Advice needed on my soft/powdery grout... - TilersForums.com

[Ksh1988]

Hi all,

I have recently tiles and grouted my en-suite (ceramic metro tiles, 100x200mm, 2mm grout lines) but have had a nightmare with the grouting, resulting in very soft, powdery weak grout.

I’m 99.9% sure it’s because I rushed and over watered the mixture, as well as used too damp sponge when cleaning up. Totally my fault, that one’s on me.

I have two questions:

1.) How deep do I need to go when raking out the old grout? I k ow normally when you’re regrouting it’s about 3mm, but do I need to go further/really clean out each joint so thatabsolutely none of the old bad grout remains for the new stuff to sit on?

2.) For the areas that won’t be getting wet, could I just use a sealer on those joints? I’ve used over 500 tiles (in brick pattern) and the thought of having to dig out grout from every single tile gives me nightmare sweats.

Thank you in advance!

 

[judge]

Personally I would remove as much grout from the joint as possible and regrout.if it's as week as you say you could probably get it out with a stanley knife and lots of patience

 

[Ksh1988]

Personally I would remove as much grout from the joint as possible and regrout.if it's as week as you say you could probably get it out with a stanley knife and lots of patience

Thank you for the reply - it’s quite weak, but does need a multi tool to get out. It’s an anthracite grey, and when I wash it over with a damp cloth the colour runs. Could I get away with using a grout sealer in the the non-wet areas?

 

[judge]

I couldn't tell you tbh.give it a try.