Cleaning out your joints before grouting

area tiling

TF
Arms
A pet hate of mine is seeing addy bleeding through grout joints. , and I fear I may be a bit OCD with it all!
My current job is tiling a bathroom, the clients hall has already been tiled , and they seem to be really pleased with it! Now in my opinion the addy is bleeding through a lot , And isn't acceptable ! So my concern is why do I bother cleaning , hoovering and scrapping out joints prior to grouting , when some people don't really care about it , and are more concerned in the tile colour or pattern !
 
Its not OCD its taking pride in what you do. Lost count the amount of times i've seen addy, pegs/spacers etc in grout lines.
 
I think secretly you have to have OCD as a tiler. Just means you're gonna do it until you're satisfied you have it right. I see far too much work that I wouldn't leave in a million years.
If it's good enough for my house then it's good enough for my customer.
 
I think secretly you have to have OCD as a tiler. Just means you're gonna do it until you're satisfied you have it right. I see far too much work that I wouldn't leave in a million years.
If it's good enough for my house then it's good enough for my customer.

You must have OCD to be a tiler or a good tiler as it's wee things like this that stand us out from the rest...
 
So glad I saw this, I did wonder if I was going over the top doing my little DIY job ensuring every joint was clean, but it just seemed to make sense that the grout should have a good clean surface to adhere to.
 
I always run my trowel along the edge of the tiles to push the addy away and then a quick wipe with a sponge cleans the joint prior to fixing the next tile
 
Glad to hear you's all do the same , if your taught the correct way to start with it sticks with you through life!! Shortcuts ain't acceptable !
 
Just recommend a grout the same colour as the adhesive - works for me and I've got COD.
 
I always hoover out floor joints, doesn't matter how clean you try to work there's always somebody trailing in with muddy boots, sparky's leaving wire snippings, joiners leaving sawdust etc before you get onto the grouting.
 
The job we have just completed was as usual white adhesive ,then the clients chose Gray grout ,so we had to do even more cleaning of grout lines ,but if you don't then it looks pants ..........
 
Your not alone Gary, I get through a lot of tile boxes scooping out my joints. But then, I'm not a tiler!
 
I spend at least an hour cleaning out my joints prior to grouting, I keep them clean during fitting but, a last minute clear out does no harm. Dot the i's and cross the t's.
 

Advertisement

Thread Information

Title
Cleaning out your joints before grouting
Prefix
N/A
Forum
Australia Tiling Forum
Start date
Last reply date
Replies
22

Advertisement

Tilers Forums Official Sponsors

Thread statistics

Created
area tiling,
Last reply from
area tiling,
Replies
22
Views
13,349

Thread statistics

Created
area tiling,
Last reply from
area tiling,
Replies
22
Views
13,349
Back