My friend is about to pay an outlandish sum of money for a modest home in the Washington DC area.
As part of the final walkthrough, he noticed that the grout in the tub/shower turned brown when it was wet. The builder said all that needed to be done was to have the grout sealed (which apparently isn’t included in 300K+ price tag).
This doesn’t sound feasible to me. If it must be sealed, what is the best product to use for that? If not, what could cause this?
Replies
I would tell the builder to seal and guarantee it. I bought a new house in Omaha in 1989 and learned the hard way that you can't win in court when a tiled bath or shower fails. Your responsibility as a homeowner is to wipe your tile dry after each shower. I had to rebuild the whole thing in 18 months after moving in. There was no recourse. Anytime a builder gives you a flippant solution, ask yourself why he doesn't just do it. The grout sealer would only cost about ten bucks, plus an hour's worth of labor, assuming that the grout had dried for a couple of weeks. For 300K, if the builder will not take care of the problem, be wary.
Les is right. The grout turns dark cuz it's absorbing water, then turns light when it dries. Same as when new grout is installed ... it's dark when wet, then dries to the permanent color. If the grout is at least a week old, have it sealed with a high quality sealer. A quart will cost about $20 and will be twice as much as you need. Do what Les says ... tell the seller to have it sealed, leave the bottle of sealer to show what he used, and your friend can do another wet test to confirm the sealing before closing. It's so simple, the seller should be ashamed for not doing it.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt