The bathroom grout is about 8-9 years old and was originally done in a white color. And it was never sealed. Seal your grout right away people, this was a huge mistake we made. Over the years, it has become dirty, dingy and impossible to keep clean as grime absorbed deep into the unsealed grout. Because I was emptying the bathroom to sort, purge and organize, I knew it was now or never to check this project off of the list. After some quick Googling, I discovered a product called Grout Renew. We were the perfect candidates for this product as it is intended to easily restore and seal old, dirty grout. Count me in!
This is NOT sponsored, I completely opted to research and do this myself after becoming sick of scrubbing clean our bathroom floors. Off to Home Depot I went and picked up a bottle of Grout Renew in Delorean Gray. They have limited colors at our store, but as I was just looking online, it appears they have an endless variety of shades. Learn from me, they have just about any color you would want online! Doh! Now you know.
I stood at the store and read the directions on the back of the bottle, and it recommended using one of their products to get the floors super clean prior to application. Even though I have done my share of tile and grout scrubbing, I decided to use the recommended cleaner just to be sure I was happy with the end result.
This stuff is on the strong side, so it is recommended that you use gloves while scrubbing. But first, a before close-up of the grout.
I started by filling two mop buckets; one with a mild dishsoap water and the other with the Sulfamic Acid cleaner. I also grabbed my gloves and a bristle scrub brush.
Prior to scrubbing with the grout cleaner, I mopped the floor with the mild dishsoap to prep the surface.
Because I was wearing gloves and just trying to get things done, I didn't take any pictures of the scrubbing process, but I essentially just scrubbed the entire floor with the cleaner and bristle brush. I followed up with a damp mop one more time and here was the end result.
The tiles and grout looked great, the cleaner really got things back to a nice start. I let everything dry for a few hours while I played with the kids.
The directions for the Grout Renew stated to place a small blob at the cross section of the tiles and work your way out. With an opening like that, no small blob would be coming out of that bottle. I decided to head to the kitchen and transfer the Grout Renew into a fine tip plastic squeeze bottle instead.
I also quickly learned that a little bit goes a long way!
The directions also state to use a toothbrush to spread the Grout Renew into your grout lines. Um, no. It makes such a big mess and spreads it everywhere. There is zero precision with a toothbrush. Thank goodness I had a slew of craft brushes on hand (a reader also mentioned Young House Love did something similar and a craft brush worked great for them as well).
I still made sure to sort-of scrub it in so the grout could really absorb the new color.
Again, nearly impossible to do without getting the product on your tiles, so be ready to follow behind each line with a damp rag.
Speaking of the damp rag, the wetter the rag, the more the product will smear while touching up. It seemed to work better to let the Grout Renew set for a minute or two (but not too long or it will cure), and then go back over the grooved edge of our tile with my fingertip and the barely damp rag.
It is a time consuming and slow process, you definitely have to practice a bit of patience while you work.
And for the end result?
After getting up close and personal with the project, I think the product worked quite well. As it dried, it seemed quite durable and really did clean up the previous grout to a brand-spanking new finish! Everything is sparkly clean which makes me happy.
On a side note, I think the darker color dated the look of our tiles. Although they will now hide dirt and grime and clean really nicely, I probably should have gone with a slightly lighter shade of gray. I realized it quite early on, but decided it was one of those projects that I had to wait until we were completely finished to make any final judgements. I may do one more coat in the lighter gray if I can muster up the time and motivation.
Now, I must get back to work. I finally get to tackle my favorite part which is the small organizational projects and details. See you back here tomorrow!
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