Need to regrout floor tiles

[spektur]

Hi, this is my first post. I was wondering if anyone could help me decide what to do with the tiled floors in my house.
I installed them well over a year and a half ago, and never sealed the grout. Since then, a lot of dirt and what not has soaked into the grout, and I need to get it back to the color it's supposed to be and reseal it.
I'm thinking of grinding out the top layer then regrouting and sealing it.
Any one done this before or have any advice? How deep should I grind? The gap is about 1/4" and it will be a pain to grind, but I don't know what else to do...
Any help would be immensely appreciated!
Thanks

[kactuskid]

If the grout is dirty but in good shape then I wouldn't try and regrout. In order to regrout at least half the thickness at minimum of the grout must be removed. This is so the new grout can attach it'self to the sides of the tile.

Instead just clean it up using a rag and a small brush together with a product called Bon Ami. You can find this in the cleaning isle at your grocery store and it comes in a cardboard container similar to Coment. I mix it into a paste using a drop or two of bleach and it always cleans the grout up real nice. Here's a link to show you what it looks like.
http://www.faultless.com/Products.as...n+Ami+Cleanser

Then when clean and thoroughly dry I apply a quality sealer such as Sealers Choice Gold. It has a claim of lasting for 10 years though harsh cleaners cannot be used on it or it'll strip away. The back of the bottle will tell you what to use to clean it so it'll last longer. Here's a link to it: http://www.aquamix.com

[spektur]

Thanks, kaktuskid, I will try that first and let you know how it works. Hopefully it can get those years of gunk out.. (I really was not looking forward to grinding the grout...).
If you know a little about tile, can you answer me these two quick additional questions:

I have some TileLab Gloss Sealer that I applied to my granite counter top. I did two layers, but it didn't come out entirely even. I was thinking of just removing it from the tiles entirely so that it only seals the grout--ie leaving the grout sealed and stripping sealer from tiles (I don't think the granite needs to be sealed...not sure) Would this be ok/possible?

There is a 3 foot long scratch across the tiles on the floor. Before I seal it I was thinking of putting some white paint on it to fill it (It's real thin, but real visible) then letting it dry and sealing over it. Would this work?

Thanks again for your quick response and any further help you can give!

[kactuskid]

I'm pretty sure that you want your granite to be sealed, granite is pretty porus and the sealer will keep it from getting stained, especially from oils. Though you may want to try a different water based sealer to see if it takes better.

As for your tile scratch, I'd say go for it, paint the scratch and see if it disapears. But, the sealer won't do you any good over the paint. Grout sealers actually soak into the porus grout and you want to wipe off any excess that just sits on top and doesn't soak in.

I'm guessing since your tiles are white that you've got a really light colored grout. Yeah, it's a pain to keep the light grout clean, just consider this one of lifes lessons learned, no more light colored grout, way too much work

[spektur]

Oops, I let the excess sealer dry, and now I have a few slight bumps. Will this come off with water, or should I get some chemical remover (since it's already soaked in, the cleaner wouldn't take off the "good stuff" right?)

The grout's actually a light grey, so it's not as bad as being white, you are right though, still a pain!

[kactuskid]

The sealer soaks into the grout, but not by all that much. You still need to rely on that outter coating to keep the grout dirt and stain free. A regular household cleaner most likely WILL remove the sealer from the grout. You'll need to buy a cleaner that's recommended by a tile shop for normal cleaning now, or recommeded by the sealer manufacturer.

To remove the sealer bumps I would just use a razor blade gently on the tile so you don't scratch it. And let any residue just wear away, over time it'l dissaper. The excess drips of sealer need to be wiped off before they dry, otherwise it's a real pain.

So did the Bon Ami work for cleaning the grout?

[HayZee518]

the granite was originally polished using varying grits and a power buffer. You could try using various grits of "lapping" compound on a small section to see how it takes to resurfacing. Then I'd tackle the larger area using the same lapping compound and a low rpm buffer. if the scratches aren't too deep it should be possible to buff them out using the lapping compound. lapping compound is different grits of carborundum in an oil vehicle - carborundum is silica carbide

[spektur]

Originally Posted by kactuskid

So did the Bon Ami work for cleaning the grout?

I couldn't find the Bon Ami ( went to Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and Walmart...nothing, though I know I've seen it somewhere before) but I did find some thing that worked pretty good at Ace, called "Barkeeper's Friend" I went over the whole floor, looks about 10 times better. I got some Grout Renew that I am going to apply as soon as the floor is dry. It says it seals it also, but I will probably let it dry go over the whole floor with the sealer I used on the counter to slightly gloss it.

HayZee: I was actually asking about the scratch on my ceramic floor tile. There are some barely noticable scratches from the polishing on the granite, but I can live with that.

[spektur]

Just an update: the grout renew worked really well as a follow up to the intense scrubbing. I found it at Home Depot; it comes in a variety of shades (I chose Delorean gray and it nearly matched what i had before) and will pretty much replace the previous color (as long as the color isnt too dark, I would imagine) as well as reseal the grout (or in my chase, seal it for the first time )
It looks so good now, I'm gonna do my bathroom too: Those tiles got a bit more nasty since water was more abundant there and wore away the grout in some places and even got under the tiles I think, causing them to creak slightly with enough weight on them. C'est la vie...I may mix up a little bit of grout and try to fill in some areas.

Thanks for all the help. Sure beat my original plan to grind the grout