Customer Reviews for Custom Building Products StainBlocker 12 oz. Stain Resisting Admixture Additive for Grout

I bought this as recommended by HD associate. Followed instructions exactly (replace half of the prescribed water for grout mixing with this product). Grout has set up for a week and water soaks right in. Waste of money.

We are in the process of remodeling bathrooms and kitchen. A HD sales associate recommended this product to help save time. We followed directions on grout (Pollyblend) and the sealer exactly. We had installed wood grain tile. The grout is now imbedded in the wood grain groves of the tile. Now we have to wait 7-10 days for grout to completely cure and then scrub the floor with Sulfanic (sp) acid (as directed by company rep.) So a product that was supposed to help us save time has added a great deal of time, effort and now more $ for the acid too. VERY UNSATISFIED- to say the least.

I wouldn't be surprised if the people that had a major problem with grout haze were using it with a natural stone tile, which HAS to be sealed before grouting. Just a couple coats of a topical sealer will prevent a grout haze on natural stone, i.e. Marble, Travertine, Granite, Slate, etc. Stone tile is naturally absorbent and unlike ceramic or porcelain it is not sealed unless you, the installer, seals it. If the stone is not sealed, the grout haze is horrible, and extremely difficult to remove. This stainblocker is an excellent product and prevents the trouble of having to reseal your grout through the years.

My installer ask for this product,I over looked it at the store.I bought another brand,brought it home.Marcus said "that will turn your grout the wrong shade" He wanted this brand to do the job right.He was correct.The job was beautiful.Thanks

I recently tiled two bathrooms and my kitchen with the same tile and grout. Only difference between the bathrooms and the kitchen was the additive sealer. I used the Mapei sealer in the bathrooms and had zero issues. Tile looks amazing. The kitchen, however, was a disaster. The brown grout dried white and I applied it correctly, cleaning up the grout as I went along. I had to scrub the entire floor with sulfamic acid on my hands and knees to get it up and it's still somewhat visible. This sealer added another day's work which wasn't good on a body that had been tiling 300 sq ft in the days before.

This was recommended by the Home Depot sales person. My husband used it according to the directions and it does not work. Tile was very hard to clean when installing and now we know it doesn't even work. We will have to reseal the tile with another product = more cost, time and aggravation.

This worked great with our grout for the shower. Sealed and done. Waterproof

The sealer discolred my grout and made it very hard to apply. It's not worth the frsustration just grout and add a topical sealer afterwards.

I don't know how well it's going to work yet but I felt it was worth the extra investment to protect the grout from staining in the long run.

I rated this stuff highly, but have not really completed the project yet. This product is supposed to help grout last longer and work as a sealant. It is simple to use, just add it to the mix instead of, or with, water. The grout cured fine. Time will tell as to whether I will use it again. If it does work, it will prove to be a simple solution to sealing grout.

I feel like this was one of the best purchases I have ever made related to ceramic flooring! Previously I have crawled around or sat on small foot-stool while scooting around the room to seal the tile seams, usually repeating to make sure the job was done properly. I wish I had seen this product much sooner. It mixes with the grout, replacing some of the water called for in the instructions. The only complaint my husband had was that he couldn't do the grout like he usually does, as the instructions called for putting it directly into the crevices and he likes to make it thinner and swish it around all over and then push it in as needed. The instructions said to not add any more than the recommended amount of water or it wouldn't be sealed properly, so he couldn't do it his usual way. It was also after a long, aggravating experience of matching tiles that were not quite the same size, so that may have added to his grumpiness a little. ;) The grout looks great; I feel like it looks better than any of the other grout in the house. If at some time we have to re-grout a room, we will definitely be adding this to the grout. Beats treating post-installation!

My HD kitchen designer recommended adding this stain blocker to my grout as part of the installation of my new tile backsplash. It basically replaces an equal amount of the water that would normally be added when mixing the grout and can be added to both HD's sanded and non-sanded Polyblend grouts. No need to pay extra for the installer to come back to seal the grout after it has cured!! I haven't actually tried throwing a bunch of tomato sauce on it yet, but it does seem to be working very well for preventing stains from minor cooking splatters. I guess time only time will tell for sure!!

Save yourself from future stains. This stuff works

Mixing the stainblock in the grout really saved a lot of extra work. Ann, Amy and Dori were a great help in getting the right proportions of grout and mortar to the tile.

I've used other products that seemed to give a better finish and hold up better. At this point it is too early to judge the overall. Probably wouldn't get this product again.

