Cleaning Grout Off Tile

It’s not really tile, but brick pavers I am referring to. Cleaning tile is a cake-walk.

When you lay tile down, you’re supposed to keep a wet rag or sponge handy to wipe off excess thinset. We did a good job of that on our tile.

When you grout, you smear it all over the tile in attempt to get it in the cracks. You should let it dry before trying to wipe it off. 

With our brick pavers, we sealed them before attempting the grout process so that the grout would be easy to wipe off. This still didn’t help. In hindsight, I should have bought sealed pavers, but I didn’t want the wet look so I bought unsealed. BAD MISTAKE!

Our tile guy attempted the grout for these pavers. He did good at first, and I couldn’t understand his process. It looked like he was pouring dry grout into the cracks and applying water. Sounds strange, but I would see normal grout, then powder grout then no grout in areas he was working on.

I attempted my own section of grouting. I tried so hard to keep it off the tile. I even tried using a cake batter thing.

I later just started using my hand to scoop out from the bucket and smeared it. Ha! But then I was using a dry rag to get the excess off immediately. 

Our tile guys quit the job before removing the grout haze, so we had to work fast to get it off. We bought many chemicals. At first I tried vinegar and water. It worked okay.

Then I tried TileLab Sulfamic Acid Cleaner. It had great reviews. You could make it as strong as you needed. I’m sure it works great on ceramic tile, but not brick pavers. It took too much work.

I then bought Miracle Sealants Company Heavy Duty Acidic Cleaner. It worked if you didn’t dilute it. Pouring it directly onto the paver and lightly scrubbing. However, at $10 a quart, that was expensive. 

I then bought Muriatic Acid. I bought the Green version so there was less fumes. At $8 per gallon, I could handle it. I bought two gallons and it was more than enough to cover the 600 square feet of brick I had. 

I just poured it directly onto the brick it started foaming. I then used an acid brush a put on a broom handle and scrubbed away.

It immediately made “Mud.” I could tell it was working. I then used a wet wash cloth to wipe up the mud. Then I used a dry sponge to soak up the remaining dirty water sitting in the grout lines and on the tile. It was a process, but a process that worked. 

After I had done 2/3 of the areas I read on the box of my pavers that you are not to acid wash. OH NO! Someone had told me I could use kerosene and I saw it and bought it when I got the muriatic acid. I then used the kerosene on the brick. No luck! It made the tile wet and darker, but it didn’t bubble the haze up. The muriatic acid works like Peroxide. It bubbles the imperfections up to the surface for easy wiping off. Really, not much scrubbing. So, kerosene was another no-good product.

I was so happy I found something that worked. Whew! You just have to make sure you get it all off. Muriatic acid will break down the grout and the stone. I didn’t want any leftover just sitting and eating away at the surface.

It didn’t make the brick all shiny and to the untrained eye that didn’t see the “before” you probably wouldn’t be able to notice. But the grout is off the surface and my feet can tell the difference. 

YAY!

Brick Tile

To go with the old feel of the house, I used brick pavers as tile in certain areas. 

I used it at all the entrances, in the Powder Bath and in Mom’s bath and closet.

I wanted to space it wide, so I bought 3/8” spacers; as wide as I could get them. 

I chose a brick pattern with 1/3 offset.

I bought the pavers unsealed because I wanted them to be rustic. But I still had to seal them so that grouting would be easier and not soaked up into the brick.

The color of grout was difficult to choose. I went with my gut and chose Mapei Ivory. 

And it couldn’t have been better. It ties in the wall color and the wood floor.

Because the brick tile was done first, and in heavy foot traffic areas, we had a lot of cracked tile. 

Two areas had thin-set applied to the entire subfloor surface, then grooved. There were less cracked tiles on those areas. Then the other areas just had the tile back-buttered. These had more cracks. But I was told the cracks would stop when the grout was put in. I just made sure I was at the house less and avoided stepping on the tile.

Our tile guy started grouting and left quickly after because it was frustrating. So, I took a stab at it and did an okay job. It was hard to get the grout up high enough like I wanted, and still trying to keep the brick surface clean.

I am so excited for the brick floors. Some people refer to it as “Split Brick.” It definitely gives the house that old vibe that I am going for.

Our tile guy laid the brick and grouted it, but he quit our job before he could clean the brick. I had a 10-day window to work with before the grout was really set into the paver. I tried multiple chemicals and non-chemicals trying to get the grout off. Only one thing worked! I have decided to write a separate post about it here.

After the brick was cleaned, I felt so much relief. I moved on to other projects while my mom took the duty of sealing the brick. She tackled one section at a time. I covered all the brick with paper dropcloth to prevent red clay marks on the freshly cleaned brick. The mud hall had nice orange tracks on it before I cleaned it.

I tried many different sealers. Even after cleaning the brick, it still dried a lighter color. I like how when it was wet, the colors were darker. 

Yet, I didn’t want the glossy wet look some sealers provide. I found a product at Lowes that was a sealer and enhancer.

At $45 a bottle for a small bottle, this stuff was liquid gold. But it achieved the look and protection.

Mom used a small roller to apply three rows at a time. It goes on milky and you wope if off after 3-5 minutes.

I really like the end result. These floors took a lot of work, but they are worth it!

Wood Flooring

I couldn’t be happier with the floors that I picked out. They are amazing, and they weren’t my first choice!

The color of the floors in the old house had a red hint to them. They were 5-inch wide plank and I liked them, but didn’t love them. I didn’t have much choice using a production builder’s options.

When we picked out Mom’s flooring in the townhouse, we chose something different. It has less red, but the quality is poor. She’s had issues with ends of it curling up and scratches bad. But the color helps hide dirt!

I originally picked a floor I thought was similar to my mom’s. It was also in my price range.

But while I was at the brick place, I notice a wood floor. The brick place also carried wood and tile.

It at first looked too light to me. But I noticed how well it hid dirt and scratches. This would be a wood I could LIVE on and not baby. I also liked that it came in varying widths. To me, that’s the best part about it.

The crew came out and knocked out 2000 square feet in 2.5 days. 

I forgot to include adhesive in my budget, and that ran expensive. But the crew was so fast and I am still so happy with the result. 

It gives you the old feel. It doesn’t look brand new and blends in already. I forget that we didn’t have floors for a while.

The brick place keeps checking in and I tell them over and over how much I love the floors. I was warned that people say the color in their house is darker than in the store, and it is. But I still love it!