The grout in my floor tiles is dirty looking; can I dye it? If so who does this type of work?
By Erica
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If it was me and able to get down on my hands and knees I would choose the color of paint I wanted to use, and just paint the grout. It would be cheaper than hiring a person to regrout the tile.
Get it good and clean first by having it steam-cleaned, so that it will be restored it to its proper shade and most likely take up whatever sealer is still on it. Then see what your coloring options are.
I had the same problem because my grout was a light gray. I asked about painting it and all the professionals advised me to not do it. I was just so tired of the scrubbing etc. I bought a small can of cement paint and painted it. I may be sorry in a few years, but now it has been down for 2 years and it looks so clean and new. I'm hoping it will stay that way.
My grout has been painted for over 10 years with an epoxy grout paint. It still looks brand new and is easy to keep clean. It has not peeled or chipped. I would highly recommend it for a grout color change or just to keep your grout looking clean and fresh. The clear sealers don't work that well and have to be resealed every year. Plus it darkens the natural color of brand new grout. I was not happy with that at all.
I have just placed new tiles in front of my fireplace and am disappointed in the grout color. Is was supposed to be spice (a golden color), but it is white. I was told that the grout was probably mixed with too much water or the washing of the grout off the tiles used too much water. I'm planning to paint them and am wondering if I should seal first, or not seal first before painting?
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Has anyone ever painted grout? I've tried everything to whiten the grout between the ceramic tiles in my bathroom floor. Nothing works. I'm thinking about painting it. Has anyone out there done this?
By Charlotte Lenox from Woodway, TX
I mixed a highly concentrated bleach and water solution and sprayed it on the grout. Left it for about 1/2 hour then sprayed it a second time and went in with a bar-b-que grill brush with nylon bristles. It looks great! Good luck. (03/07/2010)
You can stain the grout. I've done this before and it turned out well. I bought the stain at a tile supply store. (03/11/2010)
By Pam Griffis
I have spent about half of my childhood doing this very thing. My sister and I laugh about it now, but there wasn't much laughing going on then. My dad owns a flooring store, selling and installing. More times then you might think the grout color didn't turn out right, so my dad would hire my sister and me to paint the grout. It's not hard to do at all just very time consuming.
They sell these tiny brushes that fit right in the grout lines, and the grout paint has the sealer already in it so it's usually good after only one coat. Depending on the size of your kitchen give yourself enough time. If I remember right you need to give it 24 hours before you can get any water on the floor. And, if I were you I would go for another color other than white if you can because white grout gets looking dingy pretty fast. Good luck! I hope this helped. (03/12/2010)
By Heidi
I am a remodeling contractor, painting the grout is not a great idea, especially in a high traffic area. But you can go to a tile store or home improvement store and buy an inexpensive tool that will scrap out the old grout. I am a female and if you are too this is something you can do.
After you scrap out the grout use your vacuum attachment and vacuum out the spaces between tiles. Now you can re-grout also not hard, they can get you the few things you need at the above stores and give you a couple quick tips. After the grout has cured you should seal it.
For all you frugal folks, you can wipe your grout down once a month with mineral oil, it will soak into the grout and you can wipe it off the tile. This will seal your grout. (03/17/2010)
By Lisa K
Get a permanent marker from an artist's supply store. They come in every imaginable shade. Using a ruler to help keep the lines straight, color the old grout. (04/19/2010)
By Jennifer
My home is 30 yrs old, the bathrooms have 1"X 1"
tile (I think it came in sheets) anyway I had a lot of grout out of it so I bought small box of grout, cleaned the tile with muratic acid (carefully) and then filled in the grout cracks. I purchased white grout paint from Home Depot and painted all of the grout, bath floors and shower. It looked like it was new. That was about 5-10 yrs ago and it still looks great.
By Juanita
I'm not sure I like our new grout color, black with red tiles. Would it be possible to paint the grout with a bathroom/kitchen stain repellent paint? Or would it just peel off soon?
Thanks.
Kira from North Adams, MA
It works. I read the notice by the person with the dark gray grout and hoped, but doubted, the results. Went to Home Depot, bought "snow white" and "haystack" colorants, mixed them to create a creamy color. I am now half way through over 700 square feet of floor tile grout. Foam brushes didn't work for me. They allowed too much over spill onto tiles. Buy cheap, stiff artist brushes. They work perfectly. The results are totally amazing. Went from checkerboard floor to smooth expanse of creamy tile. (09/10/2007)
By Jody
Ive used that Aqua Mix grout colorant from aqua-mix.com. It works awesome, and the best part is that you do not have to seal the grout afterwards. It has a sealer built in to it, so it seals as you apply it. It is also supposed to last up to 15 years. Mine has been on for about 3 so far and it still looks great. (02/08/2008)
By Jonathan
Home Depot sells a grout paint. It comes in about 4 colors and it has a built in sealer. You put it on with a small artist paint brush or you can buy the plastic squeeze bottle with the paint brush built into the tip of it. It runs around $8-$9 for the paint. However, if you have a lot of grout to cover, the guy at Home Depot told me that the solid color concrete paint which comes in several more shades, works just as well as that small bottle of grout paint. (08/08/2008)
By Renee
We redo a lot of investment properties ourselves. When I first heard about the product I was super excited, having picked up what's available in the local DIY stores and doing my research online. The best and only brand to get is Aqua-Mix. Which is available for online order if it's not in a store near you. It comes in a wide variety of colors. They also offer a kit. However it's cheaper just to get the paint and cleaner.
Some advice, if you get the kit "do not use" the enclosed toothbrush like applicator to apply the paint, it's far too coarse and creates unfixable brush strokes. I found that cheap artist brushes are better than any of the applicators that are also sold in stores. Follow all the instructions, especially the cleaning and prep, and clean up of excess. If you do the result is excellent.
If you are trying to cover dark grout, then don't bother with the grout paint. We tried once and it ended up taking 4 days. We were working on making a grey grout, white. It took 3 coats on one test wall and with the tedious application, dry time, and clean up of excess in between coats. It was much faster, easier, and cheaper just to dig out a little bit of the grout with a removal tool and regrout in white and seal. (10/05/2008)
By Chris
