Question about grout in new shower
We recently had a shower installed in our Eichler, and we have an
issue with inconsistent coloring in the grout.
About 90% of the tiling was done, initially, at the same time. But
twice, the contractor had to come back because they realized they were
missing some tiles. So the remaining 10% was done later.
The contractor claims they used bone colored (greyish in color)
non-sanded grout for the entire shower. In fact, they left us the
leftover grout.
However, while most of the grout looks "nearly white", the grout in
between the remaining 10% of the tiles (that were put in at a later
date), looks very grey (close to the color of the leftover grout).
The contractor claims that the difference in color is probably due to
the difference in tile adhesive. For the 90% of the tiles that were
put in initially, they glued the tiles on the 1st day and applied the
grout on the 2nd day - pretty standard. For the other 10% of the
tiles they glued and grouted the same day. The contractor claims they
would have used some fast drying mastic for the 10% of the tiles that
were glued and grouted in the same day (and some other adhesive for
the other tiles). The claim is these glues have different
absorbancy rates, and so what we are seeing is that the grout between the
"mastic glued" tiles is drying very slowly - it might several months
(perhaps as many as 6) for everything to look the same color.
Does this explanation sound legitimate?
Frankly, this sounds very hokey to me. I personally think they used 2
different colored grouts - and now are trying to make up some story so
that they don't have to redo their work.
Also - while poking around on the web, I've read about sealing grout
several weeks after it has been applied. Is the a necessary step?
I'm pretty sure that they did not do this...
Thanks for any advice.
I'm no expert, but here are some thoughts while you wait for those who are to chime in.
- *Fast drying* mastic causing adjacent material to take up to 6 mths to dry?? Since you said they left you some of the grout material, if it's in it's original bag you might want to call the grout manufacturer's technical questions hotline and ask their opinion. And I would get the tiler's explanation and promise in writing that if you are still not satisfied in 6 mths that they will regrout until you are satisfied. (The tricky part here is trying to match just 10% to the rest of the grout--how close are you willing to accept.) Don't know if the contractor's licensing board could help, couldn't hurt to call and ask your options.
- to the best of my knowledge, sealing grout is recommended but not required. It is additional labor and probably additional cost. However, this is something you could do yourself. I recall having some grout sealant that was supposed to be guaranteed for 5 years. Sealing is easier than trying to clean stained grout after the fact.
Given your grout color issue, you'd want to make sure that the tiler doesn' claim that the sealant discolors the grout and makes their matching job/promise null and void.
Jake
Grout comes in lots of different shades. I too suspect they used the wrong color. Without the original bag, you really can't tell what color you have. If the mastic really had an effect on the grout color, the color would vary depending on exposure to the mastick. Ask your contractor what he would charge you to make all the grout match; Then pay extra for it, or withhold that amount until the job is done right. Luckily, it can be fixed without much work or expense.
Please don't let it go 'as is'. For me, every time I would notice the grout, I would regret letting myself be abused. It is normal to have 'issues' with a tile installation. There are so many discretionary cosmetic details.
Thanks for the replies/advice...
I got the following "theory" from someone on a Google newsgroup (don't know if this makes sense or not). He said that if you use too much water when applying the grout (i.e. when wiping the excess grout off of the tiles, ...), you can "pull" the pigment out of the grout.
This could make sense, as the color on the box with the leftover grout is grey(bone). This color matches "very closely" with the 10% of the grout that is grey. It's much darker than the 90% of the grout that is "off-white". As for the grout that is "offo-white", it's really hard to tell if it's very light shade of grey, or a very light shade of brown...
If this is all correct, it would behoove the cotractor to redo the 90% of the grout that is too light - since the darker color was the intended color. If 90% of the grout came out much lighter than intended, I can see that grout getting dirty much faster, than if it came out the intended color.
For what it worth, this mystery was finally solved.
The contractor *did*, in fact, accidentally use 2 different grout
colors!
After calling for over a month, and being "stood-up" 4 times, the
contractor finally came out to my house this past weekend. He brought
the grout that he had used for the initial 90% of the grouting. The
color was alabaster (off-white). When I saw that box, I went and got
the grout that the contractor had left us after he completed the last
10% of the tiling. The color was bone (grey).
After the obligatory, "sorry, how did that happen", the contractor
then proceeded to scrape some (but not all) of the grey grout such
that he could apply "a thick enough layer" of the off-white grout
(i.e. if the grout is about 1/8" thick, he scraped out about 1/16" of
the grey grout and filled that in with the off-white grout). Right
now, the coloring looks fine (no grey color bleeding through).
Does anyone see any issues with how they fixed this problem? That is,
are there any reasons why the new grout might not be as strong? Any
reasons why the newer grout might "change colors" differently, over
time, relative to the old grout.
Perhaps the only reason that they finally came out, is that we hadn't
made our final payment (wise move in my opinion). Of course, this
morning, we immediately got a call asking for the final payment (no
apologies for all of my time that was wasted, no admission that they
were at fault, ...). I'm certainly not going to withhold the final
payment, but I'll probably give it a couple of days just to make sure
that the work holds up...
Yes, the work will hold up for a while but the grout will evenually come off. Applying such a thin layer of grout on top of another will not hold forever just just like cement. Over time the grout will crack or fall off.
I agree with the last poster. At least from what I have run into in our extensive tile research, the professionals recommend removal of all offending grout with a grout saw and then re-grouting. I was hoping it was just grout haze caused by effloresence, in which case it usually results from washing the just placed grout w too much water. It brings mineral salts to the surface and can give even the darkest grout a light chalky color. Many a homeowner has had to deal with this one when much to their horror, that medium beige or brown grout turns white when dry. That can usually be cleaned up with a mixture of phosphoric acid.
Anyway, for a real professional opinion, you can ask the guys over at the tile setting forum at http://www.johnbridge.com - great resource and always glad to give advice about tile dilemmas.
Good luck,
Cathye
