regrout vs. retile
Hi, We need to do some minor renovation on our 1980’s era, 5’x9′, falling apart, solo bathroom. We’re thinking of a simple IKEA sink/cabinet and have already replaced the toilet out of necessity. The big question is the floor. It’s large white hex tile (seems like a standard size I’ve seen before) which is fine…
Hi,
We need to do some minor renovation on our 1980’s era, 5’x9′, falling apart, solo bathroom. We’re thinking of a simple IKEA sink/cabinet and have already replaced the toilet out of necessity. The big question is the floor. It’s large white hex tile (seems like a standard size I’ve seen before) which is fine (but not my dream tile). Only 2 tiles are cracked and the grout is awful. I read a bit about regrouting and realize it is a pain, but it seems way easier than ripping up all the tile, leveling the floor, retiling, and then grouting. How easy do y’all think it would be to replace the 2 broken tiles, bleach/scrub the existing tiles, and regrout without removing the toilet? Has anyone done this as part of a smaller reno instead of a bathroom gut reno. I can live with the icky bisque colored tub if everything else is gleaming white and shiny looking. Thanks for thoughts and advice!
Try Magic Eraser on the grout. Maybe you will get lucky.
We recently struggled with an original floor made of round “penny” tiles. Old grout was worn/dried enough that I was able to get new stuff to stick on top for several years. But it was a temp fix.
Bigger problem was a crack from where the underlying slab had settled. Patch remained stable, so it wasn’t moving anymore, but it still looked like hell.
We wound up going with a new floor on top of the old one…thin leveling coat with new tiles set on that.
One thing on the tile: In our place, the original tile was porcelain. That means the color goes all the way through, and is not a glaze. This stuff is period correct, and looks better in my view. The matte finish is also considerably less slippery when wet.
It is not hard to find, but we did discover that prices varied tremendously (like, by a factor of two) for identical product. So definitely call around.
Make sure to use a good grout sealer when you’re done.
Geometry of hex tiles means they have less grout surface between them to get dirty than do the rounds.
We did a gut on a half bath which we turned into a full. It came out beautifully, but afterwards, our original full bath looked dingy, and mainly due to the floor – like you, we had white floor tile and a couple of them were cracked and the grout was yucky. Also like you, I didn’t want to gut it so asked the contractor to just replace the few cracked tiles. Well, it was impossible to match the 1980s tile so we ended up having to replace the floor. However, one good piece of news is that, while I originally thought we had to rip up the old tile, in fact, all we had to do was tile over it. It was simple, and relatively inexpensive (compared to the can of worms we’d have had if we’d ripped up the whole floor). We splurged a bit on black glossy Ann Sacks hex tile – I thought of getting something cheaper from Bergen Tile/Dal Tile etc but the Ann Sacks was just so much nicer and still not horrifically expensive since it was one of the cheapest in their line. Anyway, it was a GREAT investment – totally transformed the bathroom which now looks great, even though the wall tile is nothing special. Not sure if you own or rent, but if you own, it is an investment that will pay for itself in resale value.
Not an expert, but this is how I would approach it. I know in my old bathroom floor, if I disturb any tiles, the surrounding tiles often lose their bond to the floor and come loose. I think the first thing I would try is removing the two cracked tiles. If the surrounding tile suffers in the process, then you might be better off just putting in the new floor. Also, removing old grout I would imagine to be a pain in the ass, and this may also compromise the stability of the tile (at least if I did it, it would!).
Not an expert, but this is how I would approach it. I know in my old bathroom floor, if I disturb any tiles, the surrounding tiles often lose their bond to the floor and come loose. I think the first thing I would try is removing the two cracked tiles. If the surrounding tile suffers in the process, then you might be better off just putting in the new floor. Also, removing old grout I would imagine to be a pain in the ass, and this may also compromise the stability of the tile (at least if I did it, it would!).