#137- Part 2- Grouting the Tile

 It’s back for Tile-tactular 2012!  We started by tiling the shower with glass mosaic and then added flare with a glass mosaic border/backsplash.  But before we could move onto the floor, we first need to get some grout up on the walls.  We wanted to do this first, since the floor tiles will have a different grout color than the walls, and we didn’t want to risk any grout falling from the walls into our floor tiles.  Gravity is not our friend. 

Another quick tip before you get started grouting, I tapped off our edges at the ceiling and each side of the shower where the tile meets the wall, just to avoid getting any messy grout on my drywall, and having to scrape it off later.  Five minutes of prevention is totally worth it.

They didn’t have the grout color we wanted in the premixed, which I hear isn’t as good anyway, so we had to go with the dry grout mix.  Definitely go with the non-sanded version for small joints and glass tiles.  It gives you a much smoother, shinier grout line.

I’ve been known to mess up a mix of grout in the past (i.e. Our first 2 batches of grout for the Bungalow bath were like water.  I thought the Hubs was going to leave me when I told him we had to go back to the store again), so this time I didn’t kid around about measuring.  

They give you the water measurement in pints, but the dry mixture in pounds.  So instead of just eyeballing it this time and risking divorce, I got all Type A with my kitchen scale.

I didn’t want my grout to dry out before I had a chance to get it all up on the wall, so I mixed 1/3 of the package at a time, which turned out to be just the right amount for me.  

 

First you smather (yep- that’s a word) the grout up onto your tile with a rubber float.  Then you scrape the excess off with the edge of the float at a 45 degree angle.  

You keep going this way for 10-15 minutes, until you grout begins to harden and get hazy, which is when you go back with a damp sponge and wipe up all the remaining grout in a circular motion.  The cleaner the sponge, the better this is going to work for you, which usually means going to empty your water bucket every few minutes to fill it with new clean water.  I must have gone up and down the stairs to the Laundry Room a hundred times- it was like on of those Biggest Loser Challenges!

Totally worth sweating like a pig though for these clean and shiny results.

So what do you guys think so far?  I always get so nervous during a remodel that I'm making the wrong choices, but so far I'm pretty excited about how it's coming together. Does anyone else have the same problems as me with mixing grout?  It should be as easy as following directions... but who wants to take time to do that?  Am I right?