How To Grout Tile: Correct Technique Makes It Easy 

Lol, me too

Looks like we all liked for the same reason

Lol

LMAO. Right?

😭😭😭😭😭

now that mix is communism....

You both get a real LOL. Great video! Thanks to all.

dogs and cats living together.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Welcome to adulting!

Homer Simpson yup I agree

No long intros saying whatsup everyone my name is blahblah I bought these tiles blah blah my mother in law makes good cheese cake blah blah

And the dreaded “ like and subscribe” before the video starts. Soooooo tired of seeing people saying this! If the video is good, you really don’t NEED to say it.

And the dreaded “ like and subscribe” before the video starts. Soooooo tired of seeing people saying this! If the video is good, you really don’t NEED to say it.

came here to comment that. I don't need to watch a 30 minute video to learn this. This was perfect

Exactly, force all the air out and all the grout in.

That's me. I am wiping the grout pretty much after I install it. I also use two buckets of water; one sponge for the heavy stuff and one to clean up afterwards that leaves pretty much no dry residue. Ironically. now 8 years later very thin grout lines (1/16") are the in thing. I actually like the thin grout lines.

Im about to grout a closet with unsanded. Very small joints as well. Im glad i read this. Not to take away from this great video.

Does it make a difference with non-sanded grout? 1/8 inch thick?

@lance Sanded grout will tend to stay put because the sand offers some structural support. Unsanded grout may come out a little easier, but the same technique applies. If you have 1/8" grout lines you should be using sanded grout anyway. That's the dividing line between sanded and unsanded, and you'll have better durability long term if you use sanded.

That's great to hear! Enjoy your new bath.

It can at that! My hands take a beating every day so I don't even notice it, but DIYers may be more sensitive.

I wore gloves doing my bathroom walls and they just kept tearing repeatedly.

The hero we need, sir.

A little abrasive on the naked hands. Took just a day to recover not using gloves.

@@zEndersShadowz u gotta put thin work gloves on top i do it when i have to pull thousands of feet of hose at work

I agree, layed down the tile, now about to do the grout. My mistake was trying to avoid getting a real tile saw. My tiles would fit, except for 1 or 2 areas that would need a corner cut taken out. So I payed the $44 for a cheap tile cutter and it worked perfect. Everything went down easy after the grid was laid out. Seemed scary at first but was surprisingly easy. So get the cutter and do it right, it will look great. No need to hire it done if you can measure and have a t-square!!

As a tile helper I can't believe I didn't enter this trade at 18 year old would have been making good money by now

lol ya easy peezy lol

True and time consuming especially doing it before and a little after a 9 to 5 job

Not a hard job IF you semi know what you’re doing and if you don’t have any existing layers to demo. New construction, EASY PEASY!!!!!

Me too. This shit is very physical, my back, knees, etc. Then again I am 68 yrs old.

If I don't like something I just ignore it :) this is a great tutorial

How did it go

That's great--I'm glad it worked out for you!

Grouting I believe should be like frosting the cake. We’ll find out this weekend. 😯

That's 169sqft

So true! I learned this lesson the hard way more than once. After screaming knee caps and barely being able to walk the next day from too much up and down. I picked up some $8 gel knee pads and they are the most comforting thing you've ever felt when flooring!

Erez Talshahar Laying down a piece of cardboard works well too if you don't have knee pads. For any construction job not just tiling

Very kind words--thank you!

Exactly!! Thank you for this gift!

Whats the 1st bucket for then?

wei bop clean water

You are referring to the old school method that for some reason persists today even when it is not necessary. The chemical formulations of grout have changed, so maybe many decades ago it was necessary to let the grout "set up" but today it is not. As long as you follow my advice closely you will be fine. Don't make the grout mix too wet, make sure you really pack the joints tight with grout, and make sure you wring out the sponge very well before wiping with a turning motion shown in the video. The next morning you may have a slight haze almost like talcum powder on the tile that can be wiped off with a damp paper towel. That's it.

enduringcharm Awesome. Thanks so much! Glad i watched your video before tackling my first grout job.

enduringcharm You say it is old school but even on the grout bags it says to wait 10 -20 minutes. I just finished my kitchen and did wait about 15 min per section. It was alot harder to clean but it still turned out great. My next project is the washrooms so Im not going to wait ...lol..

