HI

My mom is getting ready to put down ceramic tile in her kitchen. A friend of hers had it put in not to long ago. Her friend said her grout already looks really dirty.
How do you keep the grout looking nice? Does the grout dry lighter when you put it down, than it did when you look at the samples? My mom picked a sand color and wants to make sure it wont dry and look white.

Thanks

The grout needs to be sealed. We used a little plastic bottle with a sort of wheel on the top, when turned over, the sealing material comes out of the bottle onto the wheel and you roll it over the grout. I would pick a shade I liked, and go a shade deeper. It is awful when the grout gets nasty.

The floor otherwise should be easy to maintain. Now tile in a shower and grout problems could be a completely separate post!

dl

My parents were advised that they should get the darkest grout they could so it wouldn't look dingy or dirty. They went with a dark gray and it still looks great even with a bunch of grandkids.

I had ceramic tile put down in my kitchen, dining and 1 bathroom. I hate it purely because of the grout. I have teenagers running in and out all day long every day and I cannot keep it clean. Mine has been sealed. I have to get down and scrub each grout line. If I do just a quick mopping of a room it seems as if all the dirt goes right into the grout line.

I did a little research online a month or so ago and found a lot of people with the same feelings. One solution one lady had was to paint the grout line with outdoor house paint. Just be sure to wipe any excess from the actual tile as you go. She really liked hers after she painted it. I'm either going to paint mine or get a grout pen in a darker color (really dark) and redo it.

Laura

__________________
My MySpace Page

To Leave Me FeedBack Click HERE

The grout dries a little lighter however a sand should not dry to a white. As another poster pointed out, you should go darker. In a high traffic area, the grout will get dirty quickly. You can seal the grout. You should reseal every 6 months to a year.

Our downstairs is almost completely tiled. We've sealed the tile, but it still looks dingy and a huge pain to clean. I have a friend that put tile in and the grout lines are maybe only 1/4 of an inch wide (her tiles are 12 X 12). She also used a dark grout. You can't even tell if her grout is dirty or not. If I had it to do over again, I would do what she did.

Go dark! We used a dark grey grout and have never looked back.

stock up on dishes and glasses. we had ceremic tile and we went through more glasses than you could believe! Ifinally bought tons of plastic cups. then when we got it taken up, i swear I dont think anyone has dropped a glass or plate since!

__________________
·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·
«·´¨*·.¸¸. Jo ¸¸.·*¨`·»
«·´`·.(¸.·´(¸.·* *·.¸)`·.¸).·´`·»


Please leave feedback for me here.
http://www.mycoupons.com/boards/g-l/...-littlejo.html



gretchengirl@gmail.com

http://lifewithlittlejo.blogspot.com/

I agree with the dark grout. We have quite a bit of tile in our house and love it.

The one thing I did that I did hate was 2 houses ago we tiled the center island in the kitchen. Big mistake - everything spills or splatters on the center island. I'll never forget when dd spilled grape juice on it.

Lisa

__________________
"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

I would never, ever put in a smooth ceramic tile floor ever again.

Everyone I know who has a smooth ceramic tile floor has cracked tiles in their house. Since they're pretty difficult to replace broken tiles, most people (including us) just have to live with them.

One of my neighbors broke a tile in her bathroom just by dropping a curling iron on it. I've broken a tile in my kitchen when I dropped a heavy frying pan

And, when we bought a new fridge, one of the tiles got a huge scratch in it.

When I think of how expensive this tile was, it makes me sick.

Another negative with smooth tiles is they can be much harder to clean, just mopping won't do it because it leaves streaks, you have to wash by hand & dry by hand to avoid it. I will NEVER have smooth tile!

We tiled our kitchen in a light (biscuit I think it was called) grout. I HATE it. The tiles are white with a slight grey marbling. Originally, we did not seal the grout. WEll, about a month ago, I spent my Saturday scraping out a layer of the grout and sealing it. It helped, but, I think eventually we will take the grout out and go with a dark grey to black grout. Also, like above poster said, smaller grout lines.

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

dark grout and re-seal every year...6 months in high traffic area. We have it in our bathroom but it's textured (not smooth) so you don't see scratches easily and the grout is a darker brown. White/light ALWAYS ends up looking nasty unless you are OCD on grout cleaning...just my experience

__________________
Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Hmmm...would you (or anyone else) recommend something else?

We're building a home right now and we chose linoleum. I hate it, but we were trying to keep the cost down on things WE can do ourselves later. (I went for the granite countertops instead) My husband and his family can do pretty much anything, so tiling is no issue later.

Our first thought was tile. Is there something better? How about stone? Is there another type of ceramic that doesn't break as easily?

I REALLY want something other than linoleum in the not so distant future.

Any suggestions?

TIA!

__________________

We replaced our linoleum with tile, and the problem I have with it is that the tile goes up to the cabinets and such, not under them. I like it to be under, that may just be me, tho. If we were building and I wanted tile in the kitchen, I would have it done from the start. Actually if I had it to do all over again, and was building, I'd have a wood laminate put in

Oh, and I would recommend porcelain tiles, then when they chip, it's not as noticeable.

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

We've had smooth ceramic tile for years. We do have broken tiles, but it's due to the house itself settling. We've never broken a tile by dropping something on it. We have however, had many things broken by dropping them on the tile!

The tile is a heck of a lot better than what was in the kitchen when we bought the house......CARPET!! Can you believe someone would carpet a kitchen?? It was an indoor/outdoor carpet, but still. The first time I dropped a cup of milk on it...it was all over. Let me tell you that was the first thing that we tore out.

Thank you.

I would prefer to do the tile too, but we decided to put our money more into the house itself than choosing options. My in-laws are the so handy with different things, they've done everything from a very simple redecorating to reconstruction/room additions.

LOL!! CARPET in the kitchen? OH my Lordy, I don't blame you!


Wondering if anyone has any experience with stone?

__________________