Problem with yellowing grout

[Bathfix Bob]

Hi all, I did a bathroom about 10 months ago with white gloss wall tiles and Webber anti mould grout, the grout has now gone a dirty yellow colour on all four walls, even over the door which is nowhere near the shower.

The walls were all either new plasterboard or solid plaster.

This is so dissapointing as its ruined the bathroom for my customer, I used white webber powdered adhesive and left it days before grouting, the water used was clean etc.

I never had this problem before, she dosn't have a fan in the bathroom but this dosn't appear to be mildew issue, just uniform yellowing.

Any ideas??

[timeless john]

Are they smokers and do they polish the 'wet' walls with a yellow duster?
May sound daft questions but I've seen it before!

Other than that -

[Bathfix Bob]

No she dosn't smoke, I don't thiink she's done anything to the walls, do you think I should contact Webber?

Totally gutted about this, raking out and redoing will be a massive job, espesially with the mossaic border.

[GirlRacerRed]

hi Bob

have you raked any grout out in an inconspicuous area yet? might be worth ascertaining if the yellowing is just on the surface or whether it runs through the depth of the grout in the joint. if it runs through the depth, it might be a faulty batch and you should contact Webber for their advice, but if it's just on the surface, then the grout has reacted to something in the room - air, air fresheners, cleaning products, cleaning utensils like John suggested...

have you asked the customer how she cleans her bathroom walls and what with?

certain shower gels and shampoos have been known to react badly with grout and turn it an orange colour, so you'll be best starting to eliminate anything that could be reacting with the grout on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

[Stewart]

It could be leeching from the tile biscuit, what were the tiles made of?

[Bathfix Bob]

Thanks for the replys, the tiles are ceramic, I think she got them from Wickes.

[kilty55]

check if she is cleaning the tiles with bleach or bleach based products

[troweler]

This is interesting,we have been tiling hotel bathrooms and 2 weeks ago we were called back to a hotel where we had tiled 16 bathrooms, 4 of which had the exact same problem.We used Bal grout.I rang their technical dept but they couldnt offer a logical explanation.It was a nightmare,it wasnt all the walls just patches but still needed regrouting.My feeling is its not a problem with the grout but im not sure what it is.Anyway the problem is identical.

[whitebeam]

Is it something bleeding from the back ground, wall areas

[Dave]

I was just going to ask about bleach but Jamie has got that one in there.. so we await your answer..

[Dave]

Bleach can burn grout and send it yellow.

[BWTiling]

Personally I'd say rake out the Grout and check the Substrate in a small area! Seen it loads of times and timeframe for it happening is always a lot quicker for Bathrooms with Poor Ventilation!! You'll probably find that because no adhesives / grouts are totally impervious to Water the condensation in the room alone will make the Substrate damp and because it's the background takes a lot longer to dry out (ventilation again!). If it's a Yellow colour then it's normally Plasterboard, a darker Yellow / Orange / Brown type colour is normally Solid Plaster Skim. Anti-Mould etc. will make no difference as to the colour of the Grout "Bleaching" due to the condition of the substrate!
Good Luck and let us know how you get on?

[Bathfix Bob]

I've just spoken to Webber technical and he said it's something that does happen now and then, he said it could be certain types of shampoo, poor ventilation etc.

This is the problem with tiling, there's so manys things that can come back and bite you in the behind later on.

Why didn't the existing grout go yellow? who knows....

[Dan]

Are they coming out to check it out?

[FreeD]

Hi there. If the grout is in good condition maybe you could colour seal the grout with aquamix. I've had good results with that in the past, saves raking it all out.

[Bathfix Bob]

No they aren't coming out, they wouldn't expept responsibility (are they responsible?). I only went to see it yesterday (we both have very busy schedules), it was worse than I imagined, horrible dirty yellow.

Although what was intersting was it got worse as you went up the wall, the bottom row was more or less pure white and it gradually got worse as you went up.
The grout was white just under the surface aswell.

All I can do is use a tube of Everbuild grout reviver. I tested it when I was there (had to leave it 4 hours than go back) and I got really good results and it will be easier than scraping it all back out.

[DJS]

Hi Bob, if it was just the surface that was discoloured, and you have been to see it now...Would you be recommending she invest's in an extractor fan for the shower area, as you said in your OP.

Suspect it could have been created by the atmospheric moisture cloud you get in a room whilst showering? After all, that contains dirt too, that will condense onto the tile face at the top of the room, and run down into the grout joints.

I thought air extraction is a requirement for shower-rooms in new-builds thesedays, to comply with ventilation regulations.

I always recommend it to all my customers if they don't have one already, and if possible on a timer for about 10-15 mins afterwards.

[Bathfix Bob]

I have recommended she gets a fan yes, I will probably sort the yellow grout out free of charge as she's a nice lady and has recommended me. Had she been difficult and awkward over it I would have hit her with a hefty bill (now that we've established its not really my fault its gone yellow).

[DJS]

Good to hear that the customer was understanding. Your obviously a very nice man!