Removing excess floor grout help!!

fairywings · 28 Jun 2012

Before I start I know we have made a big mistake!

We have just grouted our newly laid hall floor (reproduction Victorian) with Bal super flex grout. The tiles are tiny and grouting wasdifficult to say the least. We did use a sponge to remove excess but clearly nowhere near enough!

For the last 6 hours we have been scrubbing with kitchen scrubber sponges, getting the thickest bits off with a Stanley blade but its still leaving white on the black tiles!

A friend has suggested using brick mortar acid cleaner like the one wickes do. Would this work? If it will work is it going to ruin the tiles?! (they are unglazed black and white checks from topps tiles)

I'm just worried that because they're not sealed they will ruin

any ideas greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

Karis · 29 Jun 2012

What tiles are they? Natural stone or unglazed porcelain should be sealed before laying & again before grouting or they will stain & it can be very difficult or even impossible to completely remove. I would definitely not advise using brick acid but a proprietary tile cleaner followed by a sealer such as Lithofin may restore the colour – if you’re lucky!

What did the manufacturers laying instructions say & did Topps not advise sealing before laying?

fairywings · 29 Jun 2012

Thanks for the reply! We double checked twice about the sealing issue and they said no they are intended to go straight down

could cry now!

They are glazed ceramic mosaic tiles, but because they are really small we struggled getting the excess off

Will have a look for the tile cleaner many thanks

Karis · 29 Jun 2012

fairywings said:
they are unglazed black and white checks from topps tiles

If you’re now saying they are glazed ceramic then they don’t need sealing either before grouting or after unless you’ve used white or light coloured grout which doesn’t wear too well on floors.

There should be no problems with permanent staining, you’ve just got the hard work of removing the dried grout & haze. Try one of those green plastic kitchen scourers.

fairywings · 29 Jun 2012

That makes me feel a bit better! Using the green things they are working very very slowly in the most part its just some of the black one are stained! Will keep going only 5m2 to do argh!

Thanks again!

tpt · 29 Jun 2012

pick up some ltp grout stain remover or lithofin cement residue remover. it'll make short work of it.

joe-90 · 29 Jun 2012

I've used cheapo brick cleaner loads of times. They are all acid based - it's the name you are paying for.

tpt · 29 Jun 2012

Joe - yeah your dead right except brick cleaner is usually a lot stronger. OP -if you do use brick cleaner dilute it a LOT

joe-90 · 29 Jun 2012

Yes that's true. I'd agree with that.

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Removing excess floor grout help!!

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