Thinking of Painting Your Grout Lines? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t

Once upon a time, there was a family who wanted to make their bathroom look new by painting their grout lines with a store-bought colouring product.

A few years later, the home’s next owners were in for a nasty surprise.

Here’s a cautionary tale about why you shouldn’t DIY your grout lines.

Diary of a grout line disaster

The story begins when our client contacted us worried about the dirtiness and murky look of their grout and wanted to know what our team could do to help.

An Electrodry technician started cleaning their tiles but unfortunately, as the technician began to clean, a small section of grout line paint started to wear off.

The reason this happens is due to poor quality grout paint, which wears faster in high traffic areas and wet areas like the bathroom or laundry.

The client advised us that the bathroom had been renovated by the previous owner, so the grout lines were likely painted by them prior to the sale.

What the client thought was dirty, grimy grout was actually a poor-quality grout colouring job. And what was a quick fix at the time became a real eyesore for the current owner.

As this was something that wasn’t seen during the demonstration that our technicians complete before all tile jobs, there was no way of knowing this was going to happen.

The client was told we could stop the clean and leave the floors as they were or continue with the tile and grout clean before applying our own high-quality grout colour at a cost.

After the client picked a grout colour that complemented the tiles, the technician continued on with the job.

Why You Shouldn’t Paint Your Own Grout Lines

Are DIY Grout pens or paint a long-term solution or short-term band-aid?

Grout paint that you can buy from your local hardware store may look good on the surface for a short while but it lacks the quality and longevity a high-quality product provides.

Here are some other reasons we advise against using cheap DIY grout paint.

• Poor quality grout paint may also be more susceptible to mould, bacteria and degradation. It offers limited stain resistance.

• Many people will choose the paint option when the grout is not structurally intact. Painting over crumbling grout will only mask the problem and your grout will continue to worsen, making your DIY paint job a waste of time and money.

• If the tile and grout hasn’t been cleaned prior to painting them, you’ll be painting over grime and brittle grout, creating potential maintenance issues in the long term.

The takeaway from all of this? A fresh coat of paint may brighten the place up but it isn’t a permanent solution and someone will deal with the repercussions of this decision in the long run. Electrodry’s grout colours are developed using high quality materials and include a sealant, to provide stain resistance for your floors. You have more than 30 colours to choose from which means you can easily match it to your tiles or even try for something a little different if you’re feeling bold.

How does the story end?

One week on and the client is delighted with their freshly cleaned and coloured grout. The clean and the new paint job has livened up the bathroom and made a big difference to the overall look of the room.

Thanks to the expertise of the technician, our high-quality products and great customer service, this client and their fresh-looking grout got to have their happily ever after.