Pro Handyman Blog

When you are done laying ceramic tile, the grout pulls everything together. You apply the grout with a grout float. I like the flexible floats rather than the rubbery firmer floats. I think the flexibility allows you to not only push the grout into the lines, but it also makes it easier to clean the excess grout from the top of the tiles.

After you mix up the grout and let it slake, mix it again and get some on the float and push it into the grout lines. There are two schools of thought on this. One is to dump an amount of grout on the tiles and move it around with the float into the voids. The other is to use a smaller amount on the float and place it more specifically into the voids. I think the first method creates a little more cleanup and so I prefer the 2^nd method.

With grout on the float, pull the float diagonally across the grout lines. Fill the voids and then make a couple of diagonal passes with the float. This serves 2 purposes. First, it will give the grout line a smooth finished appearance, and second, it will help to wipe up any excess grout from the tiles.

If you have a tile that is slightly taller then the one next to it, make sure you pull the float towards the tile that is taller than the surrounding tiles. This will allow the grout to flow from the low tile to the tall tile and help hide the height difference.