May have to do with the mixing ratio. Wetter the grout, easier to fill but needs to dry so that it doesn't just wipe right out. Just a little difference in moisture will determine ease of use and best technique.

Eric Jimenez as long as you don't wash out the joints you will be fine. Letting it dry that long means by the end the last tiles you are scrubbing to get the dried off of them

JPC437 The same technique will also work on narrow joints. Unsanded grout seems to dry more quickly than sanded, so don't get too far ahead of yourself. Be certain you've really packed the narrow space with grout. With narrow grout lines it may be more important to use the rubber float to pull away the excess. Relying too much on a sponge may lead to excess water and you may pull out too much of the grout. Pull the excess away with the float using a diagonal cutting action, then reach for the damp but not wet sponge.

enduringcharm Got it. The manufacturer (Flextile, Premium Polymer Modified) specification is for 20-30 minutes set time before wiping (post float). Do you recommended wiping right away, or should I wait? To your point, my concern with waiting is that the stuff may dry quick. In one instance, I waited to long and ended up with uneven joints that I couldn't correct no matter how much I buffed them. On the flip side, in another instance, I wiped too aggressively, and the color washed out of the grout. Your technique would have helped me in this later instance. Looking for that middle ground! Any further comments welcome and appreciated!

JPC437 Well, for narrow grout lines in the 1/16" range I typically do small sections (maybe 2x2 feet) at a time. Grout lines of that size are usually found in showers or kitchen backsplashes, so smaller sections at a time work well. I work in the grout aggressively with a hard rubber float, then "cut" the excess away. I never timed myself, but I'm sure it isn't more than a few minutes before I'm wiping with the sponge--a damp, not wet sponge! It's important not to mix the grout too wet either--aim a little more for peanut butter than for mayonnaise. All of this is subject to the project conditions, though. If I'm working in a dry winter heated bath I work a little faster. If the homeowner doesn't have AC and it's a sweltering August, I can slow down. Use your eyes and hands to judge, not your watch. As for the color washing away, I've never experienced that condition. All I can guess is that either you mixed the grout for too little time (use a drill and auger) or that you just had too much water in the sponge. Make certain you have a sponge designed for grouting and wring the life out of it each dip in the bucket!

enduringcharm Thanks for the guidance, and for your quick rand helpful replies! I'm off to grout!

By turning the sponge you are exposing clean sponge surface as you go, which results in a clean tile surface too. If you didn't turn the sponge you'd just be spreading the grout rather than removing it. Try it both ways and it will be evident.

The premixed "grout" in a plastic jar or tube really isn't grout. It's more of a watered down caulk, I guess, and pros don't use it at all.

enduringcharm I switched to the type of grout you're using in the video, but the grout in the bucket keeps turning to Rick before I can finish - wasting about half of it. How often should I be adding water and re-mixing?

If you are using a powdered grout (like Tec or Polygrout brands) and thoroughly mixing it with water to a peanut butter to mayonnaise consistency it should last long enough in the bucket to do a floor or a shower. Are you mixing it too dry? Are you using plain water with no additives? Are you using a powered mixer? I usually mix up half a 25 pound bag at first and mix a little more if I need it. If the mix stiffens up you can add a little more water to "freshen" it up. It typically takes me around an hour to complete grouting a 60x30 shower and another hour or less to grout the floor. Are you taking excessively long with your grouting?

It's kinda a playdoh-y consistency and I'm working on a room that's 20'x14'. And I'm not exactly speedy Gonzalez (probably because I was mixing too dry - I followed the directions on the bag). I'll try mayonnaise consistency tomorrow (third time's the charm?). Also does the rubbery/silicone grout (the type you use IN a shower, as opposed to floor grout) have a special name?

I'm assuming you are using a sanded grout? Try mixing a little bit wetter and recognize that five minutes after you stop mixing the grout will "set up" and become a little stiffer. If you mix ever so slightly on the wet side then it should be perfect by the time you get the bucket to the tile an start grouting. Make a habit of giving the grout a little stir in the bucket each time you reach in with the float. Sometimes the grout appears to be hardening but really it's just settling in the bucket and keeping it stirred up will prevent that. For caulk, you can get color matched silicone caulk (which is not paintable, by the way) or you can get a sanded silicone caulk to match the grout. The sanded grout has some texture but it doesn't generally last as long as plain silicone caulk.

