Homebrew Grout Sealer?

[mum4vr]

Hello Ladies-- hope someone can advise! I've asked around in diy forums, but I know my fellow mamas usually have good ideas as well! Welcome to my paradigm: A family member is *SUPER-ALLERGIC* to ...realistically nearly everything. The allergy baby is also the main DIYer at our house. We need to seal grout (need = want desperately to seal since using bleach in the future to clean mildew from grout would be terrible planning for life with the allergy baby) There are readily available silicone sealers with a LOT of terrible solvents that make breathing difficult for weeks! No-go on the commercially available sealers! I have 100% clear silicone. I have Citra-solve-- a powerful solvent that won't land -anyone- at my house in the ER. Can I mix silicone with citra-solve to make a brush-on grout sealer? How much of each? If I get no good answers, I'll just try it and let you all know how I failed, so you-all can avoid the same, or maybe my resounding success & my best recipe! Thanks so much!

[talia rose]

AFM Safecoat makes a grout sealer formulated for chemically sensitive people

[mum4vr]

Thanks for that info! I checked them out, but since I already have the materials...

Preliminary results are in:

I mixed a 1:1 ratio of citra-solve & silicone... it looked *very* thick & not at all like it would penetrate the grout as desired, so I didn't even test it on grout; instead I added another part citra-solve.

I tried (on scrap) the following ratios (citra-solve:silicone)
2:1
3:1
4:1
5:1

ALL of them penetrated the grout, and all appear to repel/bead water after they set. I will test more after some more curing time. IMO, the 3:1 ratio looks most promising.

Will update more after further tests.

Thanks!

[mum4vr]

OK-- the 5:1 and 4:1 seemed to penetrate about 1/16" into the grout (like typical penetrating sealers).

The 3:1 and 2:1 both seemed to sink in very little and mostly sit on top (like typical silicone sealers).

They all cured fine and all repel/ bead standing water for hours/ overnight.

I think to make assurance doubly sure, I'll do 5:1 followed by 2:1 on my actual project. HTH any other dyi moms C: