Grout: easier on than off

This morning, 31 hours after adhering the tile to the Hardy Board, I put in grout. I'd thought about doing black but decided it might be too heavy looking. So I went with a medium grey that would be an in-between colour for my slate and white tiles. I hope I made the best choice!



I used a premixed container of grout, a trowel, a kitchen spoon, and my fingers to get it on.



Getting it off turns out to be much harder than getting it on. You just keep wiping, and rinsing out the sponge, and wiping, and rinsing... The thing is, you can't leave a film on the tile or it will dry that way and always look cloudy but the sponge seems to always grab a touch of grout from in-between the tiles and smudge it around. I ended up using the sponge to get it clean down to a thin film, then a dry dish towel to get it mostly perfect, then a dampened piece of towel around the tip of a finger to scrub individual tiles. The white ones really didn't want to come clean! It took about an hour start to finish to do the grout.



Update: the grout dried slightly darker and looks great! So, paint AND grout both dry darker. Good to know.



Now I wait 48 hours before putting on the tile and ground sealer.

In the meantime, I'm washing dishes in the bathroom. Ugh. It's worth it though.

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