Sir Grout of Chicago Rescues Shower from Water Damage

March 18, 2015

Hey, Sir Grout fans!

Our nation-wide, prolonged winter has finally come to an end and one thing seems to be on everyone's mind: spring cleaning. Let's face it, the more sunlight comes beaming in through your bathroom or kitchen window, the more your home's looming interior projects scream out, "Help us!".

Across the board, most dirty grout projects we encounter are typically about the same, but this week we came across a residential shower that would require some special attention. Consider the following scenario: You're getting ready for a long day of work. You hop in the shower still half asleep and, when you turn on the water, you notice some water trickling out of the wall near the faucet. You think to yourself, "I must be dreaming, this can't be what I think it is." Unfortunately, it's exactly what you think it is: water damage. You know you can't let this problem go; the longer it is left undealt with, the worse it will get.

Who are you going to call? The obvious answer to that question would normally be Ghostbusters. However, in this scenario, the best company to call is Sir Grout.

At Sir Grout of Chicago, we have a team of highly skilled technicians with a background of successful work on large tile projects and in dealing with similar "uh-oh" scenarios to this one.

Here is what the water-damaged shower looked like when we arrived:


Whoa! It was certainly time for our technicians to get to work.

This is what we found lurking beneath the shower's wall tiles. Clearly, it's a good thing this customer called when he did. Look at that drywall backer board; backer boards like that shouldn't be used anymore! Drywall attracts mold and mildew and doesn't comply with building code. Our technicians reported being surprised that the tiles had not already started falling out themselves.


We promptly replaced the old backer board with a more new-aged one made of concrete. Concrete boards are built to withstand moist shower environments, which is helpful in preventing further water damage from happening. Take a glimpse at what the concrete backer board we installed looks like:


Now it was time to switch the old shower tiles with new ones and re-grout the surface before cleaning and color sealing the rest of the shower.

Have you noticed in the pictures that we did not replace the bench or wall on the left side of the shower? This is because we decided to steam clean the tile and color seal the grout lines instead, since they didn't require replacement. Instead of using a substance that would eventually peel, such as paint or dye, to recolor the grout lines, we chose to use a specialty Sir Grout-made color seal product: an acrylic polymer developed to include special resins and hardeners that, when applied to grout lines, makes them more aesthetically pleasing and durable.

Below is a before and after picture of the shower. It now looks just like new and is better protected than ever before.


Tune in again next time, Sir Grout fans!

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