Donna wrote:
"Sawdusty" wrote in message
news:383db63ec23c5ecafc5a18cabf66b3f5@homerepairli ve.com...

I am redoing our kitchen floor with ceramic tile. My problem is with the
sealer. I have seen some floors with grout lines as smooth as the tile
itself. This just has to be more stain resistant than the gritty joints
I'm getting. Is polyurethane ever used as a sealer ? Thanks !


Have you started grouting yet? Because if you haven't, go and spend the
money on the new kind of grout that is made with --- is it epoxy? Some
kind of epoxy or plastic-like additive that makes it incredibly stain
resistant. I had my kitchen floor done last year, and I dithered over
whether it was worth the price (it's more than three times the price of
regular grout), but I ended up using the new, expensive grout, and it has
been fabulous. Twice a year I scrub the grout with a scrub brush and it
goes back to it's pristine cream color and looks new. Whatever the additive
is, it makes the grout as close to impermeable as it can be, so that
anything spilled on it can be completely washed off. Perfect for a kitchen.
To answer your other question, it does seem to be a smoother surface than
the normal style of grout.

I'm sorry I don't recall the product name of the grout that we used, but I
can't imagine that your hardware store can't tell you what it is, if you
ask. It's great stuff, and well worth the price for kitchen tile.

If you're committed to the regular grout, I don't have any suggestions for
you. I have regular grout in the other rooms in our house, and aside from
using grout sealer on it twice a year (disclaimer: it's on my list of
chores, and it hasn't happened yet), the only way to keep it clean is not to
spill anything on it. Grout "sealer" is kind of a misnomer.

Hope that helps (somewhat)

Donna
I agree about the epoxy grout, it's
great. I have it on my countertops.
However,
my kitchen floor is already done with
the regular stuff (honey colored). I
sealed it,
it got black in no time. I cleaned it
with "grout cleaner" and sealed it with the
expensive grout sealer, it still got
black in a month. BTW, we did have 2 dogs
at the time, so I'm sure that helped the
blackening. So, I tried again. I cleaned
it and this time I sealed it with water
soluble acrylic varnish. I put it in a
small
squeeze bottle and put a line on each
grout line. While it isn't perfect,
this is the
best and cheapest so far. Maybe I'll be
sorry some day in the future, but for now
I'm pretty happy with the results. BTW,
it's been about 10 months now.