In Grouting Hell!!

[wol]

Can anyone help. I've recently had a house fire (well NOvember 07 but still repairing the house) and have loads of grout that is now discoloured - smoke damaged. I've tried scraping it out but this would take forever and the scraper keeps going blunt and I've tried bleaching it but doesn't come up clean. I've seen the whitening pen however it is a creamy colour and white would look stupid!!

Does anyone have any good idea on cleaning or best method of scrapeing the group out - the cheaper the better - insurance companies not the most generous!!

[Pawelzik]

Acc to. your a.m. story it seems that you have lots of grouts to repair. Best tool is the FEIN Multimaster. Best way to go is asking one of the forum pro tilers who owns one to give you a hand on that.

[brummie tiler]

Obvious question but can you not just replace the tiles, will insurance not cover that?

[wol]

Unfortunately there was a problem with the policy so woudn't cover it. I am doing work myself so re-tiling is probably not an option as have only laid floor tiles before, and not many, so definately not an expert - i'm gessing re-grouing is easier!!

[brummie tiler]

in my experiance of regrouting, i can safely say i would prefer to rip out and re tile anyday! re grouting is painstakingly tough work and you will be lucky if you finish without chiping at least one tile. If that what you have to do though then the fein is the best tool for it.

[wol]

Any tips for a virgin wall tiler?? Can I use the tiles that i take off the wall if they're not cracked or will I need to buy new?

[bigandy]

got to agree with brummie not only a pain in the bum takin out old grout much quicker and less stress ripping off and starting again

[brummie tiler]

i wouldnt re use old tiles as your likely to have trouble getting all the adhesive off the back of them + like you say you risk damaging them when pulling them off. Is it a large area? you can pick up tiles extremely cheap if your not after anything to fancy

[mz30]

As long as the discolouration is only on the surface of the grout,use fine sandpaper to rub the joints it should take the surface off and the grout will look new.

have you tried hydrochloric acid diluted of course

[Dave]

You could of course approach a tile training centre to see if the newbies want to tile your bathroom free of charge......call it ..on-site training......

just a thought.......

[brummie tiler]

Originally Posted by Dave

You could of course approach a tile training centre to see if the newbies want to tile your bathroom free of charge......call it ..on-site training......

just a thought.......

very good idea