Grouting Tips For Speed and Results

I'm going to grout the floor before I move on to setting wall tile and give some tips as I go along that help make a boring process at least a little bit less of a drudgery.

I'm assuming that you know the basics of mixing grout, having plenty of sponges and water available as well as always wearing gloves when grouting.

I have already grouted about 3 feet from the back wall and have moved to the other end of the closet and grouted about the same footage there. On this end I have washed the joints down to their finished level and then moving to the other end to do the same. After that I am going to change the water out for clean.

The first tip is to regularly change your water out for clean. Every bit of grout that goes on the floor and doesn't make it into a grout joint has to ultimately be removed. That process makes your water get dirty really quickly. I know it's a hassle but it will save you time in the long run.

2nd tip is to wash down your joints using a circular motion with your sponge. You're trying to get your joints to the surface level of the tile. If your dragging your sponge down the length of the joint, there is a good possibility that your scraping grout out of the joint. So washing your joints with a circular motion helps to get the joint to the level of the tile.

3rd let's talk about the consistency of the grout. That has a lot to do with how porous your tile is, that is, how quickly does it soak the moisture out of the grout. In this case, I can mix my grout about the consistency of soft serve ice cream. This allows me time to float a pretty good-sized area and have time to wash the joints down and get the majority of the grout off of the tile before it sets up.

On a side note, as your floating grout into your joints, let your joints be the focus. In this case these are 16 x 16" tiles and there's no point in smearing grout across the center of the tile. It just has to be washed off later. So concentrate on getting the grout in the joints. Of course, the smaller the tile is sometimes, it's faster just to grout the whole surface.

Once you have pretty good idea of how the grout is reacting to the tile, the 4th tip becomes important for helping to speed up the process. Try to break up the grout job floor area into a number of smaller units. Then, after you spread grout in one area, you can move to another nearby area and spread another layer of grout there. By the time you finish the 2nd area, the first area is probably ready for you to begin washing down the joints. Once you have completed that, then the 2nd area should be ready for its initial wash down. It keeps you moving but it does increase your speed and efficiency.

Now that the grout is at the level we want and it has taken an initial set, it's time to get as much of the dust film off the tile as possible before we even consider starting to buff it down. It could be buffed right now but the problem is you end up getting a lot of that dust airborne which is not only bad to breathe, but it will also puts a coat of dust on furniture or anything else that's in the room. So it's back to changing out the water and wiping the tile down again only this time using the sponge just for the purpose of making single passes of a couple of feet with one side of the sponge then flipping it and making another pass. Swap out the sponge for the other one in the bucket and do that process again. You will be amazed that there is still a dust film that will dry on the tile but it's significantly less after this pass.

I created more work for myself here by getting a little overambitious in how much grout I could spread and not get behind. I got a little delayed in the closet area and by the time I moved back out to the main floor, my grout had set up a little more quickly than I anticipated. It just meant that I had to take more time and scrub harder to get the grout to turn loose from the surface of the tile. I was off by maybe 5 to 10 minutes. You can imagine the problem I would've had if it had been several hours. This just emphasizes that you need to understand how your particular tile is reacting to being grouted. Grout set up times can vary greatly from different types of tile.

I'm finally down to my last bucket of clean fresh water and making a final pass over the last area to be grouted to get as much dust off as possible. So after a little over 5 hours I'm ready to be done. I wish I could say there were easy ways to make a grout job go quicker. Grouting tile is not one of those jobs you want to get frustrated by and rush through just to get finished with it. Listen to some music and work your way through the process to make sure you get a grout job that looks as good as your tile work.

Finally, take some furniture polish and clean rags and buff the tile to remove the final layer of dust. Finish it off with a good vacuuming and you're done.

[handyjayes]

A very good, honest video. Thank you.

[stose]

I ran into the issue of having my grout set up on 3 walls of my shower before I got back to clean off the 1st one. I spent the next 12 hours with a rotary attachment cleaning my grout lines. Hard lesson learned there! Great video Rusty.

[shoeknowme]

You are awesome great explanation great video very clear love the accent I'm from Boston. I'm about to try this I'll let you know how it goes lol

[Titantitan]

Mapei FA or Prism. Mix enough to do the entire floor. Do a large section and jump up the rough scrub the beginning while trying to get most of the water up. Then go back to smearing while it dries more.

The ultimate tip is making sure your grout joints are clean and have enough room for the grout. I’d also be careful with how loose you mix it.

[michaelgrainger]

How about you put a little pressure on that float. That will cut your time in half. And I would suggest thicker grout that way it dries quicker then you can form it on your second pass with the sponge

[tileslay]

I just don’t know how I feel about the furniture polish. I get it makes the job look great but how’s it react with marble? I usually use quartz lock grout.

[williammingey]

Keep changing buckets of water spray out sponge every so often . Yiu can get 95 percent of it thru first time .give it a tad time to set up one last quick wipe .most times u dont even need to .but I do as tools are being cleaned up n put away n boom done

[donnygrevenstuk]

Vinegar will get rid of the haze in 1/2 the wipe downs.. Try it out

[ivtec]

Faster to buff off with microfiber rag than sponge 3 more times

[vapdivrr]

I hear about furniture polish, vinegar, 2 or 3 wipes, buffing with a microfiber ? I grout and do one wash and theres hardly no haze whatsoever, and after everything is done, I do one more quick wash and its absolutely spotless...you guys are just messy and incomplete with your first wash and making much more work for yourself.

[Rustyshackleford]

Why don’t you just get a better grout float and speed up...better grout float=less grout on the top of the tile=easier first wash. I routinely grout 500-800 foot at a time with one helper and never lose a floor...in the dead of summer in new construction...never polish either, just smear, first wash and second wash. I’d make a video but I’m too busy actually getting shit done

[dorbin]

That is not fast. You are even slower than me.
It takes 7 mins to finish grouting and wait for a while, 5-10 mins to let the grout dry abit inside the lines.
Apply wet sponge only to make the grout lose all over tiles for cleaning.so that grouts does not stick to the tiles surface., and make all lines smooth finish . All floor is ready for cleaning with clean another wet sponge for second and last time.
Knee pads are compulsory for every day tile job. For home DIY, use something to avoid pressing your knees on the floor.