# Suggestions how to regrout old tile



## sbcontracting (Apr 22, 2010)

This is a bathroom floor and it's a hand-laid mosaic of 1/2"x1" tiles laid in a braided 'lawn chair' pattern. Grout is old and dirty, no way I can scratch it down. At least 80 yrs old. Beautiful floor, except the grout.

Tile is marble. Is there a cleaner that I could use, that would help new (epoxy) grout adhere to the old surface a bit better?


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## Ethos (Feb 21, 2012)

I'm interested in this too. Kind of makes you wonder if they make a chemical that will soften or dissolve old grout without harming the tile or the adhesive it was laid with.

Dremel makes some fine tipped grout removal bits, but I'd guess you'd need about 20 of them and a couple of days just to clean it all.


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## kevjob (Aug 14, 2006)

you can try to color seal it with this www.custombuildingproducts.com/TDS/TDS-173.pdf after cleaning it with sulfamic acid


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## sbcontracting (Apr 22, 2010)

I've tried grout colourant - it does an ok job if you have larger tiles but this is too intricate I'd be down on my hands and knees for good long time. That stuff sucks if you get it on the tile and don't clean it off in time... you just end up scraping it off of the grout as well. 

I think I'm going to try the sulfamic acid and then some epoxy grout - nice and wet and lightly wiped off.


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## SaniGLAZE (Apr 2, 2012)

You may want to consider restoring and sealing the existing grout rather than re-grouting it with epoxy. Typically, these types of tile patterns are very difficult to re-grout because the existing grout is flush or almost flush with the tile surface. It’s unlikely that there is enough depth in the grout joints to make re-grouting with epoxy successful. Therefore, we would recommend opting for restoration over re-grouting. Restoration would clean both the tile and grout through a chemical process; abrading the existing grout would not be necessary. Once the grout is clean, a colored, penetrating sealer can be applied over it, completing the restoration process.

Your post mentions that the tile is marble. Are you sure? It would be unusual to find marble set in such a small tile size. If the tile is indeed marble, you will need a specialized restoration process.


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