Improving look of old floor tiles and grout? (floors, how much, Home Depot)
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Anyone have any tips for improving the look of old floor tiles?
We have our house on the market and the bath tiles are old and 1-2 inches square.
Doesn't matter how much I clean them or what I use they still look dull and the grout looks uneven once they dry!
There are no cracks or chips in the tiles , and to change them would be a pain and costly as we have a free standing cast iron bath in one bathroom and a sauna in the other.
Any tips regarding regrouting or any sort of a coating I can put on the tiles to make them look less dull or some wonderful cleaning product!
I think they're porcelain, but couldn't swear to it.
If I regrouted would I have to scrape out all the old grout first?
I've used Dye Your Grout | Paint My Grout | Stain Your Grout | Recolor My Grout with great success.
I really like it. A little goes a long way and it is not difficult to do.
I've used it in three rooms in my place, and months later it looks the same as it did the day I did it.
Before;
Just my 2 cents.....It was inexpensive, and makes the grout look new....great especially if you are selling.
Have you steamed clean your tiles, a good steam cleaning is better then most. There are many online sites where you can buy a grout pen, in a different color or the same color you already have, i have used wet regrout before, and redid myself a whole ktichen, with tile, I went from off white grout, to yes black, came out beautifully.
Once clean, you should seal your tiles with the new regrout, there are all kinds of sealers out there, and all kind of proudcts, for redoing your grout to make it look like new. Just do an online serch and you will be amazed at the choices for you.
The first part would be trying to identify what type of tile you have. Ceramic or non-porcelain tiles are generally made from red or white clay fired in a kiln. They are almost always finished with a durable glaze which carries the color and pattern. These tiles are used in both wall tile and floor tile applications, are softer and easier to cut than porcelain, and usually carry a PEI 0 to 3 rating.
PEI 0 Not recommended for floors at all
PEI 1 Light duty floor
PEI 2 & 3 Medium duty floors
PEI 4 Heavy duty floors
PEI 5 Extra heavy duty floors
Non-porcelain tiles are usually suitable for very light to moderate traffic and generally have a relatively high water absorption rate, making them less frost resistant and they are more prone to wear and chipping than porcelain tiles.
Porcelain tile is a tile that is generally made by the dust pressed method from porcelain clays which result in a tile that is dense, impervious, fine grained and smooth, with a sharply formed face. Porcelain tiles usually have a much lower water absorption rate (less than 0.5%) than non-porcelain tiles making them frost resistant or frost-proof. Glazed porcelain tiles are much harder and more wear and damage resistant than non-porcelain ceramic tiles, making them suitable for any application from light traffic to the heaviest residential and light commercial traffic. Full body porcelain tiles carry the color and pattern through the entire thickness of the tile making them virtually impervious to wear and are suitable for any application from residential to the highest traffic commercial or industrial applications. Porcelain tiles are available in matte, unglazed or a high polished finish. Other notable traits- edge finishes. Ceramic tiles tend to have eased, or rounded edges. Porcelain tiles have rather sharp and precise edges. Finishes also fall under other requirements like friction coefficients:
COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION (ASTM C 1028)
Establishes how much effort it takes to move an object across the face of the tile dry or wet. This is vitally important when choosing floor tile in an attempt to minimize slip and fall injuries. These glazing techniques can result in tiles that have that matte and or unglazed look. So, your tile maybe exactly the way it was manufactured (For example, the American with Disabilities Act [ADA] requires that floor surfaces be stable, firm, and slip resistant.
We could possibly narrow the search for the type of tile by other factors also like shapes and dimensions (for example: Ceramic Mosaic Tile, Quarry Tile, Paver Tile, Glazed Wall Tile, Glazed Ceramic Mosaic Tile, Glazed Quarry Tile, and Glazed Paver Tile).
ANSI 137.1 (1988) also establishes standard trim sizes and shapes called an alphanumeric system. In this system a trim piece designated S4269 is a 2" X 6" surface bullnose regardless of who manufactured it.
Porcelain tiles have the highest possibility of being polished. But, as a general rule regrouting can have the highest impact from a visual perspective regardless of the tiles current condition.
Regrouting can be a very labor intensive job- but, with the right color it could be the difference between sitting on the house and selling tomorrow!
OK
Tiles in 2nd bath are a fairly dark grey (I know) and the grout seems to be an even darker gray. What color would be best for grout?
How about a lighter grey?
Not keen to go for white.
Walls are pale green.
In master tiles are a medium beige so not so difficult there
Sure tiles are not porcelain as have a very matt finish and agree that doing something with the grout would help a lot.
Pictures would help, but I'm guessing that the tiles are an unglazed ceramic mosaic, and are probably porcelain. The 1" - 2" size is a pretty good indicator of that. Sheen is no indicator of porcelain content. In fact, tiles with no shine are more likely to be porcelain. Polished porcelain as a consumer product rather than a commercial product is only about 25-30 years old. Glazed porcelain is only about 15-20 years old as a widespread consumer product.
1. Have then professionally steam cleaned. The original grout color will more than likely come back. Then seal it with a water-based sealer (NOT silicon based)
2. Buy the grout stain and apply it yourself. Aqua Mix is a good one. The lighter gray is probably your best color selection. Tedious but inexpensive and not technically difficult. No need to seal this after you use it. The stain acts as its own sealer (epoxy based product)
There is a new tool they they are selling at Home Depot for removing grout. In the advertising video, it looks very easy to use.
Do you have to remove all of the grout or only the top bit? Maybe you cna just take a little off and replace it with new. No idea if that would work, but it would be easier than removing the full depth of grout (which seems like an awful task and risky for cracking tiles).
Not to beat a dead horse here, and I have no benefit from this, but the product I used as shown in the pics above solves all of the grout problems. It is easy to apply, inexpensive, and it has been over a year now and it still looks as good as the day I applied it.
When I had discolored grout, I used everything, even a focused steam cleaner, and it was clean, but had light and dark areas.....this product solved that.
I came home a while back and found my wife scrubbing away at the grout in our relatively new shower with some "grout bleach" trying to get out that dirty discoloration. Then I told her that we had used an almond colored grout because the tile is off white. It was not funny at the time, but I will be able to walk again soon, so we may laugh at this later.
I came home a while back and found my wife scrubbing away at the grout in our relatively new shower with some "grout bleach" trying to get out that dirty discoloration. Then I told her that we had used an almond colored grout because the tile is off white. It was not funny at the time, but I will be able to walk again soon, so we may laugh at this later.
Oh man....been there, done that kind of thing....
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