On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:07:22 GMT, "dadiOH"
wrote:

zxcvbob wrote:
I'm tiling the bathroom-from-hell this week while Wife and DD are
out of town. The walls are 4" cheap ceramic wall tiles. No
problem. The floors are fancy porcelain things from Italy that
look like stone. They have a lot of texture to them. I laid them
several months ago and just didn't get around to grouting until now.

The grout is a latex-modified sanded grout, with portland cement in
it. I'm applying it with a rubber-soled trowel, just like a did
the wall tiles (unsanded grout). Here's the problem; it dries and
sticks tight to the texture on top of the tiles before the grout
lines are hardened enough to work. How do I clean the tops of the
tiles?


What do you mean about "working" grout lines? The normal procedure is
to apply the grout with your rubber bottomed gizmo, forcing it into
the joints by going diagonally. After you have done an area, clean up
by using using your gizmo to scrape off as much as possible then use
large, puffy damp sponges to clean. Only one pass with each side of
the sponge else you'll just make the tiles dirty again. Rinse sponge
and repeat as necessary. You won't get ALL the grout off the tiles
but there should be very little left - and you shouldn't really be
able to see it - and once it dries so you see a haze, wipe the haze
off with a terry cloth towel.

Yes, wiping with damp sponge will drag a bit of grout out of the joint
put not much...next pass with the sponge should get that. If you are
dragging out LOTS of grout, either your sponge is too wet, you are
pressing too hard or your grout was too soupy to begin with...it
doesn't take much time after applying grout before it is set up enough
to clean.

Reading the OP post again, I believe he might be talking about a
*scalloped edge tile* . His *texture* term threw me. There is a
little bit of a bevel on the edge of the tile. More attention to
detail is needed, imo... when grouting.

--
Oren

...through the use of electrical or duct tape, achieve the configuration in the photo..