coloured grout top-up ok instead of re-grouting?

[tan8856]

The downstairs flooring in our house is cream ceramic tiles with a relatively large gap of 7mm between tiles. It doesnt look like grout has been used between then, it looks more like fine cement - its grey and has a sandy texture, it is fully set in place though.

Cream tiles with grey filler looks naf, id like the filler to be cream. Can i use something like 'UniBond Waterproof Ready Mixed Coloured Grout Tube - Cream' or 'Evo Stik Tile A Wall Grout Revive Cream 125ml Tube' and simply 'paint' it over the top of the grey stuff? Should i then use a grout sealer so it stays in place/holds its colour?

Im trying to avoid the hassle of getting it all re-grouted.

 

[Richard C]

Wide joint grout is cementitious so it will appear as a sandy texture & grout colour is a personal choice but grey is mostly used as doesn't look grubby & goes with most colours. You can get grout recolouring products but I’ve never used any of them so can’t advise how successful they might be but, personally, I would be dubious especially in a heavy traffic area. I would advise you to steer clear of cheap DIY products, they are mostly crap. The right way to do it is to rake out the gout joints & re-grout with a quality wide joint trade grout in the colour you want. I would advise you chose a darker contrasting colour, lighter grout colours get grubby very quickly, even with sealing & your tiles may look even worse than you think they do now.

 

[tan8856]

Wide joint grout is cementitious so it will appear as a sandy texture & grout colour is a personal choice but grey is mostly used as doesn't look grubby & goes with most colours. You can get grout recolouring products but I’ve never used any of them so can’t advise how successful they might be but, personally, I would be dubious especially in a heavy traffic area. I would advise you to steer clear of cheap DIY products, they are mostly crap. The right way to do it is to rake out the gout joints & re-grout with a quality wide joint trade grout in the colour you want. I would advise you chose a darker contrasting colour, lighter grout colours get grubby very quickly, even with sealing & your tiles may look even worse than you think they do now.

Cheers.

Just wondering, whoever did the previous grouting managed to get it on some of the tiles - how do i get it off? ive tried scraping it but no luck as it really is set like concrete. Is there a specific product i can use?

 

[Richard C]

Cement based grout sets like concrete because it basically is. Scouring pads, water & elbow grease but be careful you don’t scratch the tiles; avoid acid/chemical cleaners, they may etch the tile glaze.