This video was made for amateurs who are new the process, so I think small sections are wiser. When I work I grout the area that I can reach from my knees, then move the buckets to the next section. Depending on the shape of the room that area may be smaller or larger. In a typical bath with shower or tub/shower and floor the grouting takes two or two and a half hours, including clean up. For a larger or more complicated bath it may take a half day. The beauty of my system is that I never get up and go back on a previous section to clean up haze, etc. Once a section is done, it's done.

Bourne Accident That's awesome--glad it worked out well!

enduringcharm You know... that's what I love about RU-vid. Guys like yourself, who have knowledge and experience, and relay that with a simple upload and save guys like me a ton of time, aggravation, and headache. Thanks once again.

Just read your comment, and wanted to tell you that if you mix 2 parts water with 1 part white vinegar, and then rewipe your tile it will remove the haze. I do this every time I grout, and tile is my profession. I haven't found a better way to remove haze from any tile, and there is no way to avoid it completely.

Non Smoker Thanks. After the plumber gets done, I will go back and do a final clean up of the floor with the water vinegar mix.

Sweet action. Have fun.

Yeah, tile work in general can be a workout. Every time I load up my truck with a pallet of tile for a bath or a kitchen I have to take a deep breath, knowing what's ahead for me!

+JerryF ...vinegar and water? Hmmm...I'm not a tiler by trade, but why the vinegar?

+Geoffrey Mazalin Acidity to clean the residue. Works pretty good if you did the sponge portion right and got it mostly clean.

Absolutely!

San Franciscan slippers

That's good to hear, I'm glad it worked out well.

How did it go?

take the hard rubber trowel and wipe, at an angle, the excess grout off before you wipe with the sponge...and you can wipe 4 times with the sponge

No, that is not necessary. If you read through some of the comments there have been similar discussions. That was the traditional way of doing it but it doesn't buy you anything and with today's grout formulations you may even set yourself up for big trouble trying to remove grout that has already set up. Just do as I say in the video and you'll be in good shape.

enduringcharm Thank you

Tony Caduto You don't say what color the grout was, but I'll venture some potential things to think about. When you say the mix was "very dry" was it too dry? The water needs to be thoroughly mixed with the powder and if you went too dry it's possible the residue you are seeing is unmixed powder. The right consistency is difficult to judge from a video, I realize, but you want the grout to be something along the lines of peanut butter or mayonnaise. Of course, if you go too wet, you can get inconsistent color after curing too!Another question pertains to the thinset adhesive I assume you used for the tile. Is it possible that the residue you are seeing is either thinset that got mixed in with the grout (perhaps from reusing a bucket or paddle mixer) or from thinset that smooshed up in the joint and is showing through? Typically the thinset is either white or gray, so the color of the residue may be an indication.Once in a while I've come across old grout mix that has given me inconsistent mixing. Were you using fresh, unopened grout from a reputable retail store? Finally, if the residue doesn't come off and you have a real problem, don't despair. It's actually pretty easy to remove the grout (especially when it is new) and re-grout the problem area. I have a video to show you the process of removing the grout. Hopefully some of these thoughts will help you...

Hi its a medium beige and the thin set was all scraped out really good. I did mix it to peanut butter consist ancy and I mixed it for over 5 minutes almost 10. It could just be the brand, I still have one more room to do so I may use something other than tec. The last room I did with this same color also had white residue and I ended up using grout dye of the same color which worked well.

I will scub it with distilled water in the am and see it it washes off.

Tony Caduto Hm. I've used that brand before--it's a well known, reputable brand. If you had trouble before, though, was it the same bag? I have to say, I've never used distilled water. I don't know why that would be a problem, but I've never had an issue with chlorinated tap water or well water. The only other thing I can think of is that if you didn't wring out the sponge enough you could have been adding water as you wiped without realizing it. That could cause discoloration. I would suggest ditching the distilled water for the next time. I just don't see a need for it and I wonder if there was something in it that caused the issue. I do an average of maybe eight bathrooms a year with tile, and I always use tap or well water, whichever is available onsite.

I did another room and the grout looks great except for the color it did the same thing and I wrung the sponge out really good. It all turned white when dry. This time instead of sealing I just used the tec grout colorant of the same color and now it looks great, the grout absorbed the colorant right in like a sponge.