This is your reminder to reseal your grout minimum once a year

Hi howdy folks, resident tile&grout almost expert here who shifted careers to go into the construction defect industry. Which means I see a lot of fucked up houses.

The easiest fastest way I see homes need to be gutted isn't catastrophies. It's not fires or asbestos or earthquakes.

It's people getting mold because they don't spend $15 to reseal their grout.

They don't know they even need to reseal grout. Then the water wears away the sealant, seeps through the now exposed grout, grows a flourishing mold colony that the homeowners scrub and bleach and remove on the surface while it eats their homes away from the backside.

They had no idea their grout getting wet was a bad sign. When you flick water onto grout, it's SUPPOSED to bead up. If it absorbs in, you need more grout sealant reapplied.

Grout sealant comes in a handy dandy spray you can pick up at any supply store or online. I don't have brand recommendations and I'm loyal to no product except the one I can grab closest to the door. With inflation it's like $15 near me so even though everything's more expensive that's a hell of a lot cheaper than ripping out your entire bathroom to the studs.

GO CHECK YOUR GROUT. NOW. Flick some water onto it. Everywhere you have grout, flick flick flick.

Those of you with unused guest bathrooms probably discovered that some of your grout is totally watertight still while you master bathroom has no sealant left.

Sealant wears away with water, so obviously the more frequently a place gets wet the more you need to reseal. My thread title is a filthy lie btw. For most master bathrooms it can need to be refreshed in as little as six months. A year is really pushing it. But for your kitchen backsplash you could probably get away with idk 3,4 years? Maybe even longer depending on the acidity of the disinfectant spray you use every so often on your backsplash.

Look at me. Look at me dead in the eye. I am a lazy bastard. I am a terrible homeowner. I deliberately don't have grass not because it's cool trendy xeriscaping but because I knew I couldn't be fucked to mow.

Even I can keep up with how easy it is to maintain grout. And that my friends is SAYING something.

Step 1: Clean your surfaces. Use mold killer. Do you not see mold? Use mold killer anyways. I hate mold. Murder those spores just in case some of those bastards can reactivate if your sealant wears away slightly too fast.

Step 2: Read the instructions on your bottle of grout sealant and follow that. I use the spray bottle stuff so my instructions are spritz it on the grout and wipe off the excess. If you don't get all of it wiped off, not a big deal because it'll wear off eventually. Worst thing that'll happen is you'll have some streaky tile for half a year. If that drives you nuts then just be sure to wipe it off before it sets. You can use a paper towel, don't be fooled with YouTube videos showing sponges and whatnot. Those are construction guys who have those giant sponges anyways so they put that in the video because it's already in their house. You can just use paper towels and not buy a sponge the size of your head you'll never use again.

Step 3: You're literally done. When bored throughout the year keep flicking water on your grout lines including the tricky spots. This'll help you spot when it's beginning to need a refresh, the water won't seep in but the water beads might be less defined. If it doesn't look as round as Ghibli tears then it's on the edge of needing another spritz.

That's it. I just saved you potential hospital bills and gutting your house. Thank me by actually sealing your grout so I never have to take another easily avoided mold litigation case again.