gray grout
Our bathroom has black tile on the floor and cream tiles on the walls. Right now the grout on the walls is white and the grout on the floor is black. The contractor did a kind of messy job where the black and white meet and I’m thinking about regrouting the whole thing with gray…
Our bathroom has black tile on the floor and cream tiles on the walls. Right now the grout on the walls is white and the grout on the floor is black. The contractor did a kind of messy job where the black and white meet and I’m thinking about regrouting the whole thing with gray grout. Any thoughts about this idea? How does one deal with the caulk around the tub and sink in this case – does it stay white? And is this a project I could do myself? I’m pretty crafty but I’ve never done this myself before …
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Having done a fair amount of tile work, I’d like to give you a heads up on some potential gotchas.
Re-grouting is difficult with new grout, there’s too much in the grooves and it’s too strong. If you don’t get enough out, the new grout won’t hold. Try as I might, I usually end up nicking a few tiles if I try removing with the grinder. Old grout that wants to come out can sometimes be scraped. I never had any luck with the carborundum tools sold for hand use.
I now use only Laticrete epoxy grout on floors, it’s a definite pain, but it covers better and is virtually impervious once applied. The colors come very close to the chart. It has a very limited application time, and if you don’t clean it off the tiles (or anything else) right away, it won’t ever come off.
Depending on how bad the sloppiness is, try to get GE colored silicone caulk if you can live with the colors they have. I use their black a lot. Laticrete also has more caulk colors, but you’ll have to order it from Floor Life or a distributor.
What I would aim for is a solution that you can live with depending on your personal standards, and that looks like it was supposed to be that way.
I would judge fixing a bad situation in grout to be well beyond the casual fixer upper’s abilities.
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We used gray grout in our bathroom (oversized white subway tiles + indigo blue glass accent tiles on the wall – dark gray 2-inch square tiles on the floor) ) as well as in our kitchen for the backsplash (blue glass subway tiles) and it looks fantastic. We matched the grout color to the wall paint (sidewalk gray).
Grouting is certainly a DIY job. The hardest part is getting the old grout out, especially if it’s new. Just be careful if you do decide to do the job yourself. A lot of the new stain resistant grouts have an epoxy base, if you read in a DIY book how to grout tile and try it with the epoxy based grouts, you will end up with a huge mess. Follow the instructions on the grout, not in a book. If you do decide to use different colors on the walls and floor, grout the walls, let the grout dry, put painters tape around the perimeter at the base, an inch or two up the wall, and then grout the floor, otherwise you’ll end up inadvertantly getting floor grout on the wall grout and having a stain/smudge, which is what sounds like happened with the contractor. I do the wall first because you’ll probably end up dropping some grout on the floor which will stain the grout. Not a big deal on old grout that you’re planning on replacing, big deal on new grout.
If there’s nothing wrong with the grout other than staining between the two, there is a grout touchup on the market. It looks like the old shoe polish bottles that have a sponge applicator on the top and you smear it over the old grout, let it dry and then rub it off with a dry cloth. It does a surprisingly good job of covering.
Last but not least, I don’t like white or cream wall tiles with grey grout, it “pops” too much, but that’s a personal preference.
Can you get the contractor to come back and do a better job to your satisfaction?
there are caulks in colors to match your grouts. Unless you want a “graphic” look, the cream tile on the wall should have white or a matching cream grout. Laticrete and Mapei make great grouts in many colors. On floors, the white grout always shows the dirt and turns greyish. Sounds like black grout to match the floor tile would be good. A dark grey would be nice too.