DIY Kitchen And Bathroom Tile Regrouting
This page will show you how to regrout tile, or in other words, how to do grout restoration. First of all, when regrouting a bathroom shower or doing any grout repair, don't just put the new grout over the old messy grout! You must do grout removal by using some kind of grout removal tool and then replace the grout. If you do not remove the old grout, you are not really solving the problem, which is the underlying rot.
Make sure you buy the right color grout before you start, and for small spaces between tiles, you want unsanded grout (sanded grout is for larger spaces between tiles.)
Dirty grout:
It is a great idea to wear knee pads in this situation (you can thank me later!)
Here are the items you will need for this job, including premixed grout and tile grout sealer:
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The next thing you need is a hand grout saw. The one in the link below is good, and there is a video showing how to use it. You can just use one blade for the tighter spaced tile jobs or add blades to increase the thickness of your saw.
Begin by sawing and digging out the rotten part of the old grout using the saw and the hook tool that comes with it; just strip it out. You don't have to remove ALL grout, just completely remove the whole top layer and any rotten grout.
The next step is to use a putty knife to push the premixed grout into the cracks and wipe the excess off the tiles while pushing the grout even further into the seam.
The putty knife does a good job of pushing the grout into the crack, but in the end, you really need to use your fingers to smooth it out. Once the grout is drying on the tile, you should use wet paper towels to clean it off. Then you can recycle the towels. The wet paper towel does a great job of blending the grout into the seam.
Do another wipe down with a wet paper towel after the grout is completely dry. Make sure the tile and grout is dry before you seal it with grout sealer.
Wait 24 hours for the grout to dry and then spray seal it with a grout sealer product like the one shown on the preceding page. It's easy, you just spray it on and wipe the excess off the tiles, and then spray on again in an hour. You must seal it; don't skip this part!
Make sure you close up your grout tub package very well so no air can get in, since they force you to buy such a big tub of it!
Now you are done!
