with no problem. It isn't the smell that gets you its the Chemical that sneaks up on you. It took about a day for it to start messing with me. Please don't use again. I have started putting seal in a spray bottle and using that.

bigboyjoel

So does it do it's job or do I need to recoat it with something better? The area was only about a 2x5 foot area and I used it for about 3 minutes. I'm taking it back to Lowe's today and exchanging it if I need to.

Thanks,

Joel