Tile Grout Advice

[Richardo1505]

Hi all, I'm new here and new to tiling/ grout. hopefully someone can help ;-)

I've just re-grouted the kitchen/ dining floor. The flooring is original glazed ceramic tiles and the grout was a hard cement based grey finish. I have cleaned all grout lines and degreased, also taken a lot of time to scrape out the joints to cut back the old grout, I haven't completely removed old grout but hopefully cut back enough.

I have re-grouted using Beige Flexible Grout for Walls & Floor from Buildfix (Mapei) Its been down for almost 36 hours.

I have just checked some of the joints and in areas it looks a little cracked and other areas seems very sandy and I can rub out the grout with my finger. other areas seem ok.

what have I done wrong and what should I do to resolve the problem? thanks all

Richardo

 

[DHTiling]

Re: Tile Grout Advise

Hello Richardo and welcome..

You need at least 3mm of depth for the grout to hold but from what you have described, it sounds like you have over wet the grout whilst mixing or over washed the grout joints when cleaning off... did you follow the mixing guide on the back of the bag and did you leave the joints to firm up before washing off.?

 

[Richardo1505]

Re: Tile Grout Advise

Hi Dave, it's difficult to say as it's quite a large area so not sure which lines may have had more water from wash, etc. if you know what I mean. basically I think you're saying that the grout has been too wet when mixed?

I'm thinking I should leave the are for say 7 days and then scrub all joints with a dry hard brush to find the loose sandy areas and then redo these areas?

 

[DHTiling]

Re: Tile Grout Advise

That grout goes hard in a couple hrs.. so if n ot hard now then it will not harden.. best to re-do them parts..please do follow the instructions on the bag..

 

[Max@ableskills]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry to say but it sounds like it needs re grouting

 

[Richardo1505]

Hi there, yes I think I've come to the same conclusion. very sad.................... but thanks anyway. I think there are a few problems here, of course mostly in my lack of experience and poor mixing but also I think I should have gone for a sanded grout for larger joints as mine are average of 7-9 mm, the Buildfix product is for joints less than 6mm. Think I'm going to find a pre mix product in the colour I want

 

[Max@ableskills]

Hi there, yes I think I've come to the same conclusion. very sad.................... but thanks anyway. I think there are a few problems here, of course mostly in my lack of experience and poor mixing but also I think I should have gone for a sanded grout for larger joints as mine are average of 7-9 mm, the Buildfix product is for joints less than 6mm. Think I'm going to find a pre mix product in the colour I want

Dont use pre mixed grout use a wide joint grout and mix as instructed on the bag. good luck