Help! Grout gone hard before able to wipe it down

[Unregistered]

Hi all

I am a registered user but I'm sending this from the office and i cant remember my login details.

I've just tiled the kitchen with Topps Diamante Cream tiles which have a beveled edge along with a mosaic border 3 squares high from Tile Giant. I used Mapei Ultracolor Plus Silver Grey (111) grout and mixed 2Kg last night (around 7pm) and by the time the bucket was empty (about 20 mins later) the grout where i started had already gone hard and at that point i was fighting a losing battle.

Anyway, i spent the next 6 hours attempting to rub down, chisel off or otherwise remove the excess grout as best i could. At 2am i gave up because my hands were very sore and i needed to sleep. There is probably an area under the wall cupboards about 1.5sqm that still has lots of excess grout on and this morning it looked **very** dry and likely to be particularly difficult to remove.

I've heard talk in other thread about using grout remover chemicals, etc but these were in shower areas where its easy to hose them down afterwards to get rid of the chemicals. I'm not going to be able to do that in a kitchen so does anyone have any recommendations?

I'll carry on tonight with the rest, mixing just 500g of grout so I'm not doing so much at once and hopefully I'll have a chance of wiping down before it sets. I used the same grout but in white for the bathroom a couple of years ago without any bother, and this has really annoyed me cos the tiling was looking great up until this point.

Thanks
Ian

 

[YADT]

Hi all

I posted the message above. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ian

 

[Gazzer]

Without seeing how bad it is I cant say whether grout remover would work or which substance to use.

 

[Sean SML Tiling]

Did you mix your grout with warm water by any chance?

 

[CJ]

That's why I hate Mapei grout.....far to quick drying.

 

[YADT]

I used cold water out of the tap but by mixing 2Kg of powder i probably went beyond my DIY abilities. Thinking back to when i did the bathroom i probably did 500g at a time. I used an old wallpaper scraper last night which just about did the job without scratching the tiles but that was when the grout still had some moisture left in it. By this morning it was bone dry so i'm wary of using the same technique on the rest.

I've attached a photo of the remaining part of the wall that has dried grout on it so you can see what its like.

 

[Gazzer]

Ooops....I think its quicker to retile !

 

[andyb1]

Looking at that, i would take them all down and start again to be honest, not the best!

 

[White Room]

I think the advise above is pretty good under the circumstances....

 

[CJ]

And try a different make of grout.