New tile cleanup
 

My renovator put together my beautiful new shower, and now that he's
gone, and I've had an opportunity to use the shower for a couple weeks,
it seems that the grout was not fully washed off my porcelain tiles.

I have a couple questions.

1) What is the best way to remove the film of grout from the surface of
tiles? It seems to have hardened and the true colour of the tiles are
not coming out as they look dull due to the grout on the surface of the
tiles? If I need to scrub it? what should I use?

2) I do have a large shower, (4x8), and I would like to seal it once
I've cleaned it up a little. What would be best for a shower? Does it
make a difference if I seal it now or say a month of shower use later?
Does it make a difference if the surface grout is not cleaned up before
I seal it?

Thanks for your help
Bill

New tile cleanup
 

On 15 Dec 2006 21:56:43 -0800, wrote:

My renovator put together my beautiful new shower, and now that he's
gone, and I've had an opportunity to use the shower for a couple
weeks,
it seems that the grout was not fully washed off my porcelain tiles.

I have a couple questions.

1) What is the best way to remove the film of grout from the surface
of
tiles? It seems to have hardened and the true colour of the tiles
are
not coming out as they look dull due to the grout on the surface of
the
tiles? If I need to scrub it? what should I use?

2) I do have a large shower, (4x8), and I would like to seal it once
I've cleaned it up a little. What would be best for a shower? Does
it
make a difference if I seal it now or say a month of shower use
later?
Does it make a difference if the surface grout is not cleaned up
before
I seal it?

Thanks for your help
Bill


You can use a masonry cleaner (acid wash) to clean it up. SureKleen
is one product that will work well.

-Lee

New tile cleanup
 

Look on the shelf at any big tile aisle, it's either sulfamic or
phosphoric acid.
Many companies market products just for that purpose

wrote:
My renovator put together my beautiful new shower, and now that he's
gone, and I've had an opportunity to use the shower for a couple weeks,
it seems that the grout was not fully washed off my porcelain tiles.

I have a couple questions.

1) What is the best way to remove the film of grout from the surface of
tiles? It seems to have hardened and the true colour of the tiles are
not coming out as they look dull due to the grout on the surface of the
tiles? If I need to scrub it? what should I use?

2) I do have a large shower, (4x8), and I would like to seal it once
I've cleaned it up a little. What would be best for a shower? Does it
make a difference if I seal it now or say a month of shower use later?
Does it make a difference if the surface grout is not cleaned up before
I seal it?

Thanks for your help
Bill

New tile cleanup
 

In article om,
says...
My renovator put together my beautiful new shower, and now that he's
gone, and I've had an opportunity to use the shower for a couple weeks,
it seems that the grout was not fully washed off my porcelain tiles.

I have a couple questions.

1) What is the best way to remove the film of grout from the surface of
tiles? It seems to have hardened and the true colour of the tiles are
not coming out as they look dull due to the grout on the surface of the
tiles? If I need to scrub it? what should I use?

If it's only the grout film, I've had good luck scrubbing it down
with a blue/green ScotchBrite pad and a lot of water. It's some
work but won't affect the grout. It's not stuck to the tile
(nothing does). Since you have porcelain tiles, nothing ever will!
;-)

2) I do have a large shower, (4x8), and I would like to seal it once
I've cleaned it up a little. What would be best for a shower? Does it
make a difference if I seal it now or say a month of shower use later?

Likely not. I'd do it before the shower is used (at least three
days after it's grouted).

Does it make a difference if the surface grout is not cleaned up before
I seal it?

Yes. Clean it up first. You don't want to seal in any crap.

I really think you're over-estimating your grout haze problem.
I've screwed up by not washing it down enough and had no problem
cleaning the haze afterwards. It's easier on day one, bit not all
that hard later.

--
Keith

New tile cleanup
 

wrote:
1) What is the best way to remove the film of grout from the surface of
tiles? It seems to have hardened and the true colour of the tiles are
not coming out as they look dull due to the grout on the surface of the
tiles? If I need to scrub it? what should I use?

Use straight vinegar and a non-scratching scotch pad.
I'll bet that will work.

You can buy "Grout haze" type removers if you look for them,
if the vinegar doesn't get it all off.

Finally as a last resort you can buy sulfamic acid- and just
use the minimum strength you need. A very diluted acid
wash will get grout haze (actually the polymer in the grout) off.

Never get talked into using the cheaper Muratic acid.

When using any acid, have ventilation and eye protection,
and rubber gloves if you have sensitive skin.

thetiler

New tile cleanup
 

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, I'll start with water and work my
way to some stronger items if it doesn't work.

Just to save myself some elbow grease (again big shower with a mosaic
floor), does it make sense to put a scrub pad on the bottom of my
cordless sander?

I'll let you know how things work out.

New tile cleanup
 

In article . com,
says...
Thanks for everyone's suggestions, I'll start with water and work my
way to some stronger items if it doesn't work.

Just to save myself some elbow grease (again big shower with a mosaic
floor), does it make sense to put a scrub pad on the bottom of my
cordless sander?

NO! If it comes up it'll come up with little elbow grease. Any
power tool is just going to get you into trouble.

I'll let you know how things work out.

Please do. You've waited long enough to correct the problem, it
will be interesting to learn how bad it's gotten (this stuff
hardens over time).

--

Keith

New tile cleanup
 

wrote:

Just to save myself some elbow grease (again big shower with a mosaic
floor), does it make sense to put a scrub pad on the bottom of my
cordless sander?

The type of solution is your answer- more than how hard you
scrub. You've gotten a lot of good advice here, now just
try it.
The broad strokes you can make by hand will cover more
ground, much faster than that cordless sander w/pad. If
it isn't working, you need to adjust the cleaner you use.
Now take my advice from someone who's cleaned a
gazillion square feet of tile and grout, and start with vinegar
and move on to "grout haze remover", then sulfamic acid
if needed.
Generall grout film is difficult to remove and gets harder
with time. That is why is should be completely removed
on day one, before the grout dries.
Accept that your job didn't get cleaned off properly and
you have a problem, but be glad it's fixable. Most tile job
screw ups are permanent.
A couple of hours of cleaning and rinsing on your part
will make your tile job as good as new.

thetiler