Help please+advice on tile grouting in new bathroom

[allthefives]

Hi all! As an ordinary customer (not professional tiler!) am I glad to have found this forum! Some advice please :- we are having new bathroom installed; it's almost finished, white tiles on floor and walls, except for one which is mosaic tiled. It's a kind of cross between a wet room and a walk-in shower; have a shower screen but not having a bath installed.

Anyway, shower part went in about two weeks ago and work proceeding round it. I am doing best to keep it clean bearing in mind that I am very pleased with it and work is still continuing as we are having upstairs and downstairs toilets done too.

The bathroom guy suggested using a squeegee for the floor and a shower spray to keep it nice. I have been using Lakeland daily Shower Cleaner and also Lakeland Scrub Free. however I've noticed that grouting is starting to get discoloured/slightly limescaled. I've tried Viakal and scrubbing with an old toothbrush without any joy, and was wondering about scrubbing grouting with neat bleach next but it seems too soon after installation to start with this.

Any advice please? Thanks so much.

[allthefives]

Can I just add that I just scrubbed the tile floor with the Lakeland Scrub Free stuff and a scrubbing brush - the floor isn't actually dirty and the grouting is still discoloured which makes me wonder what it is. Any questions I need to be asking the bathroom guy (he is the boss but he actually has a tiler who does the work who didn't understand why there is a problem.....)

[GirlRacerRed]

don't use bleach on it! that might make your situation worse at this stage.

you need to find out who manufactured the grout that was used in your shower room. and also, have you been using the shower during the last 2 weeks? sometimes when grout turns orange, it's because it's mixing with the chemicals in shampoos and shower gels and getting a bad reaction.

[Rich]

How long after the grouting was finished did you clean the floor? If the floor was cleaned before the grout had completely cured it will cause the grout to discolor.

[Mike]

don't use bleach on it! that might make your situation worse at this stage.

you need to find out who manufactured the grout that was used in your shower room. and also, have you been using the shower during the last 2 weeks? sometimes when grout turns orange, it's because it's mixing with the chemicals in shampoos and shower gels and getting a bad reaction.

the grout in my shower discoloured a few weeks ago (went reddish) and i thought i'd have to re-grout but it's now gone back to white, may be worth giving it a bit of time and change your shampoo

[allthefives]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies. I now realise that the grout isn't limescaled, nor was it dirty. We did start using the shower as soon as we were told we could, which was on a Saturday morning when all installation was completed on the Friday. And I must have gently cleaned the floor some time that day after all family had used shower.

Spoke to bathroom guy who is baffled. Says that they use top end quality grout (don't know what the make is). He said that maybe I cleaned things too vigorously! I told him that I do not suffer from OCD! He is going to scrape out some of the stained grouting and replace.

How do you know which chemicals in shower gels and shampoo could cause discolouration?

And should he have used a grout sealer? Don't think anything like this was used.

Thanks once again. It's just niggling at me - it's all cost lots and I want it to be just right!

[Rich]

And so you should. Could you find out what brand the grout was? A grout sealer is a good idea but if I was using white grout in a wet area I would use an epoxy grout.

[doug boardley]

personally I think the shower was used too soon after grouting, if possible I always ask my customers to leave it at least a week if possible to cure.

[allthefives]

I will ask him tomorrow what brand the grout was. Appreciate the idea of not using it for a week after grouting, Doug, but at that stage it was the end of the third week without a bathroom (we had to make alternative arrangements for showers)! Oh dear, we wanted to do our kitchen next year which would be a much bigger job, and the word 'tile' is starting to bring me out in a nervous rash!

[Dave]

Most grouts are 2 weeks before submitting to wetting like showers etc.. you could have damaged pigments,, but hard to tell without seeing it.

[Alan.P]

As Above, grout needs 2 to 3 weeks to cure, if your using it before hand and / cleaning, chances are you have discoloured the grout, as for cleaning chances, depends on the extent, maybe a grout cleaner will work, maybe not, it might have to be a re-grout, I would be chasing the tiler for the costs for not informing you of the curing time in the first place.

[enduro]

This will cure your problem. Re-colours the grout and seals it, really easy to use. www.csigrout.com

[allthefives]

Morning. The grout was Mapei Ultracolor Plus in white. From website:-

"Ultracolor Plus can be applied to heavy duty areas, wet areas including power showers, timber substrates and under floor heating for joints between 2-20mm. "

I called a guy in the Technical Dept there in Birmingham who was puzzled and said that cleaning products shouldn't affect it, it is fine for purpose, and wouldn't need longer than usual curing or sealing.

About to give up. Maybe I have unrealistically high expectations?

Thanks.

[GirlRacerRed]

what colour has the grout actually turned? does it look more like a mushroom/beige/grey colour?

I had problems with ultracolor plus in white, but it was noticeable from the day after I grouted. I was told by Mapei that the pigments hadn't been mixed sufficiently (I hand mixed the grout, rather than used a mechanical whisk) and that's why I ended up with a patchy mushroom colour.

[allthefives]

Thanks GirlRacerRed! It is a bit mushroomy - well sort of generally a bit discoloured. Anyway our bathroom guy did some regrouting (not the whole lot) this morning and told me to be very careful what and how i clean it and suggested that I keep J cloths well away from it as he reckons that they 'bleed' colour into the grout a bit. So have put some cheap plain white microfibre cloths from Tesco.

Does my head in and I feel that I now know more (though not enough) about grouting than I did before. Feel like the Miss Marple of grouting - trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of 'why did the grouting go off colour'!

[whitebeam]

When say off colour, did it go a light grey

[jay]

was a waterproof membrane used during construction

[allthefives]

Morning and thanks for feedback.

I would say that the bits of discoloured grouting are greyish (sort of looking grubby). Don't know about waterproof membrane as the builder isn't here at the moment to ask. I feel that that problem is either the grouting material or the way it was applied.

[jay]

any chance of some pics to help

[allthefives]

Morning everyone. Latest news is that builder regrouted one tile late Friday afternoon (well away from shower and basin in unobtrusive area which stays dry) with a Dunlop grout - said he went into a tiling supplies he deals with and asked them for the most brilliant white grout. DH and I can't decide whether it is better or not.

And DH noticed on the existing grout (Mapei) that it goes greyer when wet, and whiter when it dries out. He wondered if it looks a bit greyer against brilliant white of tiles and bathroom fixtures (i.e. extractor fan, bathroom cabinet, towel rail). Is this normal for white grout. Going to ask DD to take photos of grout and put them up (too technical for us, lol!) a bit later.

[allthefives]

Here are some photos. Hard to tell from photos but the tiles are brilliant white. The last photo shows the bit of grouting where the builder redid the join using the Dunlop grout to show us.

Funnily enough the grouting on the mosaic wall (not pictured is fine) DH and I think that this is because it is shades of bright blue and it 'distracts the eye' if you understand me.

Is there some sort of white tile paint or coating to go over the grouting?

Once again, thanks soooo much everyone for your help.

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