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How To Grout Professionally

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Posted By: admin
Posted Date: April 25, 2016

How to grout a tiled wall or floor and get a professional finish

You have just finished tiling your bathroom, now its time for the grouting to be done; here are some professional tips to make the job look perfect.

If you are using a tub adhesive to fix your tiles then leave at least 24 hours before you grout otherwise the grout will crack or the adhesive will shrink as it dries which will result in the grout being pulled into the joint. If using cement adhesives leave 2-3 hours before grouting up your tiling work.

Make sure you get a floor grout for floor tiling work and a wall grout for walls, the difference is floor grout is much more grainy in texture than wall grout, the smoothest grouts are un sanded grouts which are very fine and do not scratch the likes of glass or dark shiny tiles. If your tiled floor has been laid on a plywood overlay then make sure that your grout is flexible.

You will also need a flexible grout if you are grouting porcelain or natural stone tiles.

1 Mix the powered grout with water in a clean bucket, it is best to use a drill with a paddle attachment, put the powder in the bucket first then add the water slowly then mix, keep doing this until you have achieved a ice cream like consistency to your grout, you should be able to get a trowel and scoop some out, turn the trowel upside down so the grout just hangs on the end of your trowel, if the grout falls off then it is too sloppy, put some more powder in and mix up again. Leave the grout for 5 minutes then gently mix and fold the grout with the bucket trowel making sure to get right down to the bottom of the bucket, this will get rid of any air bubbles and dry powder. You will have about an hour of work time depending on humidity and temperatures to use it.

2 Put a large amount of grout onto your grout float and start off in a bottom corner and apply the grout with a diagonal direction, what you have to be careful with here is that you don’t get trapped air in the joints as this can cause air bubbles to form resulting in pin holes and gaps in the grout, this can be very problematic in the shower area as water will get into your walls. Keep going in a direction as to where you are forcing the grout into the joint and the air has somewhere to go.

3 Once you have grouted up one full wall or floor, then you need to clean up. Get a bucket
of fresh clean water and a smooth sponge, start going over the tiles and grout with the sponge in tight circular motions keeping an eye on the joints, you don’t want to press to hard on the sponge or you will take too much grout out of the joint, too soft and it will not take off the grout residue, once all the grout is removed off the tiles then go onto the next wall and repeat the same process.

4 After completing the second wall, go back to the first wall and run your finger or a grout profile tool along each grout joint, this will ensure that you get a very neat finish to the joint, the grout should be not too soft or not too hard when doing this.

5 Once you have completed all the walls, the final process is to get a soft cloth and buff up the tiles, then stand back and admire your work.

For professional tiling instruction, UK Pro Tiling Training run fast track intensive tiling courses, whether your looking for a career change or you simply need to know how to tile for your own projects our tiling courses will suit you down to the ground.

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