If you are unable to clean your grout discoloration or staining to your satisfaction, the next thing to do is re-grout your tile. Don’t panic! Re-grouting your tile is not as difficult as you may think, although it does require some work.
The first thing you have to do is remove all the old grout. While this can be done with a number of tools, the easiest way would be to head on down to Home Depot or the like, and pick up a grout saw like the one to the right. While you’re there you may as well pick up grout, a grout float, and a sponge or two. If you’re using sanded grout, get some rubber gloves as well.
Provided you own a bucket and a source of water, these will be all the items you need to re-grout your tile. All these items should run about $25. Please don’t decide you won’t need the $7 grout saw. You will cost yourself about 300-400 dollars worth of work and stress trying to do it with something else. The most expensive thing you’ll buy is the grout.
Now comes the most difficult part, you have to “saw” the old grout out of the tile. The small blade on the saw has a carbide edge. By placing the saw into the grout line and slowly sawing back and forth, the old grout will turn to powder and fall out of the grout line. Sound easy enough? It is. It is not a difficult thing to do, it’s just time consuming.
Start slowly! I cannot emphasize this enough. Until you get used to how much pressure to use and how to move the saw in such a way as to not chip the tile edge, you need to get a feel for it. While it’s fairly simple in the straight lines, between the two tile corners, you need to be careful of the corners. It is possible to chip the tile edges and corners when you do this. Mostly this is caused by not keeping the blade straight in the grout line, not keeping it parallel.
It should only take you a few minutes to get used to it. If you have sanded grout, such as in larger format tile or on a floor, there is sometimes an additional blade included that looks more like a saw, use that one. You can use either for any type of grout, just use the one that works better for you.
You will need to remove as much of the old grout as you can. Ideally all of it should be removed but you must remove at least 2/3 of it. This is to ensure that the new grout has enough of the tile edge on which to adhere. Take your time, this is the thing that will take the most time. When you’re all done, just vacuum up the grout dust. Take a break and have yourself an adult beverage a Coke.
Now you need to mix up your new grout. Every brand of grout has different mixing requirements. Follow the directions. No, really, follow the directions. The amount you’ll have to mix up varies according to the amount of tile, size of your grout lines, even the thickness of the tile. 
There is really no set amount so it is difficult for me to be able to tell you exactly how much.
A typical shower surround with 6 X 6 tiles will probably use about 1/2 gallon of grout. But I can’t see your shower from here so it may take more. Read the box or bag and just make sure you are buying enough for the amount of tile you have.
Mix all that up and while it is slaking (you read the directions, right?) get yourself a bucket of water with a sponge in it and your grout float ready. Now remix your grout.
Time to grout! Scoop some grout out of your bucket and toss it on the tile. Starting at the bottom of the wall if you’re grouting a shower or in a corner somewhere, force the grout into the grout lines. Again, take your time until you get use to it.
Push the grout down into the lines enough to ensure that the space between the tiles is full. After doing a small area take your float at a 45 degree angle to the tile and run it down along the grout line to smooth it out. Your trying to get the basic look that you want when it’s done. You’ll want the grout lines full but not over-full. The grout should be about flush with the top of the tile. This doesn’t have to be perfect by any means, but you’ll want to “squeegee” off as much access grout as you can. This makes cleaning easier.
Keep on going with this until the first section of grout you did is set up a bit. It should be firm but it should not be changing colors yet. (Grout gets lighter as it sets.)(Umm, except white, it gets darker.) When it gets to that point you want to start cleaning it.
Wring out your sponge very well. If you have too much water in your sponge it will lead to several problems. You will weaken the stability of the grout, you can wash too much of the grout out of the lines, you can even wash the color out of the grout – really. So wring out your sponge very well.
Now just wipe all the excess grout off the tiles. You should not need to scrub it, just wipe it like your cleaning a window. After you get the excess grout off the tile, wring out your sponge and wipe it down along the grout line to smooth it out. Now leave it alone. Really, leave it alone – be patient. Go change your bucket of water with some fresh stuff.
After the initial wipe-down dries you will probably see a grout haze over the top of the tile. Don’t panic, it’s completely normal. Now wipe it down again the same way. Don’t worry, it should be much easier this time. This time, though, you’re more concerned with getting that haze off your tile.
The grout lines should be just fine, you shouldn’t need to do anything else with them. Your main concern is getting the haze to go away. You want to do this now. A day or two later when the grout sets, it will be significantly more difficult to remove. Depending upon the type of tile and the color of your grout, you may need to do this two or three more times. I know, it sucks. Just sing tv show theme songs in your head while you do it, that should keep you amused. I like the Brady Bunch song myself.
