Just did my first ever grouting job last night -- tiling splashbacks on
the kitchen wall and round the kitchen units.
It went fairly well, I found I could work pretty quickly once I'd got
the hang of the "squeegee".

A couple of questions:

* Grout profile -- I had a go at running a piece of wood dowel over the
joints to create a grout profile, but in the end gave up as it was too
fiddly. Is a proper concave grout profile really necessary on kitchen
walls? When should I apply the profile -- before or after sponging
over?

* I was thinking about giving the tiles "another coat" of grout this
evening, to cover any bits I may have missed. Worth doing or will I
mess up what I've already done?

Bruce

wrote:
Just did my first ever grouting job last night -- tiling splashbacks on
the kitchen wall and round the kitchen units.
It went fairly well, I found I could work pretty quickly once I'd got
the hang of the "squeegee".

A couple of questions:

* Grout profile -- I had a go at running a piece of wood dowel over the
joints to create a grout profile, but in the end gave up as it was too
fiddly. Is a proper concave grout profile really necessary on kitchen
walls? When should I apply the profile -- before or after sponging
over?

* I was thinking about giving the tiles "another coat" of grout this
evening, to cover any bits I may have missed. Worth doing or will I
mess up what I've already done?

Bruce


I've tried using dowel, etc but without success so normally reverted to
using my index finger and coping with the soreness for a few days
afterwards; HOWEVER, I recently bought a rubber finger(!) from Topps
Tiles - fantastic widget and well worth the couple of quid it cost!

--
Dave S
(The return email address is a dummy)

wrote:
Just did my first ever grouting job last night -- tiling splashbacks
on
the kitchen wall and round the kitchen units.
It went fairly well, I found I could work pretty quickly once I'd got
the hang of the "squeegee".

A couple of questions:

* Grout profile -- I had a go at running a piece of wood dowel over
the
joints to create a grout profile, but in the end gave up as it was
too
fiddly. Is a proper concave grout profile really necessary on kitchen
walls? When should I apply the profile -- before or after sponging
over?

Indeed. Profilers are usually only any good for Mastic or sealant.

I usually use the rubber squeegee, then a sponge, then for final
profiling use a wet finger

Concave just below the surface of the edges is the best profile.

* I was thinking about giving the tiles "another coat" of grout this
evening, to cover any bits I may have missed. Worth doing or will I
mess up what I've already done?

Yep, don't worry about going back over, remove some old grout as
necessary. I used some dodgy "adhesive + grout" [in one] from Wickes
once that shrank as it dried, needing a second coat.

Using decent grout (like Bal with Microban) will make the job easier as
you only need to do it once.

It's quite important to ensure you have to go over the grout line only
once as it's a bad enough job as it is, without doing it twice .. !

Cheers,

Paul.

Dave wrote in message
I've tried using dowel, etc but without success so normally
reverted to using my index finger and coping with the
soreness for a few days afterwards;

me too until recently.

HOWEVER, I recently bought a rubber finger(!) from Topps
Tiles - fantastic widget and well worth the couple of quid it cost!

I recently heard about using electrical cable. After a bit of
experimenting I found that a short length of cable about 5mm diameter
curved vertically over the top of my index finger worked really well. My
favourite bit of cable is now safely stored with the rest of the tiling
kit :-)

--
Holly, in France.
Holiday home in the Dordogne,
website: http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr

* I was thinking about giving the tiles "another coat" of grout
this
evening, to cover any bits I may have missed. Worth doing or will I
mess up what I've already done?

Yep, don't worry about going back over, remove some old grout as
necessary. I used some dodgy "adhesive + grout" [in one] from Wickes
once that shrank as it dried, needing a second coat.

Using decent grout (like Bal with Microban) will make the job easier
as
you only need to do it once.

It's quite important to ensure you have to go over the grout line
only
once as it's a bad enough job as it is, without doing it twice .. !

OP here.
Its been 2 days since I did the grouting. There is a fine layer of
grout on most of the tiles. How do I remove this...wipe over with a
damp cloth?

Bruce

wrote:

It's quite important to ensure you have to go over the grout line
only
once as it's a bad enough job as it is, without doing it twice .. !

OP here.
Its been 2 days since I did the grouting. There is a fine layer of
grout on most of the tiles. How do I remove this...wipe over with a
damp cloth?

Use some of those cheap foam scouring pads. The neater you put on the
grout in the first place (don't leave anthing proud or on the edges of
the tile) the easier it is to finish off. This takes a bit of practice
;-)

I can't stress enough not to use cheap grout. Premixed is usually not
the best product, as you can get the powder to a better consistency for
application. The problem is estimating the right amount of grout powder
!

Cheers,

Paul.