Tile Repair and Grout Renew

Our foyer had some cracked tile. We had this problem before and had it fixed.

We have a crack in the foundation and the builder never put a barrier to prevent it from cracking the tile, so the tiles cracked after the repair and I left it like that for 4 years.

I never repaired it, because it makes such a mess! It was covered under warranty the last time and the guy that repaired it, didn’t do anything to prevent the dust cloud from going anywhere. It took forever to clean and I didn’t want to have to go through with that again. 

Plus, I envisioned pulling up all the tile and laying down a protective barrier, before laying brick down as my new flooring. I have always loved the look of brick on a floor.

But, I needed to repair the crack now. There are two new products I wanted to share that I used for the tile. One, is a caulk that looks like grout.

I had a crack in the grout line in the upstairs bathroom, so I bought the caulk and applied it to the base of the tub. Worked great!

I then decided I wanted to see if I could use it on the cracked tile. I then worked to fill the crack in the tile. It worked great!

Only when you are standing at just the right angle and know what you’re looking for, can you see the crack! Definitely better than ripping up the old tile!

While I was down at the ground-level, I noticed my grout. Some places were darker than others. You could tell which areas got more foot traffic.

I remember when I bought the house, the contractor told me to seal the grout before I did anything else. And I did, but I only did it to the newly laid tile that I asked them to put in. I thought they would have already sealed the tile that had been there for a year. In hind-sight, I should have sealed every room that had tile. They had not done it at all. Sealer prevents the discoloration of the grout. It protects it from stains and water damage.

So, here is the second product I used on the tile. Grout Refresh. It is a paint for grout. It comes in limited colors, so I never found an exact match to my grout, but I picked a new color I was happy with.

I went in every bathroom and painted the grout. I used a toothbrush and went to town. This was a very relaxing time. I was on the phone with AT&T while painting the foyer. And I got faster as I learned a method.

It made such a difference; even Mr. JCrew noticed!!

 I just took a toothbrush and painted the grout a section at a time.

You don't have to be precise. You just wipe up the excess.

After painting the grout, I waited 4 days and then went around and sealed them all.

Now, they will stay this light color for a lot longer than 5 years.

The caulk that looks like grout runs about $6 a tube. The grout paint runs about $11 a bottle. I still have half a bottle left over after doing two bathrooms and the foyer. I’m very happy with how it turned out.