grouting - Tile Advice

[sellsby]

hi , just finished grouting my bathroom. mixed the grout up properly (im hope) till it wasnt dripping off my squegee but was easy to spread type consistency. ,bought myself a proper flat tiling sponge with handle and had no problems sponging it down draining the water thorougly out the sponge before wiping. appears that some of the red clay type back of the tile is showing like a line in front of the grout...its happened to about 1/3 of the tiles in total. just wondering what i have done wrong because this is my 3rd tiling job around my new house and im using all the same gear as i did the other bathrooms. tiles are 150 by 150 white.. it looks like maybe the white glaze on the tile doesent go far enough down in thickness i dont know though...ill leave it to you guys to tell me where i have gone wrong haha
cheers

 

[dean shaw]

it could be that some of the red dye has contaminated the grout when applying it and soaked through the grout leaving a red line it will have nothing to do with the way you have applied it. because you have used the right method. in applying it you can just rake it back and grout it back up and it should be OK. this is my theory. anyway

 

[enduro]

Sounds like you have done everything right, sounds to me like cheap tiles thats your problem.

 

[DHTiling]

Try leaving the grout longer to set and when washing off don't press on to hard with the sponge..so as not to pull to much grout from the joints...try to leave the grout flush with the tile face..that should work.......

 

[sWe]

You might have cleaned away slightly too much grout. That isn't normally a problem, if the tiles themselves, and the tiling job, is good, but if the glaze doesn't cover enough of the edges (don't confuse that with completely glazed edges) the biscuit of the tile may not be covered obscured/covered by the grout.

If you regrout, try to leave the grout to cure a little bit longer before you clean off the excess. That makes it harder to clean away too much.

Porous tiles absorb alot of water, and the grout becomes a bit hard to work with quickly, so it might be a good idea to use an emulsifying pad (also called a polishing float) to smooth out the grout before the final cleaning with a sponge float. Have a look at the "guides" link in my signature. There's a grouting guide there, with a few more pointers.

 

[MrSpoon]

ive just done a kitchen and bathroom using cheap 150x150, theyre stick thin and the glaze doesnt venture over the edges much atall, but for £3.74 a box what dya expect :lol:

 

[crash]

grout should be as thick as toothpast, then let set for a bit longer,use very little water to wash off.should hide your red edges.can also try different shaped pieces of plastic to shape the grout (while wet) up to the edge
the edges you see are sticking out a bit further than the one next to it.

 

[cmdceramics]

did u get ur tiles in B&Q? ive had this same problem with cheap tiles but theres not alot u can do if the glaze dosent run around far enough.

http://www.cmdceramics.com

 

[sellsby]

yep b&q tiles, was only 4 kids bathroom wasnt going wild spending a fortune but wish i had bought half decent ones now lol

 

[bigneil]

i did a job few years ago using cheepo B&Q 150x150 white tiles, and no matter what i did there was orange showing on a number of joints because the glaze on the tile finnished hard on the surface leaving a wee bit of the biscuit of the tile showing. i have never had this problem before or since. usually the glaze wraps round onto the edges, eliminating this enfuriating problem. Try re-grouting but dont wash the grout out so much. maybe a smaller hand sponge with rounded corners would be a better option than the big square one,...i usally only use those on flooring. also wait 20 mins or half an hour before washing so that the grout has a little time to stiffen in the joint so that not so much will wash out again.
I hope this is helpful