I've used this product twice-in a bathroom and on a lanai. In the bathroom around the toilet I noticed some discoloration after a year, and no amount of scrubbing would clean it. I assume the ammonia in urine, due to clumsy men, led to the degradaton of the product. I bought some specific grout cleaner, applied it twice to restore the color and then resealed it(twice) to prevent a re-ocuurence. The lanai is only six months old and has had glass bottles with wine and cola break on the surface. Cleaned up very nicely and no discoloration

Stain blocker was easy to mix into grout and now I don't have to worry about using a sealer in the future. I will always buy & use when installing grout

if you read the directions and use this product appropriately you should have no problems. this is a grout additive, not a sealer for tile. it is supposed to be mixed in when you are mixing grout. it is a substitution for part of the water that is used to make the grout. again, you do not use this to seal tile. this is a grout additive to seal grout and block stains not seal tile.

If you use this product on textured tiles with grout that's relatively the same color as the tile you will never get it off the surface of the tile never ever ever

I just used this product on a new bathroom floor, with no problems whatsoever. Just substitute this sealer for an equal amount of water, and mix up as normal. The job came out beautiful. No problems with grout haze with gray grout in black and white tile, but I cleaned it up promptly and thoroughly. Some of the other reviewers may have caused their own problem by waiting too long, and then blamed it on this. The product is a milky sort of latex, like a watered-down paint or glue, with just a slight plasticky smell. The closest thing to it that I have used is a pre-treatment for concrete adhesion. I like the idea that this is mixed throughout the grout, and not just wiped on top. Just to be sure, I plan to put a regular sealer over all. I don't see how this sealer could cause some of the other reviewers' problems. It left no trace on either black or white ceramic. The big question is whether it does any good in the long run. I'll post that review in a year or two!

I mixed this without water in polyblend antique white sanded grout. Used on ceramic tile in bathroom. 3 weeks after installation grout around toilet and tub shows discoloration or dirt from water stains. Used steam cleaner and baking soda rub without success. I mixed more grout and applied to dirty areas and grout now looks uniform. I am going to put a good quality sealer down before it shows any dirt again. This stain blocker mix is worthless. Expensive and waste of money.

this product does not protect the grout. I've used it several times and it has never worked as advertised.

I used this product for a tiled 18 x 22 ft outdoor patio and it performs fantastically three years later. I chose a light tan colored porcelain floor tile to repel outdoor heat and a tan grout. Worried that despite being cool, the tiles would end up looking dirty and horrible after a year or two. My tile guy had never used this before but I purchased it and he mixed this in. We used the flexible grout home depot sells cant remember the name to allow for movement in freezing temperatures. He had no problem until the very end of the third day when he rushed to finish cleaning up the grout haze before it rained and did not get up all of the grout haze as he should have. So as might be expected, after that same haze appeared on about a 6 x 9 spot. It looked like grout haze to me. Seen it before and yeah it is hard to clean up no matter what is in the grout. He returned a few days later wiped it down and got it up. Don't know what he used but he didn't seem to have a big problem. At any rate, I would DEFINTELY use this product again with no problem. Some might say that mine was ok because my tiles were light-colored and any haze made no difference. But I was using porcelain which is pretty much impenetrable so I don't think the haze remained on top or seeped in. I should be able to see it and I don't and it has rained and rained over the past few years. So I really like this product. By the way, my tile guy did not seal the grout either. He loved that. If it weren't for the price at the time I would give it five stars . I think it was like $16 for a bottle but I guess it saved me on having to pay him to seal it. I would simply say make sure you get up all the grout. Looks can be deceiving and when grout haze dries yeah that's a problem.

veevee from Delray Beach, FL, What I used to get the haze off was nano scrub. It is made by the same co. that makes this grout sealer. It took me 3 nights scrubbing on my knees! Home Depot gave me 2 bottles because I complained about grout sealer. Also I got my money back on 2 bottles of grout sealer. Good luck on your problem. Never trust a salesman.

First time the grout had something spilled on it, it stained. Wish i would have gone with a regular sealer. All my hard work tiling the floor is ruined. :(

We used this product on tile we installed in a 1400 sq. ft. house. It left streaks on the tile that we cannot seem to get rid of. We used water, vinegar and water, tile haze remover and elbow grease. No luck. If anyone has had this problem and has been successful in removing the haze, please let me know.

I used this in the grout on my counter and it was easy to use and no stains yet, even where I spill coffee all the time.

followed instructions did not work at all wast of money

After following directions, grout was just as easy to install as any other grout. It was not dry as previous review suggests.

I've used many Custom Building tiling products in the past, so I bought this to grout a small bathroom thinking it would save me some time. The mix is way too dry and very difficult to work with even after adding the maximum amount of water. Also the grout lines still needed multiple coats of sealer. Don't waste your time and money on this product.