The easiest way to get the haze off is to get some microfiber towels. If you use that for your second wipe-down it should take about 90% of that haze off with one wipe-down. That’s worth three bucks for me.
When you’re done stand back and admire your excellent work! Doesn’t that look better? And you even lived through it. Let the grout set for 24 – 48 hours before you take a shower or spill a bucket of water on it. Great job! Go have yourself another adult beverage Coke.
Add a Brilliant Retort
Add a Brilliant Retort
Roger,
I think you answered my first question, how long after I grout before I can use the shower? We had a fiberglass tub and surround before, but we had it took out and a cast iron tub put in. Then I tiled the surround with porcelain tile. I will be grouting this weekend. We always wiped the shower surround down with the towel after a shower to help keep it clean. So if I wait 48 hours after I grout before taking a shower will it be ok to wipe down the tiles with a towel or would a squeegee be better? I didn’t want to mess the grout up. Also, do you know anything about a product by The Tile Doctor called Grout Admix? Our local tile store recommends it to add to the grout when you mix it to “seal and protect in one step”. It supposed to make it so you don’t have to seal the grout later on down the road because you’ve already sealed it with the product. Thanks for all your help,
Rusty
Hey Rusty,
You can usually use the shower 24 hours after you grout. You can wipe the shower down with a towel or a squeegee, either is just as good as the other. They both get the excess water off the tile and neither will mess up your grout. I have not used that particular mixing agent but they are all essentially the same – grout boost, grout admix, etc. All of them are latex-based liquid which ‘seals’ your grout when cured. I’ve heard they work just fine, I don’t use them. I also heard they are a pain to work with (some of them) but do what they are supposed to do. If you use one use it because you want what it offers, not because it is ‘recommended’ by your tile store – they wanna sell stuff, no? Also be sure to follow the directions to the letter with whichever product you choose, no shortcuts with that stuff.
Hi Roger,
We finally got our tiles down (not perfectly, but close enough) and I grouted last night. I think I made some boo-boos Athough I read for hours about grouting, apparently I need to be told with exact specifics down to the microsecond or I’m going to goof something. This morning, my grout was inconsistent in color. It was earth color from home depot, and it looks lighter than I remember from the store, plus I have light spots in different areas all over the floor. When I mixed my grout, it was pretty thick (I watched Ask the Builder on youtube and saw his consistency, which was thicker than peanut butter). Maybe it was too thick, I don’t know. I waited about 5 minutes for the first sponging (maybe should have waited longer?). I wrung my sponge so hard that I felt like I had carpal tunnel 1/4 through the floor. I tried to go very lightly, just smoothing the grout, then cleaning up the tile. Then I waited about 20 minutes while doing another section and went back for the second cleaning (was that too soon?). I didn’t try to mess with the grout lines since they looked fine, I concentrated on wiping the tile. However, I did wipe across the lines as I was doing it. I then went back after doing more tile and did a third wipe, again concentrating on the tile. I was worried about the haze because every site says it’s so hard to get off. On some areas, I may have done a 4th wipe. I’m guessing I overcleaned, but I did make sure the sponge was as wrung out as I could get it.
So my question is how do I know if I need to rip out all that grout? Do I only need to remove it if it’s crumbly or something? What should it feel like? And if it’s firm and not cracked, will a color enhancer even out the color, or will it just leave me with darkened grout that is still unevenly dark? I read about grout stains, and I’m wondering if that would be better than an enhancer for uneven coloring. Of course, I might just ruin everything with that too. By the way, my tile is porcelain.
Hi Renea,
The grout should feel like concrete – that’s what it basically is. Let me guess – polyblend? I hate polyblend, it’s inconsistent. It has a habit of discoloring if you get water near it.
A color enhancer may or may not work, I honestly couldn’t tell you. If the problem is too much water for the grout then it might work. Most grout ‘stains’ are not actually stains, they are more like a paint which will leave a layer of color on top of the grout. I think they look like crap.
Try to scratch one of the lighter areas with your fingernail and see if it is darker beneath the top layer. If it is you may be able to take a drywall sanding sponge and lightly sand off the very top layer of grout (actually efflorescence) and get it all to look the same. I would try that first. If that doesn’t work try the color enhancer.
Thanks Roger. Yes, it was unfortunately polyblend. I’ll try those suggestions. When we get to the shower, I had been planning on epoxy grout to hopefully prevent mildew ruined grout lines. Does the Home Depot epoxy grout have the same problem? We went with a supposed dark color grout for the floors, and we will be doing the same for the shower. I’m willing to risk a color difference by going with a different brand if it means I won’t ruin the entire job with the wrong grout.
I read in one of your posts somewhere that epoxy dries faster and we could put half in the freezer to extend our working time. My fear is with the clean up using epoxy grout. I don’t want to overwipe, but if epoxy is so hard, then surely it makes the haze even worse to get off. So do you have some tips for when to start cleaning and how to avoid the haze with epoxy?
