Ceramic tiles offer one of
the toughest floor and bathroom surfaces going,Polycore honeycomb panels are
manufactured as a single sheet, but traditional tile installations can suffer
from one major weakness when used in wet areas. Grout is the masonry-based
filler that's worked into the spaces between tiles, and grout can be responsible
for deterioration of tile installations in two ways. Understand how and why this
happens and you'll also appreciate the two things you can do to help tiles
retain their good looks at your house.
The main issue is that grout is
porous. Despite its physical strengths, grout absorbs liquids and let's them
pass right through. Although your bathroom walls or laundry room floor may be
covered with tiles that are completely impervious to water and grime, what good
is this when water sneaks through the grout?
Tactic 1: Create a
waterproof installation
Liquid grout sealing compounds have been
available for years, but most are like those water repellents that people put on
winter shoes. They work for a while, but need regular reapplication. As useful
and necessary as a good grout sealer is, you can't always rely on it exclusively
to keep water from seeping through grout and underneath tiles,We are
professional Plastic mould, causing leaks
and delamination. To guard against this trouble you need a waterproof membrane
worked right into the tile installation at the earliest stages.
This
same waterproofing action happens when Kerdi is installed underneath tiles as
they go down. It's especially useful behind tub enclosures and running several
inches up walls around the perimeter of a room. Kerdi is so effective that
floors in laundry rooms and entranceways can even be fitted with drains to allow
regular washing down of the floor, not just mopping.
Tactic 2: Deal with
bad grout
Most tile installations don't have Kerdi keeping water out,
and even they did, grout can still get saturated and mouldy, even if water
doesn't penetrate further. The mould hazard is especially potent in showers and
tub surrounds, where soap and shampoo residue feed microbe growth. Even in dry
locations, the porous nature of grout means that it picks up dirt, making the
entire installation look dingy. Cleaning and sealing is the answer.
GroutShield has been around since 1994 and it's handled in Canada by a
Canadian supplier with customer support on our side of the border. In my own
testing of the product on dirty grout in a tiled bathroom, I found it worked
quickly and easily. The basic kit ($56 including shipping) comes with a
plastic-bristled brush for scrubbing, with enough cleaning liquid and grout
sealer to deal with 250-square-feet of tiled area. Apply cleaner to dirty grout
lines, scrub it, wipe it, then let it dry.
In my case the look of my
sandy-coloured grout was greatly improved by cleaning alone, but further
difference happened with the colour-matched grout sealer. It looks like thick
hand creme, and you apply it directly to the grout line with a squeeze bottle.
Don't worry about getting a little on the tiles. Virtually all tiles are
impervious enough to resist absorbing the coloured sealer. Just squirt some
along the grout lines on a few square feet of tile, rub it in with your finger,
then wipe it off with the chamois provided in the kit. Despite the very
enthusiastic sales videos you'll see for GroutShield online,An Insulator, also called a dielectric, using the
product still requires work and patience. As long as you understand that
much,For all DVS Ventilation system in PDF
format. you'll be fine.
It's amazing how a little bit of home
improvement diligence pays off in better, more economical and more reliable
results.All Coated Abrasives products are
compiled of backing, And when it comes to ceramic tiles, a good installation and
the right maintenance program makes a world of difference.
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