![]() ![]() Rinse the area with water to wash away the vinegar and baking soda, and dry the tile immediately with a soft cloth to prevent more water spots from forming. Sprinkle a small amount of baking soda onto the tile (it should fizz slightly as it reacts with the vinegar), then gently scrub the surface with a sponge dampened with water. ![]() After allowing the vinegar to soak on the tile for a few minutes, wipe the area to wet it again. ![]() It's not intended for natural stone tile.) Soak a cloth or sponge with vinegar and wipe to wet the surface. (Note: This method should only be used on acid-safe tile surfaces, such as glazed ceramic or glass. Instead, use vinegar to dissolve the mineral buildup so you can easily wipe it away. To protect the tile's finish, do not use abrasive cleaners or scouring powders, which could scratch or scuff the surface. Although cured thinset can usually be scratched off rather easily if your tiles were a typical smooth porcelain or glazed ceramic, thinset or grout must be. In tiled areas in showers and around faucets or sinks, hard water stains can build up with use, creating a filmy residue on the surface. Not only is it difficult to fix the tile in place so you arent grinding off the back of it, but it is a delicate and time-consuming job. Your only real option is to grind it down, as gently as possible, with an electric sander. I recently completed a tile job using 1/8" spacing and used a "tile spacer remover" tool and it worked great for scraping out the excess mortar.Alise O'Brien How to Remove Hard Water Stains from Tile That virtually eliminates using a chisel or even a putty knife to try and chip or lever the thinset off the tile. If you have a tool that is the exact same width as the grout lines it makes it easy to get them basically completely clean as you lay the tile. It's also worth mentioning that it's much easier to clean the mortar out while it's still soft. It's unlikely you'll have problems with the grout breaking out under normal traffic where it's thin, but if it takes heavy abuse it will be more susceptible to damage.Ĭlean joints are definitely preferable for a long lasting job. Anywhere you have a significant amount of mortar built up between your tiles (more than half way up the side of the tile) it's like the 2 layered sidewalk. ![]() Unless special steps are taken to bond the second layer to the first the end result is not going to be anywhere near as durable as a sidewalk that was poured as a single 4" slab. Imagine a sidewalk poured in 2 layers with the first layer being 3 1/2" inches and the second layer being only 1/2". If the grout isn't very deep this is far more likely to be an issue if you used gray mortar and are using a lighter colored grout.įinally, all cement based product need have a minimum thickness to achieve enough strength to hold up. When working with very light colored grout it's recommended that you use white mortar (which costs a little more) rather than gray to prevent the mortar from showing through. Given that fact, and the fact that the joints are narrower (making the grout more difficult to force into the joints), it going to more important to have the joints as free of excess mortar as possible.Īnother consideration is the grout/tile color. Unsanded grout (used with 1/8" tile spacing and less) is not as strong as the more commonly used sanded grouts. The joints along the edge still look great though. On one of the center tiles that gets a lot of traffic, I must not have put down a perfectly smooth layer underneath because I can hear an occasional slight shift. From this purely anecdotal evidence, it seems logical to conclude that it isn't necessary to be too much of a purist about clearing out all mortar between tiles before laying down your grout.Īs of April, 2012 I've found only one tile that may have a slight issue. I scraped only the areas that were high (close to or slightly above the tile). I'm reading elsewhere that it's ideal to get rid of all excess mortar between tiles before it hardens (whoops).Īs of September, 2011, it's been 9 months since I completed this job and things have been solid. They show a tool that appears to be scraping excess mortar from the joints.ĭo I need to be worried about scraping down the hardened mortar so that the joints can be completely filled with grout or are they talking about simply removing any loose mortar? Although none of my joints have mortar that rises above the grout, many of the tiles have some sections where the mortar is higher than others. That makes sense - however, I'm also reading on the box that I should "clean the grout joints". I've been told in no uncertain terms that I must remove the spacers between tiles (or else grouting over them can result in cracking of the grout). I'm just getting ready to lay down the grout after successfully tiling our master bathroom. ![]()
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