Shower Tile and Protection

[Willbeen]

I read somewhere that a wax or sealant is a good product to protect your shower tile and grout. (Maybe as good as or better than products bought at a tile store and less expensive...plus the ease of using wax/sealant already on hand.)

We just recently retiled our shower and want to get off to a good start. Has anybody had any experience using a wax or sealant on your shower tile? Any preferences to wax or synthetic sealant?

[BudgetPlan1]

I've used leftover ceramic coating on solid surface shower walls, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Works well but never did tile/grout.

Real nice on stainless appliances (and black touchpads on em); really cuts down on the fingerprints.

[Loser]

No preference, just used what I had at the time. Used Blackfire Wet Diamond on our shower tiles and it worked great. And now that you mention it, I know what to do with all those little sealant and liquid wax samples I have lying around.

[suttonri]

The real trick is going to be cleaning it after you have sealed it. It's not just the lsp, but how cleaning the tile will beat up the product. I'd probably try something like CarPro Hydro2 because it would take about two minutes with a detachable shower head. No big deal if you strip it when you clean the shower.

[suttonri]

So I actually tried this last night. I cleaned my shower as I normally do, spray, dwell, and rinse 2 parts white vinegar with 1 part dawn dish detergent. Next I sprayed and rinsed CarPro Hydro2 with the detachable shower head set to a concentrated fast stream. You could see the beading appear as the Hydro2 was rinsed away. Squegee'ing the rinse water was very slick.

No pictures, nothing really showed on camera. It really looks no different than any other time I've cleaned my shower. The walls bead water better but are no means dry after a shower. I still squeegee the inside of the shower after using it to keep water spots, mold, etc down. So, no difference in appearance, no difference in maintenance. I won't try sealant in the shower again anytime soon.