Vinegar Saved My Life
Sorry it took so long to finish this exciting story. I know, the suspense must be killing you. But don't worry. It has a happy ending. I've been lazy about my blog updates so we'll have to roll the clock back to last Thursday when I was still fighting with grout.
I felt thoroughly defeated after staying up all night Wednesday trying to grout my tile. Thursday looked bleak. I was wasting valuable tile scrubbing hours having to go to work. I had fleeting thoughts that I might have to saw out the grout and start over or tear the whole thing up and redo it. When I get that tired I get really pessimistic.
Lucky for me I took a break and did a little research on the internet while I was at work. I read some message boards, formulated a plan, and made a shopping list. Once again the Tile Your World message board save the day. There were a lot of people with grout haze problems and everyone recommended a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water or if that didn't work, a commercial grout haze removing chemical.
I went to the grocery store on my lunch break and bought some vinegar and every possible scrubbing thing I could find that might have some effect. The vinegar worked like a charm. It was amazing. The grout haze vanished. Check out these before and after photos of the clean-up.
The vinegar also softened up the grout enough that I could get the extra out of the joints too. Out of all the tools I tried using, the wire brush and a putty knife worked the best. Since my tiles are porcelain, I could scrub with the wire brush and not scuff up the tiles. I used the putty knife to detail the edges of the tile where extra grout was creeping in. It took about 5 more hours of work, but it was worth it.
The only problems left are several tiles that were damaged in shipping that I didn't notice. They have some marks on the surface that were stained by the dark grout. Right now tho, I could care less. Let's call it pre-aged.
The next day I was completely sore from hunching over and scrubbing. I ached all over so much I felt like I had the flu or something. But the final result looks awesome. I just wished this hadn't been the first tile I ever laid. I could have used some more experience.