I found the Mapei black today ( thanks ) , unfortunatley have to buy a $ 20 bag for 10 tiles . Was curious if a waterbase paint would work then seal with grout seal . I not one for cutting corners or need to be cheap, but for the amount i need , it makes me crazy.

And about the grout seal , are they always just brushed on the grout lines , or is there something you can apply over entire surface ..? I have 3"x6" subway tile with mosaic band in the middle = way to many grout lines !!

And being just a soaker tub with hand shower/wand , not full shower should i do the floor as well ( thankfully 12"x24" ) ?

thanks again

for subway tiles I usually use a spray bottle and give the whole thing a soak. Let is absorb for about 10 minutes and then carefully buff out all excess. You can run into trouble if the sealer dries on the tile and you already know about the amount of work it is to get haze off. So do smaller areas at a time. Phone the manufacturer, they usually know best.

Sealer does not make things permanently water proof, so water based paint might still leach out over time. You could try a very dark wood stain (miniwax sells really small containers), worst case you re-grout in the future.

IMO grout should always be sealed simply because it keeps it looking nice longer, especially on the floor. for best results you should seal 3 times at 6 month intervals, after that the benefits of re-sealing are negligible.

Hey Pistol ,

I was hoping i might be able to do something like that ,and yes ill do small areas top to bottom , not gonna go through that again ! The skirt tile and floor are 12"x24" so ill just do the grout lines on there , about 80 sqr ft so not to bad .

As for the black grout , its basically just a bit hazy from all that white grout washing right above it i was doing . I scraped the top layer off and its back to charcoal , gonna just be happy about it seal er up and good to go heh

And seems like sound advice about the 3 times at 6 month intervals , give it time to soak in and wear a bit .

thanks again