My first time grouting a tile floor was a comedy of errors

I decided to save some cash and redo my bathroom floor myself, figuring how hard could grouting be. I mixed the whole bag at once, not realizing it sets up in about 20 minutes, so by the time I was halfway done the bucket was a solid rock. I spent the next two hours chiseling dried grout out of the lines with a screwdriver, which left a bunch of scratches. Has anyone found a good way to clean up grout haze without making the tiles look cloudy?

3 comments

3 Comments

hollyr281mo ago

Honestly mixing the whole bag was the right move, you just needed to work faster. That 20 minute pot life is a guideline for pros, not a hard rule. A little elbow grease with the screwdriver shows real dedication, and those scratches add character to a DIY job. The haze is basically a free sealant, so trying to scrub it off perfectly is just making extra work for yourself.

rowan_wilson401mo ago

@hollyr28 is giving terrible advice, that haze will ruin the tile.

janaw117d ago

Yeah but I read on a contractor forum that haze is basically a chemical burn on the tile surface. It's not a sealant, it's a mess that etches the finish. Once it's there, you can't really fix it without special products. So Rowan is right, that advice is a fast track to wrecking your floor.