Tiles are a common and beautiful addition to your interior design, but they always need grout. Tiles are usually found in the kitchen or the bathroom, which are both subject to a lot of foot traffic and splashing water. Grout doesn’t just fill in the gaps between the tiles. It can reinforce the entire area, and completely transform the look of your room. We have carefully researched whether or not your floor and wall grout should match.
It isn’t always necessary to match the grout on your wall and floor. This is because the design of the tiles usually dictates the grout between them. Tiles are the bigger investment, and come in a wider variety of materials or styles. You can apply grout that will either contrast or coordinate with the tiles. Even if the tiles on your wall and floor match, you may want to break the redundancy by intentionally using grouts with different shades or colors.
After investing in your gorgeous new tiles, the last thing you want to do is ruin them with the wrong kind of grout. Fortunately, grout is a very flexible substance. Keep reading to learn how grout lines should be colored, shaded, and even spaced.
Is floor grout the same as wall grout?
Before you go about getting creative with your grout, you should understand how it functions. Remember, grout still serves an important, practical purpose. Grout can resist stains, damage, or even water damage. You can read this article to learn if epoxy grout is waterproof. But choosing the right grout can get confusing.
Floor grout and wall grout are technically the same thing because grout can be used for either surface. However, grout can still be sold in a variety of ways. For example, grout can be sanded, un-sanded, or premixed. What really matters is that you’re buying the right grout for your “joints.” This is the space between your tiles.
Wall grout is only sold with that name because it generally has un-sanded grout. Un-sanded grout is the best grout for spaces that are under an eighth of an inch wide. Wall tiles tend to use thinner joints, so un-sanded grout became an unofficial “wall grout.” However, if your flooring also happens to have joints that are less than an eighth of an inch, then you would still use “wall grout” anyway.
Click here to find this tile grout on Amazon.
Either way, some grout is even sold to accommodate a joint width of any conventional size. This includes either the smaller or the wider joints. That flexibility can render the floor and wall argument pointless.
What grout color should I use for the floor and wall?
There are a few ways to go about choosing your grout. However, all of them rely on the tiles themselves, which will command more of the surface area. If the tiles on your wall and floor are different, then they may require different kinds of grout. You can check out this article to learn the six best types of tiles for kitchen floors. Different relationships between the grout and the tiles can draw special attention to the patterns, joints, or materials.
Hide the Grout
If you have fancy new tiles, then you will probably want to flaunt how beautiful they are. And if you want to draw attention to them, then the grout should stay hidden. The best way to do this is to use a grout that matches your tiles. It will make the tile wall appear larger, and it won’t steal any attention from the tiles.
Otherwise, you can also choose a neutral grout color. For example, gray grout will help create an outline for the tiles without becoming too distracting. Gray is especially popular because it is a cool neutral. But sometimes alternatives like brown or white can work in the right circumstances.
Should grout be lighter or darker than tiles?
If you want the grout to be part of your style, then you will have to choose between grout that will contrast or complement the tiles. The shade of your grout can drastically alter the room.
If your grout contrasts the tiles, then the actual layout of your tiles becomes a focal point of the room. This may be fun for decorative wall tiles that were meant to showcase a creative pattern. Or, you can spruce up a floor that would otherwise go unnoticed. Just bear in mind that drawing attention to the joints on your floor can potentially make the room appear a little smaller.
If your grout complements the tiles, then you’ve struck the middle ground between matching and contrasting. Using colors that complement each other will create just enough of an outline without removing the focus from your tiles. Instead of letting the grout disappear altogether, it will feel like a soft canvas for your tile style. You can even use undertones in your grout to find just the right shade.
What color grout shows the least dirt?
Bear in mind that no matter what, lighter grout is more likely to display its filth and damage. This will require more cleaning and repairs than darker grout. Dark grout will add more depth to your tiles, like shadows in the joints. It can also make bright tiles appear even brighter. Then again, dark grout is also famously known to fade and lose color over time.
Should floor and wall grout spacing lines match?
Lining up the grout lines on your floor and walls can be pretty challenging. Even when you hire professionals to do it, it can take a while and cost you more. It’s usually achieved by tiling the floor first and working your way upwards. However, corner tiles are especially challenging.
Fortunately, it isn’t always necessary to line up everything perfectly. Most of the time, you’ll want to create a proper “stagger” where the floor and the walls meet. In other words, you want to space out the uneven grout lines just right. This can actually make the uneven look appear intentional, or even unnoticeable.
How to match grout color when doing repairs?
It can be difficult to buy new grout that matches enough with the old one. But if you don’t match them well enough, it can also be very easy to tell. So, you’re going to have to put in some work.
Firstly, you need to cleanse the old grout in order to determine its true color. Then, you need to find out if the grout was sanded. If you aren’t sure, you can measure the width of your grout joints. If it’s under an eighth of an inch, then either you or the professionals should have used unsanded.
Now, you can try to match the existing color with samples of the new grout. If necessary, you may have to mix multiple new grouts together in order to get a closer match. You would need to commit to trial and error by adding water to the mixture and waiting for the result after it dries.
Does grout dry lighter or darker than samples?
Dried grout will generally have the same shade that it had when you bought it. Water just happens to cause your grout to appear darker for a while.
However, it is possible to use the wrong amount of water when you mix your grout. Water is usually the primary issue when dark grout ends up drying lighter than the sample you wanted. Also, the substances in hard water can potentially alter the shade of your grout to become lighter or darker.
Does grout colorant really work?
Grout colorant is also known as grout paint because it can restore or change the color of your grout. Additionally, it’s usually brushed on. However, the success of your grout paint is subject to very specific conditions. To begin with, the grout colorant won’t work if your grout is both discolored and damaged. You can make the situation worse if you just try to paint over broken grout.
Even Home Depot mentions that their grout paint might produce different results if the “job site conditions” aren’t quite right. Otherwise, grout colorant has absolutely been known to work wonders on faded grout colors. It is available in dozens of colors, and it’s sometimes sold with the ability to seal your grout too.
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Do grout pens work?
Grout pens aren’t typically the best investment. They tend to get a lot of mixed results, even when you seek out the best brands. This is because the results tend to betray a lot of the advertising. Usually, the grout pens don’t cover as much area as they’re supposed to.
Also, grout pens are highly unlikely to match your existing grout. They may not even match the intended color that was purchased. Worse, the pens are usually known to have a pretty unreliable durability.
Grout pens are really just a temporary quick fix. They offer more accuracy, and they’re inexpensive, but you will get what you pay for. If you’re set on trying out a grout pen, then you’ll need to invest in better brands and multiple pens. Then, you can hope for a good experience.
Click here to find this grout pen on Amazon.
Summary
Grout is a versatile but touchy tool for your walls and floor. It can either enhance or destroy your style. But it’s a necessary addition to your tiles because they will need the special reinforcement. It’s important that you know how to choose the right colors, shades, and types of grout. It may seem a little mundane at first, but now you can work with any tile in any room!