I’m restoring the grout on 12×12 ceramic kitchen tiles. Some areas of grout have cracks and/or missing pieces of grout (the longest gap of missing grout is 1″-2″ long). I have two questions. What is the best tool to use for safely removing the cracked grout pieces? If only two inches of a 12″ grout line needs to be replaced, is it O.K. to regrout this one area only versus digging out the entire grout line? Thanks.
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I haven't had to do a lot of grout replacement (thankfully), but the couple times I did, I used a grout blade in a Fien Multimaster tool and it works really well for smaller areas as you describe or in thin groutlines.
You don't mention the color of your grout, or tile, but a couple of problems may rear their head on patching. Some grout colors become discontinued after awhile and the colors are nearly impossible to match or the existing grout may have acquired stains or discoloring over the years and be difficult to match with new.
Now, while I do tile work from time to time, I don't consider myself an expert, so hopefully, one of the pros like Jeff Buck will chime in here and give you more thorough information.
Yes, I had to buy a strong stripper to remove the dirt buildup from the grout lines. I was very happy with the result and found grout that was a close match. Your point raises another question. After cleaning the grout, I applied grout sealer but will it adversely affect the adhesion where I patch the damaged grout?
Better call up Boris Yeltsin or somebody on that. I couldn't say for sure. Probably would affect adhesion, but it also might depend on the kind of sealer you used.
Good luck!
I just grouted my five billionth..lol...tile job last night and my suggestion to you is to use a liquid latex mortar additive instead of water to the grout. This acts more like a glue than water. Water only weakens grout and the additive gives it a more elastic quality.
Let that dry a cpl of days at least and then use a couple of coats of sealer. the sealer takes about an hour to dry between coats.
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Purchase a grout saw. There are manual types and other ones that attach to a sawzall. If you don't remove all the grout, you may get cracks where old and new meet, often called a cold joint. That won't be the end of the world, but it may crack.
Boris
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