Has anyone stained their grout a darker color instead of sealing it?

[Panina]

I have been reading lots, many say to seal grout but others say not to because it can cause problems. What I saw is getting grout yearly
professionally clean but what seemed like a better option for me is to stain the grout darker. Wondering did anyone do that?

 

[controller1]

I have been reading lots, many say to seal grout but others say not to because it can cause problems. What I saw is getting grout yearly
professionally clean but what seemed like a better option for me is to stain the grout darker. Wondering did anyone do that?

We did both. Our grout is a darker color and we sealed it.

 

[Luanne]

Our grout has been stained (or maybe it was just a darker grout was used when it was installed). It's not sealed.

 

[controller1]

Our grout has been stained (or maybe it was just a darker grout was used when it was installed). It's not sealed.

Yes, I'll clarify my statement. We did not stain the grout as we used a darker grout to begin with.

 

[Glynda]

When we bought this house, we had the builders workers to scrape some of the grout out and topped it with new and then sealed it. It's held up so far after 8 years. But it's in a bathroom that's not used much.

 

[JudyH]

My tile is so pale that dark grout would look bad. When they cleaned it last time, they recolored it light and then sealed. And left me touch up paint.

 

[easyrider]

I use stone enhancer to darken grout. It kind of gives grout the wet look. If you wet the grout you will see kind of what the stone enhancer would look like.

Bill

 

[plpgma]

I could say something funny about how I let my grout become stained the natural way -- but I won't go there! I will say, however, that I've seen stained grout and, when it's done well and set with complimentary tile, the result is very impressive. (Unlike my natural stained grout!)

 

[WinniWoman]

As I mentioned on a other thread, use dark grout, not white. Never ever sealed grout and no issues in terms of staining. Try to have somethin lines also.

(Don’t use white grout on a floor or behind your cook top.).

Another thing to know about is grout will often times crack near your counter because it cannot adhere to the counter material. Not a biggie. We got caulking to match the grout color and if it happens in some spots use the caulking there to fix it. Often times the tile place will have an exact match caulking.

 

[TravelTime]

If you use dark grout, then make sure the tile colors match and that they are a bit darker than the grout. Dark grout still looks bad with light tile. The grout in our house looks fine because the floor tile is darker than the colored grout. This is probably only an issue with floor tile. I have attached a couple photos of floor tile in our house to give you an idea of what I mean.

 

[WinniWoman]

If you use dark grout, then make sure the tile colors match and that they are a bit darker than the grout. Dark grout still looks bad with light tile. The grout in our house looks fine because the tile is darker than the colored grout.

I think that’s a matter of taste and the type of tile. For mine, I felt the dark grout made the bland color tile pop. I wanted to a accentuate the scallops. And again I didn’t want to have to worry about dirt or stains.

You will see this a lot with white subway tile. In my other house I wanted white grout to downplay the white subway tile walls in the bathroom. But you will see in a lot of magazines and HGTV Sometimes they will use dark grout to define each tile.

We had multicolor glass tile in my other kitchen- brown, gold, redish tones- still used dark grout and it looked great.

Again just a matter of taste I guess.

 

[TravelTime]

I think that’s a matter of taste and the type of tile. For mine, I felt the dark grout made the bland color tile pop.

You will see this a lot with white subway tile. In my other house I wanted white grout to downplay the white subway tile walls. But you will see in a lot of magazines and HGTV Sometimes they will use dark grout to define each tile.

I was just referred to grout lines looking dirty. This is only a problem with floor tile. We had white subway tile as a backsplash in our last house. We used white grout and it looked great.

 

[WinniWoman]

I was just referred to grout lines looking dirty. This is only a problem with floor tile. We had white subway tile as a backsplash in our last house. We used white grout and it looked great.

Yes we had white grout with white subway tile on our former bathroom walls which is what I wanted and it was fine. But I mistakenly used white in the white and gray floor tiles. That was a mistake.

 

[TravelTime]

Yes we had white grout with white subway tile on our former bathroom walls which is what I wanted and it was fine. But I mistakenly used white in the white and gray floor tiles. That was a mistake.

In our last house, I replaced our kitchen floor tile because it was white tile and the grout lines looked so dirty. I picked out some beige tiles and we used matching beige grout. Guess what? The same problem came back in no time. It was better than before but still did not stay clean looking.

 

[klpca]

This is what I use on the few areas of grout that I still have in my house (mostly the master bath shower and tub areas). Before we redid our tile floors downstairs, I also used in on our floors. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-...-8-oz-Grout-Renew-Colorant-GCL60HPT/203498073 Any of these colors will cover anything that you already have. Just make sure that the grout has been cleaned pretty thoroughly before you start so that it adheres properly.

This product colors and seals at the same time. Since I have used it for years, I have found a workable application solution. I use the foam brushes from a craft store and I am maybe a bit messy . Then I go back with a razor blade and scrape off any of the messy areas. It is much faster than taping off the tiles. (Just don't even do that. It is unnecessary). It takes me about an hour to do the shower/tub areas, including giving them a thorough cleaning before I start.

 

[DeniseM]

When we built our vacation home, we used brown grout that matched the background color of the tile. We didn't stain the grout, the grout material was brown. I'm very happy with it.

 

[davidvel]

When we built our vacation home, we used brown grout that matched the base color of the tile. We didn't stain the grout, the grout material was brown. I'm very happy with it.

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Have a good weekend, and you too.