The Splashback and Worktops in this Guilford Kitchen had been made from Glazed Ceramic tiles. However, the kitchen units had been extended several times and each time it seems a different shade of grout had been used. Dark grey, light grey and even grout with a brown tint in places. Naturally, she wanted a consistent colour throughout, and the grout needed a good clean.

You don’t see so many tiled worktops these days, Granite, Marble, Corian and laminates are more popular however it was an interesting project, and I was happy to help. I was confident we could achieve a consistent appearance by recolouring the grout which would also make the grout easier to clean and give the appearance of the Kitchen a lift.

Cleaning Ceramic Tiled Worktops

Firstly, I prepared the whole area by cleaning the grout. Grout colours achieve better adhesion when the grout is free of dirt and grease and Tile Doctor Grout Colourant Pre-Treat Cleaner is ideal for this. It’s an acid-based grout cleaner that cleans and etches the surface of the grout to make a superior bond with the colourant.

Another option is to use Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up and as I already had a large bottle of this on the van, I decided to go with this instead diluted 50:50 with water. Working in sections I brushed it into the worktop and splashback grout and left it to dwell for thirty minutes before scrubbing it in with a firm wire brush. This action released the dirt which was then rinsed away with more water and then extracted with a wet vacuum to keep the mess to a minimum.

Following the cleaning the grout was now wet, so for the next half an hour I speed dried the grout with a heat gun. The colourant needs to be applied to dry grout, so this was a necessary step to ensure the best result.

The client had selected to use Tile Doctor Grout Colourant in Light Grey so once dried I started the colouring, brushing it in carefully with a narrow paint brush. The product dries quickly so any excess that gets onto the tile must be wiped off immediately. The process is quite slow and meticulous requiring a steady hand, but the results speak for themselves.

There was no need to apply a sealant over the colourant and the nature of the product acts as a barrier over the grout making it much easier to keep clean. Tile Doctor has a range of Grout Colourants in ten popular colours so there is plenty of choice. Using a colourant is much easier and less labour intensive than scraping the old grout out and re grouting. My client was also keen to avoid the mess of this option.

Once complete the tiles looked so much better, certainly my client was very pleased with the finish and left the following review.

Professional Renovation of Tiled Worktops and Splashbacks in Surrey