Why is it Important to Seal your Grout Using a Solvent Based Penetrating Sealer and How to Do it Yourself?

You invest in costly tile for your floor, shower and countertop to enhance the look of your interiors. But over a period of time, the surfaces of these areas start to look dull and worn out. The main reason behind this is because you ignore the grout. Grout – the mixture of cement and sand filled in between two tiles is porous. The porosity makes it absorb water and moisture into its surface, thereby giving an excellent breeding ground for mold and mildew to develop. To prevent such occurrences, you should use a solvent based penetrating grout sealer to keep your grout intact.

Regular Grout Problems

• Unsealed grout delivers a very dirty and unmaintained look to your surfaces and ruins the aesthetics.
• Grout is porous. It tends to absorb water, moisture and other stains into its surface, leading to mold breeding.
• Moreover, grout also cracks in certain places, making the surface look even more unmaintained.
• The gaps where grout goes missing or is cracking, tends to store water and make it stagnant. Stagnant water provides excellent conditions for mold and mildew breeding.
• Mold and mildew, when left ignored, lead to health hazards such as respiratory issues and eye problems. They also reek of a bad odor.
• Unsealed grout surface easily gets discolored and stained. A blackish looking grout ruins the aesthetics of your surface.
• If you do not seal your grout, it can completely wear off and eventually make the tiles come loose. This can harm anyone walking unawares on the surface.
• Grout also wears off when the underlayment during tile installation was not done properly. If you seal grout, all these mistakes can be covered, else it would lead to efflorescence.
• Another issue with grout is when it is not packed properly, leaving air gaps. Grout laid on top of an air gap will eventually make it fall back into the gap, leaving a space above, which appears as missing grout.
• Grout easily cracks if it is mixed with too much water or left to sit for too long before use.

How Important is it to Seal Grout with a Solvent Based Penetrating Sealer?

A big savior to all grout problems is using a high quality Solvent based penetrating grout sealer. By sealing, you form a protective layer over the grout lines, which prevent moisture and dampness from being absorbed inside. Sealing with a strong sealer also prevents grout from cracking and wearing off. You can also prevent discoloration and staining by color sealing grout, keeping the beauty and integrity of your surface intact. If you seal grout, you prevent mold and germ breeding, thereby availing a healthy shower. Germ breeds in these small and often ignored corners and crevices in a shower and grout is an important place for germs and mold habitation. You also ensure that your tiles won’t come off loose because of missing grout. Sometimes, the underlayment at the time of installation has not been done properly. This issue soon leads to grout cracking or wearing off, but if you seal grout and tile over improper installation, it will not wear off.

Advantages of Sealing Grout with a Pigmented Solvent BasedPenetrating Sealer

• Grout sealing with a pigmented solvent based penetrating sealer helps to retain the grout color with the tile as it prevents grout from getting discolored.
• Grout sealing process with a solvent based penetrating sealer, forms a protective and waterproof layer over grout lines, which do not absorb any moisture and hence there is no possibility of mold or germ breeding.
• It prevents grout from drying off and cracking or missing in some areas. It remains intact, preserving the beauty of your surfaces for long.
• Sealed grout also keeps the tiles joint properly with each other and prevents them from becoming loose.
• It prevents food stains from developing on the grout.

Here are the Materials Needed to Perform a High Quality Grout Sealing Process

• Caponi – a Pigmented Solvent Based Penetrating Grout Sealer

pFOkUS manufactures Caponi – a two part pigmented solvent based epoxy/resin grout sealer. It seals grout while forming a waterproof layer to prevent the passage of moisture and liquids. Often the moisture that penetrated through the grout leads to mold breeding, which further deteriorates the tile surface. You can pigment Caponi in over 40 colors to suit your project’s needs.

• Paint Brush – a Grout Sealing Brush

The brush for painting grout has to be of very good quality. You need to use the paint brush from pFOkUS that delivers the perfect strokes and helps to seal multiple grout lines of different sizes in just one stroke. This Italian made grout paint brush has high-performance bristles and an intense adhesive glue that ensures longevity.

• Alco – a Paint Thinner

You can clean the extra build-up of Caponi using Alco – paint thinner. It helps you deliver a finishing touch after sealing your grout.

How to Seal your Grout yourself Using these Materials?

Directions:

• Ensure that the grout is clean and dry before you start applying Caponi.
• If your grout is broken or loose, you can fix it using our permanent solvent Sentura, which is a grout filler. After ensuring that all the grout is in place, you can seal it.
• Caponi contains part A and part B sealant, which have to be mixed separately in a container using a mixing stick which is available in the kit.
• Apply the sealant in a smooth and even coat over the grout lines using a paint brush.
• Keep spraying Alco on the paint brush to prevent the sealer from drying. You need to take care that you do not miss out any part of the grout.
• After applying Caponi on the grout lines, wipe off the excess build-up using Alco – a paint thinner.
• After cleaning with Alco, let Caponi dry completely.

After your grout has been sealed with Caponi with Alco and paint brush as useful tools by your side, you can now proceed to sealing your tile using a good quality sealer.