Sealing Ceramic and Porcelain Tile & Grout
Ceramic and porcelain tile is a kiln-fired product. Available in glazed or unglazed and baked under high heat making it very hard and often highly resistant or impervious to liquid stains. Ceramic and porcelain tile is available in a multitude of colors, textures and shapes and is often designed to mirror natural stone surfaces and generally is easier to take care of than most natural stone surfaces. In addition grout can be colored to just about any color. However keeping it protected after it's cleaned is very important to making your original color last.
The surface of most ceramic and porcelain tile does not need to be sealed, although some require a light application of a penetrating sealer to fill the micro pores on the surface of the tile. However, the grout joint between the tiles is usually very porous and generally made of a cement-based material.
Therefore, grout joints typically will need to be sealed and maintained properly to prevent stains and discoloration. There are a wide variety of sealers available, so you need to select one for your specific needs. Impregnating sealers go into the grout joint and protect against water- and oil-based stains. Industry professionals now recognize that grout is best protected with a fluorochemical-based sealer.
At DFW Steam Cleaning, we recommend sealing your grout after we have cleaned it to protect it. Again it's important to use a pH neutral tile and grout cleaner that will not strip off your sealer on contact like most household cleaners will do. DFW Steam Cleaning uses Dupont Stonetech Heavy Duty for most applications. Sometimes depending on customer requirements we will use Dupont Stonetech Bulletproof.