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I got my bathroom remodeled and need to seal the grout on the walls, floor and in the shower. My tile guy recommended Home depot's spray sealer, but I have read horror stories about this sealer in the internet. People got sick, some even died.
I would love to use a spray sealer rather than going on my knees and brush it on. The tile on the shower floor is anyway very small and tight and I am not even sure, if I could brush a tile sealer on there without getting it all over the tile.
Any recommendations? Has anybody used the spray sealer from Home depot or Lowes? What have been your experiences?
I think if you're worried about safety your best bet is to paint it on--spray cans tend to put lots of stuff into the air. I didn't have time to google the horror stories about HD's spray sealer but my guess is that people were using it in an area that probably didn't have as much ventilation as it should and they ended up inhaling too much. With the paint on stuff it's more work but you won't be putting all those droplets of nasty stuff in the air to breath in. The other option would be pay the tile guy to come back and do it, he probably has a respirator which can protect him from the fumes while he's applying it.
I think you are right, I will go with the brushed on sealer. Even if the tile guy sprays is, which he wanted to do, the fumes will be in my house and I have 4 tortoises here that are extremely sensitive to any kind of fumes.
It will be more work for me, but our safety should be worth it. It's a bathroom without window and I couldn't have a proper ventilation other than opening all windows in the house in this terrible cold that we have right now.
Do you at least have an exhaust fan in there? The brush on kind definitely sounds like the right way to go, but even then be careful and try just doing little bits at one time--the brush on stuff won't get to you as fast as the spray but if you don't have a fan on the smell might be a bit much if you're sensitive at all to chemicals/fumes. You might also search and see if you can find one that's low VOC...I haven't sealed any grout in a really long time but I know with paints and everything else they're making no/low VOC formulas now so it wouldn't surprise me if there were low VOC grout sealers too.
I have a fan and 2 doors in the bathroom. I think that's enough ventilation for the brushed on sealer. My only concern have been my tortoises, not myself. They are in one room and I can shut that door , so they won't smell anything. The spray would be more of concern since the small particles travel through the air.
I've read that the brushed on sealer also last longer and gives a better waterproof protection. Very important for the shower stall, as I had to do this whole makeover because of a leak there.
