How To Seal Grout - DIY for Beginners

sealing grout is pretty straightforward all you got to do is get some sealer put it on the grout let it absorb for about five minutes and then wipe it off okay it's pretty hard to mess this up but where it gets complicated is with all the different applicators and all the different sealers that are available so in this video I'm going to share everything you need to know about sealing grout so you can stop watching videos and stop researching and just get started already all right so first off why would you want to seal grout in the first place well basically to make it look nicer for longer if you don't seal grout anything that gets on it is going to absorb in so that could be oil from your skin that could be grease from some food that you cooked that could be bath and soap scum from taking a shower whatever splashes on that is gonna absorb into the grout because cement grout is actually porous so if you don't steal it it's gonna look bad it might even grow a mold and it might even start to stink okay so you really want to seal it's important however sealing your grout does not make it waterproof okay grout and tile is not meant to be a waterproof barrier it does shed most of the water but in a tile installation like this the waterproofing is actually behind the tile okay and if you're trying to fix a leaking shower wall by sealing the grout sorry to inform you of this but you can't just seal the grout to seal the shower you're probably gonna have to rip out the whole shower reinstall it the proper way and then maybe seal your grout then just to keep it looking better all right next up let's talk about what the best sealer to use is so there are a lot of different options available a lot of really good options a lot of options that probably aren't worth using but based on my research the best option is aqua mix sealers choice gold okay you can get this at Home Depot I believe you can get it online I'll even provide a link in the video description directly below this video it's manufactured by custom building products which is the same company that manufactures polyblend grout which is probably the type of grout that you have on your tile in the first place so this is our professional version of grout sealer it's been around for a really long time and it's what most contractors use you can also use it on natural stone and natural tile as well so if you're also sealing your stone or maybe even your granite countertops this will work okay this container right here cost me about 33 bucks okay I've had it for a long time I could probably seal this entire shower three or four times with just this container okay so it goes a pretty long way depending on how much grout you have and how thick your grout is of course okay so this is a really good option this is the one I recommend in most cases ok another option which is by the same exact company is called surface guard okay this is also a sealer that works on natural stone tile and grout okay it's made by custom building products as well it's a little bit less expensive it comes in the spray bottle if you plan on spraying it it's about $26 for this so not much less expensive than this so really the only reason I would use this if you just want the convenience spray bottle but other than that I would go with the better higher-end stuff now really you can use anything that has fluoro chemicals in it that's gonna actually penetrate into the tile and then it's going to absorb into all those pores and harden so nothing else can get inside of that okay so you want to use any kind of floral chemical sealer and there's a lot of them out there if you don't want to use this option now one thing to consider is certain sealers also have what's called enhancer with them okay they're a sealer and enhancer and usually those are used for when you're sealing like a granite countertop or maybe some terracotta tiles and you want them to have that wet look okay you want them to look wet all the time and really it's really gonna darken it and maybe even make it a little bit shiny okay these sealers aren't going to change the look of it at all maybe they will italia bit but not unnoticeably all right moving right let's talk about the different ways to apply sealer to the grout okay the first method is obviously just a spray bottle you just spray it all over the place give it get all over its gonna spray into the air it's gonna get on your body and your lungs and all that stuff and then you're just gonna go let it absorb in for a minute and then you're gonna wipe it off with a towel or paper towel or whatever you just wipe off the excess this is a really good method to use if you have natural stone that you're sealing with your grout okay you can you you can also put this in a spray bottle too comes in this container but you can put it in spray bottle and spray it the problem with that okay it's a little bit Messier it's gonna get on your paint it's gonna get on your shower fixtures it's gonna get on your bathtub it's gonna get on you you're more likely to breathe it in which is a health hazard and there's a lot of chemicals in here stuff that I definitely wouldn't want to breathe in so if you're gonna use this method I would recommend maybe taping off and keeping it from getting on other stuff and also opening a window with a fan and even using a respirator just to make sure you're not sacrificing your health just so you can have better looking grout because that's kind of stupid so that's a good option if you have a ton of space and you know you just need to do it really quick and get it done like that okay the second option is with one of these little applicators here which has a little brush on the top and you just put the sealer inside and then you can squeeze this and it'll actually shoot out and you just rub it along the grout lines with the sealer in it and it applies the sealer again you wipe off the excess so this is a really good method to use if you're sealing your floor tiles okay and you have those thicker grout lines because you can squeeze a lot of sealer out and you're not gonna waste a bunch of sealer just spraying it all over your floor tiles that's you know not even gonna absorb it okay so this is a really good option that I recommend for floor tiles then the third option that I'm actually going to use on this project is just one of these little foam brushes that I got from the paint department it's usually used for staining wood or something like that get a little plastic container put some sealer in there and then just apply it to the lines so I can apply it quickly and accurately and that's actually gonna be a little bit faster than this for this project okay because I