How long grout sealer

Finally, let your tiled space dry completely. While it may be inconvenient to keep a room off-limits for a day or two, remind yourself how convenient it will be the next time you clean your grout. A good sealer means less time scrubbing, so this is one chore that will make your routine bathroom cleaning a breeze.

Disclosure: BobVila. You agree that BobVila. All rights reserved. Expert advice from Bob Vila, the most trusted name in home improvement, home remodeling, home repair, and DIY. Public spaces and high-use showers might require yearly grout cleaning and sealing. Harsh regular cleaning can breach the protection offered by grout sealer. For the longest life, The Grout Medic recommends two cleaning habits. First, use only a soft sponge or cloth to clean your tile and grout weekly. Secondly, if you use chemicals to clean your grout and tile , be sure that the cleaner is pH-balanced.

When you clean your grout and tile with harsh household cleaners, you could be damaging your entire tiled surface. It takes three days for the grout to get cured depending on the level of humidity in the environment. Most sealers dry within 5 hours, however, there are a few that take over 2 days, which is why it is recommended to always wait 48 hours before allowing traffic to be on the safe side.

If you are not sure whether the sealer has dried up, test it by sprinkling a few drops of water onto the grout line. If the water drops accumulate over the grout line, then you are good to go.

If the grout absorbs the water, it means it has not dried up fully and you should reapply the sealer immediately. This may cause your grout to get unnecessarily dirty or penetrated with water, depending on the location of your new tiles.

If you are waiting for sealer to dry in order to apply another coat, the general wait time is 1 hour. You might have to apply a second or third coat to get the desired performance.

Once your second coat is dry, you can test whether the third coat is necessary by pouring a few drops of water onto the surface. If the grout is sufficiently sealed, the water should bead up into droplets, if not then the third coat should be applied to ensure quality results. Once you have applied all the coats of sealer that are required you need to let the area completely dry.

Some alternative sealers will need as long as 24 hours to set whilst others need a full 48 hours.