Meet The Grout Doctor! 

Breathe New Life Into Old Tile

By Janette Calabro 

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If you think your old, dingy grout is beyond help, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you learn from The Grout Doctor. Frank Allen has been the owner of The Grout Doctor in Omaha for 16 years, and he has thrilled many customers by restoring existing grout to its natural beauty for a fraction of what it would cost to replace it. He’s our local Grout Doctor!

The process of restoring the grout on a tiled floor depends on the floor, how the floor was put in, and what kind of grout was used. If the tile has been mistreated over the years, it may take a bit more work to restore. “We can clean it up and make it look new, or we can re-color the grout to bring it back to what it’s supposed to look like,” says Frank. “Restoration costs a fraction of the cost for a new floor. We can make a floor look new for less than it would cost to buy just the tile.” 

Frank says it takes only a few hours to restore a bathroom floor, and most kitchen floors take about three to four hours. Generally, it’s a one-day process. “I come in, clean it, color seal it, and you’re back on it,” he says.

Years before he became The Grout Doctor, Frank and his wife, Jennifer, re-tiled a floor in their own home. When it turned out great, Frank moved on to the backsplash. Another good result proved his talent. In 2008, Frank witnessed job cuts at his employer. With young children, he worried about the future, so he researched jobs that he had more control over. After he received lots of support from The Grout Doctor, he started his own franchise and never looked back. Lucky for us!

Grout deteriorates so gradually that you might not even realize it’s happening. “People move into a home, and the previous owners might say it’s been cleaned,” Frank says. “No one has any idea that the grouts are not supposed to be that color.” 

Grout that is deteriorating only gets worse over time, Frank notes, especially in the shower. When edges of the tile look like the grout has recessed, it’s time to address the damage before it gets worse. He recalls a story from a homeowner who kneeled down to clean their shower floor and their knee pushed right through the shower wall—the result of water collecting behind the wall. 

“Water gets into everything,” Frank warns. “If showers aren’t maintained or you allow the caulking to erode over the years, they can be a real challenge to fix. Some people let it go and think it will be fine if the shower is waterproof. That helps, but water will slowly get through everything. It does what it wants and goes where it wants.” 

His advice is to keep your shower clean and ventilated. Don’t shut the doors after a shower, and leave the shower curtains pulled back to let the humidity out. Use a squeegee on the shower walls every day, and wash the shower at least once a month. 

The Grout Doctor sells their own cleaning products, which are tried and true, but Frank says you can buy a cleaner from any retail store, as long as you know what you’re buying and how to use it. He does not recommend “spray it and forget about it” cleaners. “Never spray on a cleaner and leave it,” Frank says. “Make sure you clean it, rinse it down, and wipe it down. Don’t use Mr. Clean or bleach on your tile. It will dissolve the grout!” 

One of Frank’s favorite things to do is color seal floors. “I love it when we do a color seal on a floor. The original floor might look horrible when I walk in; within a couple of hours, that floor looks new. More often than not, I get comments like, ‘I don’t know why we waited so long,’ or ‘I thought this would cost more.’ People are so happy with it!” 

About 80 percent of Frank’s business is word of mouth, and he holds himself responsible for everything. “If there’s a problem, I take care of it. Thank goodness I don’t have to do that very often!” Frank says. “We can take care of any tile in the house. Floors, showers, backsplashes—anything that has caulking and grout, we can fix!” 

If you would like a free evaluation of the grout in your home, call The Grout Doctor at 402-393-2565 or go to groutdoctor.com/locations/omaha-ne and click Get a Free Estimate. You might be the next happy customer to say,“I don’t know why I waited so long!” 

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