37
votes
What spacing difference is acceptable with a contracted tile job?
When a professional installs a tile floor there should be no visible difference in the thickness of grout lines. I'm not sure what a hard measurement of percentage would be, but lets just say you ...
- 27.6k
36
votes
Accepted
Why should you add dry mix to water and not the other way round
Yes, there is a very good reason. If you add water to dry mix in the bottom of the container, you get a nearly impossible to incorporate glob of the dry mix at the bottom.
On the other hand, if you ...
- 23k
20
votes
Orange material in grout lines - need help to identify
Looks like schluter ditra waterproofing membrane.
Amazon describes it:
This universal underlayment specifically designed for ceramic and stone tile eliminates the main cause of cracking in your ...
- 4,245
17
votes
Accepted
Stains in grout
As suggested by @Ecnerwal, I wrote to Custom Building Products' customer support. Got a reply within 15 minutes:
The isolated areas look to be a bit of sealer residue that might not have been wiped ...
- 483
16
votes
What spacing difference is acceptable with a contracted tile job?
The spacing is only the beginning...
The trim should be removed before OR they should have tucked the tile under the trim. This is actually funny because doing either one of these things would have ...
- 47.7k
14
votes
Why should you add dry mix to water and not the other way round
From Chemistry: "Do like you oughtta: add acid to water" . Besides the "glop" problem mentioned in the answer, there is almost always released heat when dissolving something in ...
- 3,917
11
votes
Grout cures too fast in the bucket
The warmer it is the quicker it dries / sets. Use cold water. Some people even put ice into the water.
I used epoxy grout from mapei and I was scared it was going to start to setup really quickly ...
- 12.8k
8
votes
Tidying up grout lines 24 hours later
The one method I've had the best luck with is using a single edged utility blade and skimming over the tile/excess grout toward the grout lines. This will clean/scrape out the excess grout but not ...
- 76.9k
7
votes
Stains in grout
Did you use all the grout at once? Some grouts aren't dry mixed well at at the factory. If you read the fine print it will say to mix the dry grout BEFORE adding water to.
So if you do it in ...
- 6,106
7
votes
Accepted
Bathroom Grout Cracking
It's always recommended to caulk different wall planes at their joints and between tiles and the tub. That's where most of the settling will occur and grout will not adjust or expand. Start out by ...
- 76.9k
6
votes
Caulk or Grout the base of a toilet?
The grout may help to keep the toilet stabile for awhile, but to ensure it remains level and secure you should install shims. I've used plastic building shims that can be snapped-off at 2 inch ...
- 10.9k
6
votes
Caulk or Grout the base of a toilet?
Code requires toilets to be caulked at the floor, that, IMO is a mistake. If the toilet does develop a leak, it will be restricted under the toilet and the subfloor, and may leak for a while before it ...
- 33.8k
6
votes
Grout or caulk between acrylic bathtub and tile?
My Uncle was a plumber, so I called him, before re-caulking my newish bathtub for the 3rd time.
I told him that no matter how good a job I did, scraping & cleaning out the old caulk, spraying a ...
- 61
6
votes
Cleaning Edwardian tiles found under more recent tiles
I did something similar on a smaller area.
I used some plastic tools - scrapers etc and some cement remover product.
The cement remover product has an acid base (stings like xxxx if you have an open ...
- 26.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is grout at tub edge disintegrating?
It is probably failing because grout was in the gap prior to you caulking over it and it was not clean enough.
The gap should not have been grouted at all. You should remove all of the caulk and ...
- 13.5k
5
votes
Is there a downside to using epoxy grout?
I use epoxy grout all the time. There are good and bad manufacturers for every type of product. So if someone tells you that epoxy grout discolors or has this issue or that... that is really on the ...
- 47.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Do I seal just the grout or the tiles and grout?
This greatly depends on the type tile you have. If it is a manmade tile such as porcelain, or ceramic, then you don't have to worry about sealing it.
Most natural stone tiles, especially softer or ...
- 3,452
5
votes
Accepted
Water seeping from grout in tile shower
Well this is working just like a travertine shower should.
Travertine is porous. You can apply sealer but honestly unless the travertine was honed specifically to take sealer - which most ...
- 47.7k
4
votes
Accepted
How to caulking a bathtub with various size edge between wall and tub
Just my thoughts on this:
I see mold everywhere, even by the faucet
the first thing you need to do is figure out what is behind the tile. If it is drywall you are absolutely wasting your money doing ...
- 47.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Correct order of operations for caulking + sealing bathroom tile?
Those answers are all wrong, I've been a general contractor for thirty years and have had to repair other "experts" work on a regular basis.
seal tile first.
clean very well with acetone or lacquer ...
- 146
4
votes
How soon after sealing grout can you use a shower?
Manufacturer directions should state minimum time after sealing for use. It is important to “test” sealer by sprinkling a few drops of water on the sealed grout to make sure it is repelling water. If ...
- 569
4
votes
Wall in middle of tile floor: grout lines don't match
This is indicative of a poor initial layout, perhaps due to inexperience. An experienced tile setter takes note of the areas where defects (like grout lines that can't line up, small or thin cuts, ...
- 34.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to use waterproof grout + sealer to fix shower room floor leaks?
You can remove the existing grout, and re-grout with an epoxy grout. It's more expensive than regular grout but it's completely waterproof and you won't need too seal it. It's also much stronger than ...
- 76.9k
4
votes
Do I have to fix cracked grout right away or not?
Grout is not meant to be a water barrier!
Grout is porous. If the cracks are surface grout cracks only, then repairing the grout for cosmetic reasons makes sense. If the underlying water barrier (...
- 34.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Minimize inconsistent spacing for non-rectified tile
I doubt the tile pieces themselves are bad. You can confirm this by stripping them off one of the bad sheets, and stacking them to see if there is a size variation.
More likely, the mesh sheets are ...
- 15.7k
4
votes
Grout cures too fast in the bucket
Professionals regularly keep opened buckets of grout, plaster etc. from curing by applying saran wrap. Just don't cover the bucket, but apply it onto the product, so that air won't reach it.
That way ...
- 2,526
3
votes
Caulk or Grout the base of a toilet?
NEITHER !!!
I don't care what code says. I have had 40+ houses inspected the past 15 years, never caulked one toilet, never had one inspector ask me to. I have had a few point it out and say they ...
- 47.7k
3
votes
What is the best way to clean grout to make it white again without removing it and regrouting
Try one of the many Grout Restorers or Rejuvenators. They would bring the problem area(s) back to matching the rest of the grout. There are also Grout Coloring Kits that basically paint or stain the ...
- 10.3k
3
votes
removing grout from very narrow gaps between tiles?
I always use a Stanley knife with lots of new blades when doing re grouting jobs.
3
votes
removing grout from very narrow gaps between tiles?
Use a hacksaw blade. Specifically:
Get a old hacksaw blade
break it in half
mount the half in a mini hacksaw frame, broken edge protruding
This gives you a cheap and effective grout rake, with a ...
- 31
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