Mould-free bathrooms do exist - now, which miracle grout can do it?

[hyperspacebug]

We have a bathroom in Victorian house that was remodelled 6 years ago. Still mould-free (tile grouts and silicone lining) to this day. We do have some mould along transparent silicone glue that holds glass shield.

All despite all our lazy bathroom habits - you name them all! Nice change from having to scrub mould away every week I used to do in other places we lived in.

Clearly some kind of sorcery does exist.

Now we have loft conversion bathroom to do - and we have tiler booked in. I am having a panic - I don't trust tilers to have much knowledge about grouts other than "they like working with it", because I've seen people already have mould in their newer bathrooms.

Before speaking to our tiler again, which grout/silicone/plaster should I be looking for? Just something with "anti-fungicidal" in it?

and, of course, a very powerful extractor fan with a run-on timer.

I am having future bathrooms boarded with shower board. No more grout to clean & waterproof.

The previous tilers may have used a grout sealer.

Extraction of hot wet air!!! All the way. Make sure walls are insulated and you don’t have cold wall areas. No single brick walls and double glazing. Vents too. You need to minimise condensation. Ensure efficient heating to dry the room quickly - eg underfloor. There is no miracle grout - just good quality building to modern standards.

@Roselilly36

Black grout on floor tiles never looks dirty or stained.

Grey at a pinch.

That should have read: no single brick walls. Have double glazing.

Mapei grout. Good colours, nice to work with. I have been very happy with my bathroom dive with it 3.5 years ago. No mould yet

We have the opposite problem. Main things that have contributed are;

• rubbish fan
• mosaic tiles and white grout
• stupid construction of our walk in shower where water pools

I’d love to rip it out and start again but can’t justify the cost at the moment.

It's not the grout. It's ventilation.

We have Envirovent SIL100T extractor fan on window wall in our 1st bathroom - wouldn't say it's highly powerful? Previous builders used Aqua panels for boarding walls all sides, which seems to be the industry standard anyway? Only one external wall. Surprisingly enough to put with our long hot showers and poor window-opening habits.

Thanks for the heads up - we have indeed asked tiler to use Mapei grout, but this time instead of bath, we will have shower cubicle in the loft...hopefully the ventilator on the ceiling will do sufficient job of sucking up moisture coming from it. Plus underfloor heating.

We have one bathroom, 20 years since redone. No fan but we open windows etc when having a bath or shower. It has a full throated power shower as well

We noticed a little discolouration developing...obtained a spray which contained some ammonia. Cleaned up the discolouration but also protected the rest of the grout. Applied it to dry grout and it seemed to soak in...never had another problem at all.

I will look up the brand we bought and update

@RaspberryCoulis I agree.

@hyperspacebug the Envirovent SIL100T is above average for a 100mm wall fan, at around 96 cu.m/hr and I would be happy with it in a room with a bath. If it is successful with steamy showers, I guess that the walls and ceiling of your room are well-insulated and warm, resisting condensation, perhaps an airspace or insulation behind the lining boards.

poor window-opening habits

This is what's causing your mould.

Opening the window costs nothing.

Yes we've got bit standard white grout, five years no black mould. It's the ventilation.

Bog standard!

Use that exact Envirovent extractor fan again, they are a good quiet running but effective fan.

What would be a good extractor fan for a bathroom with a bath and shower over it?

See here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/a4088615-Bathroom-extractor-fans?msgid=102107034#102107034

Envirovent is or was part of the same group as Soler & Palau which explains why some of their models are identical.

Thanks