have really small grout lines and I'm not gonna have to constantly be taking my brush if I really thick grout lines then I'd probably want to just use this because it would be a little faster okay either one of these is cheap you're gonna find it at most tile stores or I think I got these at Home Depot okay they're gonna work so there you have three methods for applying grout sealer all right so let's go ahead and get started with this demonstration I'm gonna seal this grout right here so this grout has actually already been sealed a year ago when it was originally installed and yesterday I cleaned it really well and now it's ready to seal so basically what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna dump a little bit of this sealers choice gold into this plastic container and then I can go ahead and apply it starting at the top and working down to the tile and just smooth strokes and you can tell that it's applying because it's just a little bit darker where it absorbs it okay and in some cases that might not even absorb much because they're still still in there from last year in some areas of the shower don't get don't see very much water so you're just gonna want to apply it to every single grout line on the entire job methodically now in most cases you're gonna want to do two coats so you're gonna do one wait about a half an hour and then apply a second coat of sealer to get the most protection and then you can actually test it after another half hour by putting a drop of water on it seeing if it absorbs into the grout and if it does then you're gonna want to apply more sealer if it doesn't then your grout is sealed and you're ready to go there's nothing else to do as you can see here I've actually taped off the bathtub because I just don't know what this these chemicals are gonna do to this acrylic bath tub and I don't want to risk it I don't necessarily know that it's gonna harm it but I don't want to take the risk so I'm gonna be extra here and take it off another thing you'll notice is that I have a fan in the window now I'm using that fan to draw air out of the room while I apply the sealer because the sealer does have VOCs and a bunch of other things that you should not inhale this is kind of a boring process which is probably why most contractors don't actually seal the grout when they leave they'll just install it sit and then let you know that you should probably seal the grout and not actually provide that service to themselves but the good news is with the right preparation and just a little bit of patience you can easily seal your grout yourself alright so let's talk about a few more tips and tricks floor ceiling your grout so first off when should you seal your grout and how often so basically you want to wait at least 48 hours after you grout your tile or it to cure completely make sure it's clean and then you can seal the grout ideally you wait 72 hours which is three days for those of you you don't want to do the math and then after that you're gonna want to seal it about once every year especially if you have a high use area like a shower for example okay seal it about once every year and it's pretty quick you just clean it off again really well and then seal it again another thing ought to mention is that not all grout actually needs to be sealed there's actually something called epoxy grout which is plastic based instead of cement based like most grouts are and that does not need to be sealed in fact it won't even accept a seal if you tried to okay so you can tell you have an epoxy grout if it kind of looks like plastic okay it looks real plastic e that's probably an epoxy grout you might be wondering why doesn't everybody use epoxy grout if it's so good you don't have to seal it well there are a couple of downsides number one it's a little bit more difficult to work with number two it's more expensive but number three sun will actually change the color over time okay so if you haven't a spot that gets a lot of sun shining on it it's gonna yellow over time and some people just don't want that look okay you're doing natural stone or something really the typical grout sanded grout or something like that a cement based product is actually going to look better another thing I want to mention is that you may in some cases also need to seal the tile itself so if you have a natural stone like terracotta or granite for example you're also gonna want to seal that once a year because those stones are also porous and if you don't seal them they can stain just like your grout can but with any glazed tile like porcelain or ceramic or anything like that okay you do not need to seal it in fact it won't even accept a seal if you try and my last tip okay is that if your sealer hardens on the tile before you wipe it off okay you make a mistake you forget to wipe something off and it's hardened on there you're trying to clean it off with water it's not working there's a really easy trick okay you just get your rag wet with more sealer wipe it back on there it's gonna reactivate the sealer that's stuck on your tiles and then you just wipe it off with a clean dry towel that's gonna absorb all that okay really simple so even if you mess it up there's an easy fix so this video was brought to you by handyman stardom com so what is an Eman Starcom basically it's my website that I created over the last seven plus years where I share everything you need to know about how to start or grow a profitable handyman business everything from pricing to marketing to getting started from scratch okay I started a handyman business about seven years ago and in that process I shared my journey and I learned a whole lot of stuff and I've been consulting and working with other handyman ever since to help them grow their business so if you are interested in starting or growing a profitable handyman business or maybe you know somebody who is then visit handyman start-up calm I've got tons of free articles videos and all kinds of stuff on how to start and grow a profitable handyman business and then I have some premium trainings that you can invest in once you're ready so I hope to see you there thanks for watching I'm Dan Perry and I'll you in the next 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Channel: Handyman Startup

Views: 477,554

Rating: 4.8811421 out of 5

Keywords: how to seal grout, how to apply grout sealer, how to seal grout in a shower, clean grout before sealing, how much grout sealer do i need?, sealing cement grout, seal grout in shower, applicators for grout sealer, apply grout sealer with foam brush, spray grout sealer on, DIY, bathroom maintenace, tutorial

Id: YkmErGLH1DY

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 19 2019