Regrouting
What it is
Grout is the cement between your tiles, and it wears out long before the tiles do. It absorbs water, traps dirt, and slowly breaks down. Once it starts cracking or pulling away from the tile edge, water gets underneath — and that is when small cosmetic problems turn into loose tiles and damp walls.
Regrouting means removing the old grout from the joints and laying fresh grout across the whole surface. It is not a patch job: raking out the old material properly is most of the work, and it is what separates a finish that lasts from one that fails again in a year.
Why it’s worth doing
A regrout costs a fraction of retiling and completely changes how a room looks. Because the grout is new all the way through rather than painted over, it also restores the waterproof line between your tiles, which matters most in showers and around wet areas.
Most bathroom floors and shower walls can be done in a day, and the room is usable again once the grout has cured.
What to look for
Run a fingernail along a grout line. If it powders, if you can see hairline cracks, or if the joint has dropped below the level of the tile, the grout has started to go. Dark patches that reappear a day after cleaning usually mean moisture is sitting in the joint rather than on it.
- Bathrooms, kitchens, laundries, and tiled floors
- Old grout removed rather than covered over
- Colour matched to the existing tile, or changed entirely
- Sealed on completion to slow future staining