Thanks!
Hi Renea,
I have not used the CEG grout they are currently hawking. I use spectralock and honestly don’t see myself changing that – ever. Unfortunately I really can’t speak to the ease of cleaning nor the durability of HD’s epoxy. If you choose to use spectralock it does clean very easily provided you FOLLOW THE CLEANING INSTRUCTION TIMES and use the cleaning packets included with the kits. It cleans up very nicely and has an 80 minute working time. It’s also sold in smaller units so you don’t usually need to only use half at a time and freeze the other – 80 minutes is a lot of time while grouting. I would use spectralock on it but that isn’t a knock against the CEG – I simply haven’t used it but I do know the spectalock is easy to work with.
Hey Roger,
I have a question about grout color. I have done 2 different tile jobs around my house and selected 2 different grout colors. After the grout has dried, it is no where near the color of the sample. The first was supposed to be a gray color grout, but ended up looking almost white. It ended up matching up okay with my tile so I let it go. Now I have tiled and grouted my bathroom floor and shower with a grout that was supposed to be a brown color. Now that it is dry it too looks a lot lighter in color than the sample. I squeezed nearly all the water out of the sponge when I wiped the walls down, so I don’t think I wahed the color away. Is this a common problem? I realize that I should have made a sample of the grout before doing the entire floor, but that is in the past now. Any type of grout sealers that you know of that would darken the grout? Thanks for any help.
Hey Brian,
Cementious grouts are temperamental – there are a couple of things that could have affected the color. Water – you’ve already stated that you squeezed all the water out of the sponge but really ‘hard’ water may leave mineral deposits on the surface of the grout after it dissipates. Also mixing too much water in the mix may wash the color down a bit. Excess or hard water are the two most common factors. It could also be ‘old’ grout that has been sitting on the shelf for years – grout actually has a shelf life. The date of manufacture should be on the bag. Not following the installation instructions to the letter can also cause miscolored grout (especially if it’s polyblend grout).
A tile and stone ‘enhancing’ sealer will normally darken the grout lines to a consistent color. Make sure you test it in a small area first but that should darken them a bit for you.
Me again…the girl with the never ending questions! I’m looking to seal my grout lines with a product that will keep them the color they are when they are wet (light grey when dry, darker grey when wet). Is there a product you recommend? Is there specific wording I can look for when choosing a product that points to this being the effect that it will have?
Hey Kathryn,
You want what is called an ‘enhancing’ sealer. It will make the grout as well as the tile look like it does when it’s wet.
Hi!
So we’ve moved on to grouting the tile we put up as our shower walls. A concern that has come up. The grout lines in the back wall looks much wider than the lines on the two shorter walls. We did the back wall first and didn’t wipe as much of the grout out, I believe. The tiles are all spaced the same. The tiles have an edge that goes down on a bit of slope before becoming square, so it seems that the back wall has grout pretty much level with the top edge and the side walls have grout to the bottom part of the slope. I much prefer the side walls (smaller grout lines, more of a clean look because the tiles are also textured) and would like everything to look the same. Is there any way to fix this without having to remove and re-grout the entire back wall? Partly, I think you are going to have to give me the bad news that there isn’t, however because the grout would be much thinner where the slope is (as opposed to between the actual tiles), I’m hopeful that there is some remedy that you can explain! Thanks!
Hi Kathryn,
You can get some drywall sponges – the black or dark gray ones in the drywall section – and sand those grout lines down in the back wall until they’re the size you want. The sponges will better conform to the shape of the grout lines with the tile edges. Give that a try – that should work for you.
Awesome…thanks! I will try that tomorrow. I was just worried about compromising the stability of the grout by starting to screw around with it. Your answer makes me very happy! Use it dry, I presume?
One more question…my husband did not quite get all the grout off some of the tiles (they are textured)…not big gobs or anything, but there is obviously grout in some of the more textured areas. Can I also try sanding the spots to get them out…or is there a better way?
I’ve been able to take care of the grout spots on the tiles with vinegar, for the most part. I tried the drywall sanding sponges today and it works great. However, I have 30 sq. ft. of tile that I have to do this to. Is there a electric sanding tool that I could use as an alternative? I’ve done 4 sq. ft and my arm is about to fall off!
Hey Kathryn,
I never said it was gonna be easy.
If you can get a hold of one of those specialty sanders that have a “u” shaped sanding head that may work for you. I would be careful with any type of rotating tool with a sanding head (like a dremel or rotozip) as it may damage the tile too easily.
Okay, thanks! I figured that the best (and really the only) way to do this is by hand, but I had to ask!