Revives your grout and your DIY skills. (Unibond Anti Mould Quick Grout Ice White)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	Unibond Anti Mould Quick Grout Ice White
Date:	22/09/08 (662 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and easy (steady!)

Disadvantages: The lid confused me!

Well, as my mum would say, I am definitively my fathers daughter! The product I will now review certainly demonstrates that fact.
My family (bar for my dad) are diy-phobes, they are lucky in the respect my dad takes most of the responsibility for redecorating and renovating, my mum, (at a push) will occasionally paint, preferring her role as the design co-ordinator!

As I have been left home for more years than I care to recall I do try to do as much as I can myself, although daddy does get the occasional SOS from me!

The product I will now review is a wonderment to me, making old surfaces look as if they are new.....

The product I will now review is " Unibond anti mould grout reviver, ice white"

Ok, so you were probably expecting some amazing new fangled piece of equipment after that build up, but trust me, this product performs miracles.

When we moved into our home, over 5 years ago now, we noticed how much tile work there was in the bathroom and the kitchen. Now anyone who has tiles in these areas will already be aware of how quickly the grout between these tiles can discolour and even in moist areas go mouldy, I do the whole "toothbrush and bleach" trick to clean them up, but as far as I can gather they are of an age where they are just not going to go that white anymore, no matter how hard I scrub, this is where this reviver comes into play.

The reviver comes in a stand up tube, sitting on it's lid, this ensures when there is a small amount left it will always be at the right end for using. There is the usual information, product name and brand, colour spec, uses (ie what I can do and other properties) and finally the area that this product will cover, it states it will cover up to 150m, but as I don't actually measure the length of the grout I an applying it to I cannot vouch for that.

The preparation of the grout is paramount and should be followed to the letter, ensure all areas to be covered are clean and mould free, if there is any lose grout this must be first replaced before application of the reviver.

This is the easy and the fun part.... The application.

I cannot state enough how easy this is, you simply shake the tube, and when I say shake I mean vigorously for a good few minutes as when this product comes out it is quite thick in consistency. Please don't do what I did and unscrew the lid, I did and panicked thinking I had purchased a faulty tube, as it states that for ease of application there is a sponge applicator on the end of the tube. I unscrew the lid and the sponge is still inside the lid!
So after screwing the lid back on and pulling the lid of it reveals the sponge applicator, in the centre of this is a tiny hole where the product squeezes from. You gently squeeze the tube to get some reviver onto the sponge and follow the lines of the grout you are whitening. There will of course be some reviver residue on either side of the grout don't worry about this as the excess can be removed extremely easily.

Once you have covered the area you simply leave to dry for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you take a damp cloth and gently wipe over the grout at a diagonal, this is to take only the excess off and not the almost dry grout. The excess wipes of very easily, it disintegrates like the marker that you use on whiteboards, and yet it holds fast to the grout area.

The grout is almost like a thin plastic layer, covering your existing grout, this in turn waterproofs the grout preventing further mould growth.

Does it work? Yes! This completely renovates the look of old tile work, making it look freshly tiled again. I even used mine on some tiles around my hob in the kitchen, not really thinking they looked that dingy, but was gob smacked to see the difference that the reviver made.

This product states it is usable on all glazed ceramic tiles, including floor tiles. Ther are however limitations of use. This grout cannot be used on hand painted, satin, matt, metallic, detailed tiles or natural stone.

The storage instructions are again simple, keep in a cool dry area and protect from frost.

This product states it is also low in VOC content, which the product states is volatile organic compounds, which apparently contribute to atmospheric pollution.... Learn something new everyday!

This product does have a shelf life, you cannot open it then hope to use it again after a few months, it becomes so thick that it is more like a filler than a reviver.

This product was purchased for around the £1.89 mark from Wilkinsons, it is available in all good diy stores also.

Would I recommend this product, well lets see.... It's easy, cheap, does exactly what it states it to, diy virgins can use it and feel they have safely "popped their cherries" (to coin a better phrase!), and it makes your tiles look like new, what do you think?!

For more information visit -www.makingdiyeasier.com

Thanks for reading x

Summary: A nice and easy product, and yet still extremely effective.