I think it was RJ had good information, you can remove the grout or just take it down with a carbide tipped knife then clean the loose out of the cracks and renew the grout in any colour you like. You can buy grout in many locations, it is only a form of cement. You apply it and pack it tightly down into the cracks with a putty knife and a float to bang it down hard into the cracks and with a sponge or rag wipe off the excess. After a little time when it begins to set up you then wash the surface of the tiles off vigorously to remove any residue otherwise it causes hazing on the surface of the tiles. You may also want to push a dampened rag firmly along the grout line to really close up the pours. After a couple of days you then go over the lot with a good grout sealer. Usually a silicone product is most satisfactory but I believe there are acrylic compounds as well.
If there are cracked and or broken tiles and you have spares they can be removed and new ones stuck down. do not break them out at the grout line, raising the pressure there can cause adjacent tiles to crack. A cold chisel on the tile to be broken and a tap or two with a hammer or score it with a carbide tipped tool and use the score line to crack then remove the offending tile. You may need to clean out the space and if a bed of mastic or mortar it might be necessary to build up the substrate a little to insure the replacement tile is close to the same height as neighbours. If you intend to do this yourself I suggest that you prepare the entire area to be fixed but make up enough grout to work about a square yard at a time and methodically make your way through the room. With skill you can do much more but you don't want a batch of curing grout while you fool with getting things right and learning the skills and you don't want to get so far ahead that you cannot get the haze washed off, it is damn difficult to get rid of the next day when the cement is thoroughly stuck to the finish surface of the once pretty tiles. If you don't plan to do the job yourself at least understand how it is done when it is done correctly. Now there are different finishes people select, some want the grout lines deep to leave a little shadow but on a floor this is usually bad news, you usually want the grout to fill the lines quite completely to reduce the dirt collection. It also probably wants to be polished a little, use something like a smooth thin pipe or thick wire, something that doesn't quite fit into the grout lines and polish the grout by sliding the tool back and forth over the surface. It is a little like floating and toweling the surface of cement, it brings the cream to the surface which will form a less porous surface and better resist water carrying dust down into the grout. On a floor you will need to seal more often as the surface seal will wear off with washing and general traffic. I think that is probably everything I know about grouting tile. I hope it is helpful. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Missy Mosquito" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 5:36 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Bad Tile Grout... what can be done? > Hey everyone, > > A little over a year ago, I had my entire house floors tiled. It's > certainly not the most fantastic tile (several have broken in the > corners already), but it's better than disgusting pink carpet! > > The original intention was for a light gray grout, so that it would > blend with the tiles and not show dirt from my messy husband and the > menagerie of animals parading around. However, after a million > times of being asked to choose another color, we finally just told > the workers to put in white to get the job done. And of course, > it's dirty in high traffic areas, but does come clean just fine with > a good scrubbing. My main issue is how incredibly pourus this grout > is... dirt goes in and there's no way to get it out without using > forceful water (I have a strong sprayer that gets it up). Also to > consider is fact that the morons who put it in did a really bad > job. I'm missing huge hunks of grout in a lot of places. > > My main question is... can we just have this grout cleaned very > thoroughly and then put on a thin layer of the correct color that > won't show dirt and be less pourus? I have no idea if such a thing > is possible. There is quite a dip in the grout lines... enough that > a mop is worthless when cleaning... I have to use the sponge kind on > it's side to get between the tiles. I would think a reasonable > layer of new grout would be able to fit in there, and make it easier > to mop. Would this new grout adhere to the old if I did this? > > And... if putting on some new grout isn't possible, what is the best > method for sealing the existing grout after it is cleaned (most > likely from the Stanley Steamer crew)? I put on the sealer that is > sold at home depot, but it didn't do ANYTHING. > > Thanks, Sarah > > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From > Various List Members At The Following Address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.4/476 - Release Date: 14/10/2006 > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following Address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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