Greetings,
A hopefully useful story. Laid some glazed Home Dep 12x12's in the half bath and it went ok. Got distracted and did not remove the grout glaze at the right time. Dried hard. Overnight. Hmmmm. Went on line and found references to vinegar solutions, sulfamic acid and muriatic acid for glaze removal. Tried vinegar and not much different than water. Aha! Realized that I had some bathroom cleaner, "Scrubfree" that listed sulfamic acid as an ingredient. Tried it and it worked. Also have window fan going and wearing eye protection. Was not willing to work with muriatic acid, aka hydrochloric, indoors under any conditions.
Used edge of chunk of fir 1x2 to push grout off. Worked as well, or better than doing it with dry towel 1-2 hours after grouting, though a bit harder to clean the declivities.
I spray one tile ahead and rinse with wrung sponge from a bucket holding about 1 gallon of water. Change rinse water about every two tiles. Added a bit of baking soda to neutralize the acid.
Three down and 12 to go. Now if the arms and fingers hold out......
Best, Wecanoe
p.s. Applying cleaner by spraying a bit on a tile or two, spreading with a small sponge and waiting a minute or two as I am doing now. Using water to rehydrate if dry seems to work. Then scrape.
p.p.s Just finished. The Alabaster grout color luckily is the same as the lighter pattern on the tile. Had I used a darker grout, I'd likely still be scrubbing. I never guessed at the time that the USAF basic training skill of srubbing a floor on hands and knees would be useful later in life.....
removing grout glaze
Linear Mode
