Grout Removal Tips

So what is grout? Before we confuse it with a form of disease or something, let's get one thing straight. Grout is that material which is used to seal tiles into place. It usually comes in the color white, like I'm sure you've seen, but it can be stained into any other color as well. This material is mixed with water to make a paste and then the mixture is used to fix tiles into place, just as one would use cement. Grout then turns rock solid and helps the tiles to remain fixed. Over time, as grout becomes old, there is obvious wear and tear that results in the formation of mildew over the grout or in the formation of cracks and other such signs. This not only looks unsightly but can also be dangerous to dwell on because it becomes weak. That is the reason why tile grout cleaning and removal becomes important. In the following article, we shall give you some ways of how you can go about cleaning the grout.

Grout Removal Tips and Steps

There are several ways in which you can make use of grout removal tools to get rid of the grout. The thing about grout is that you cannot go ahead with your bathroom remodeling or your kitchen remodeling without getting rid of the old grout first. You cannot add a new layer of grout to the old one. Therefore getting rid of grout becomes important. One needs to manually get rid of the layer of grout.

Making Grout Soft
You cannot simply start removing the grout, remember? It is rock solid. So what to do? Make a mixture of sugar and water and pour it over the tiles. Let it sit for at least 2 hours before you move on to the next steps.

The Saw
Use a grout saw to remove the grout from the tiles. This looks just like a scrapper with the steel teeth for sawing off the grout. A saw is used to make a section in the center so that it becomes easier to chip off the remainder of the grout.

Screwdriver and Hammer
Get down and dirty and start by chipping off the grout with the help of a hammer and screwdriver. The screwdriver needs to fine tipped and not a large one. Simply point the screwdriver to the grout and begin knocking out the grout with the help of a hammer. Use a 45 degree angle while doing this and make sure that you are gentle with your stokes so that you do not damage any other parts near the tiles or the flooring. Tap away from the tiles so that there is less pressure on them. You'll notice that once a part of the grout is out, other portions will start crumbling off as well. There are several types of screwdrivers that can be used for this project. Other than the fine tipped one, there is also the carbide screwdriver, as well as the flat bladed one. Both act as effective grout removal tools .

The Scraper Tool
The scrapper tool is just as the name suggests. You need to use this to scrape the grout layer. There are tools that are especially made and are readily available for this purpose itself. They come with a chiseled tooth in place. You need to drag this tool across the grout and dig out the layer. But one needs to be extremely careful with the pressure that they exert while doing this, because you might end up scrapping away the tile as well.

And now that the ways in which to remove the grout from tiles has been given and the method of doing the same explained clearly, you do not have to bear the ugly sight of the grout tiles anymore. Remove it soon and fix up your flooring to near perfection.