At first, tiling a space in your home can seem overwhelming and confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. Doing a tile project on your own can save you a lot of money and give you a lot of satisfaction. Recently we renovated an entire bathroom in our basement that included tiling and grouting a shower floor, walls and bench.
Brittany has shared several posts on how to tile a backsplash, how to seal tile, and how to tile without mortar. See those posts for full step-by-step instructions on how to tile.
Today I wanted to share 5 Great Tips to Grout a Shower. When you are tiling a large space, it helps to have some ideas on how to prepare and work for the best results.
Materials:
- Grout (We like Mapei UltraColor Plus Rapid-Setting Sanded Grout or Polyblend Unsanded Grout)
- 5-gallon bucket
- Grout Boost or VanHearron’s Grout Once
- Corded drill that will accept a mixing paddle
- Mixing paddle
- Metal spatula
- Grout Float
- Grout Sponge
- Painter’s Tape
- Silicone Caulk
- Rag
- Buffing rag
- Sponge
- Water
5 Great Tips to Grout a Shower
1. Use Grout Boost or Grout Once
These are liquid products that mix with your grout instead of water so that you don’t also have to seal the grout. Follow the instructions on the package to prepare your grout (usually involves mixing, waiting and mixing again.)
Then apply the grout as usual. Then you don’t have to spray your grout with a grout sealer afterwards.
2. Work in small sections at a time.
This is not the time to apply all of the grout at once and remove the extra after you are done putting in all the grout. You have to apply small sections (4′ x 4′) of grout. Then go back to remove the excess grout on that same section right away.
Don’t wait too long or the grout will become dry and difficult to remove from the surface of the tile. As you’ll see below, I wiped off the grout with a damp sponge while the other area on the left was drying. It helps to move relatively fast so your grout doesn’t dry too quickly.
