Tile and Grout Color Sealing

Tile and Grout Cleaning and Color Sealing

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We are often asked how do you restore ceramic and porcelain tile flooring? These tiles are man-made, so they cannot be polished or honed to bring back their beauty. Honestly, the tiles, after a deep professional cleaning, looks brand new again. The issue that arises with ceramic and porcelain tiles is the grout lines. Grout has the properties of concrete. Like concrete, grout will stain very easily unless it has been sealed properly.

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Many sealers can be used on the grout to help prevent staining. We use only penetrating sealers here at AriStone, and we are not fans of topicals due to the hassles that come with them down the line. By far, the best penetrating sealer we offer is our color sealers.

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Our color sealers are water-based penetrating sealers with a color pigment in them. When applied, the sealer will absorb into the grout, clog the pores and help prevent staining. When you have AriStone Cleaning & Restoration clean and color seal your grout, we back our product and work with a five-year warranty. This is how confident we are in this sealer's ability.

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The product we use is through Modern Stone. There are 100's of color options and we can color match any grout color.

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When is it recommended to do color sealing versus one of our clear penetrating sealers? Typically, this is up to the customer, but we recommend it when you have old grout and haven't kept up on your professional cleaning services. We recommend having your tile and grout cleaned every 12-18 months. This helps to remove the dirt and grime that is building up on your grout.

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Color sealing is highly recommended by us when there is a lot of staining and discoloration throughout the grout lines. This means that the grout has permanent staining that our cleaners and high heat high-pressure machines cannot remove, no matter how many times we go over the tile and grout.

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Some customers will have their brand new grout color sealed. People will do this because the sealer helps prevent staining on their brand new grout and as stated above, they get a 5-year warranty with our sealer if we are the company that installs the color seal. Another reason why customers will color seal their brand new grout is if there is a lot of efflorescence coming out of the grout. Efflorescence is a white chalk-like substance that can occur when the grout is initially installed. This can happen for many different reasons. Unfortunately, installers can't know when it may happen or won't. It is just an unlucky issue, especially here in Arizona, where we have such hard water.

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Using a color seal turns the grout lines back to one uniform color. Now, the color may not be the original color if you have a lot of staining or dark spots throughout the spaces. It is tough to color seal with a lighter color. On occasions (more than not), the lighter than your grout color seals will turn out splotchy looking. From our experience, we highly recommend against color sealing with a color that is lighter than your current grout color.

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It is possible to go a little bit darker. Grout color changes to the darker side are possible, but can take multiple coats to achieve the color you want. The number of coats depends on how absorbent your grout is acting and how much darker you are going with the color. Again, we tend to urge you not to change the color to ensure there are no issues with the outcome. When we come in for a color seal, we always try to match your grout's color at that time and or bring the original color with us.

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Color sealing is the only way to get dirty ceramic and porcelain grout to look brand new again. For more information on how we can help make your tile and grout look brand new again, give us a call 480-352-2987 or check out our website www.tileandgroutcleaningaz.com.

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