How To Grout Subway Tile - DIY for Beginners

hey what's up it's dan perry and in this video you're gonna learn exactly how to grout subway tile to perfection I'm going to talk about which grout to use and why I'm gonna give you a step-by-step demonstration of exactly how to grout subway tile and I'm gonna include a whole bunch of useful tips that are gonna save you time make the job go easier and give you better results so let's go ahead and get started first let's talk about which grout you're gonna want to choose and why now the first decision you're going to want to make when choosing the right grout is between epoxy based grouts and cement based grounds so cement based routes are the most common grout okay most people are going to use a cement based grout that's because they're inexpensive they're very easy to work with they look great and they're easy to apply okay so for a new DIY err cement based grout is a really good option they just have one major downside they need to be sealed and they don't just need to be sealed once okay they need to be sealed on a regular basis because cement based grout is porous and it will absorb stains water or soap scum all kinds of other stuff now sealing it is pretty easy but you still have to seal it and that is where epoxy grout comes in epoxy grout is impermeable water is not going to absorb into it it's not porous it's very difficult to stain it's also very chemical resistant so harsh cleaners aren't really gonna hurt it it's much less likely to harbor mold or mildew and it's really great for commercial applications or maybe the floor of your shower if the floor of your shower is tiled and you might be thinking well why does it just everybody use epoxy grout then well because it also has its downsides first off it's about four to five times as expensive as cement based grout so right there you got the whole cost issue next it's actually quite a bit more difficult to apply so it might double or triple the amount of time it's going to take for you to apply the grout in the first place which is an ideal another downside is that when it's exposed to sunlight or any UV light lighter colored epoxy grout are actually going to darken or yellow over time and that's just not good especially if you have a window in your shower like I have here and finally it just looks kind of like plastic and some people just don't like that look so while epoxy grout is great for stain resistance and durability it's just not great to apply it's more expensive and it does have other downsides so which grout should you choose well for most situations I'm gonna recommend a cement based grout unless you have a really good reason to use an epoxy grout like if you're grouting the shower floor for example something that's going to be exposed to a lot of water all the time an epoxy grout is going to be a no-brainer in that situation so if you're tackling your first DIY tile project you're gonna have a much easier time working with cement based grouts you'll just have to seal it which is actually pretty simple I even have a video on that that I will link somewhere over here and you can watch that video now if you are confident in your grouting abilities and you don't mind sparking over the extra cash and spending the extra time to install the epoxy grout then you might want to give that a try because it will save you future time and effort from having to seal the grout now in this project I used a cement based grout and again that's what I recommend in most situations so in the rest of this video I'm going to assume that you're going to use a cement based grout and I'm gonna give you a tutorial on applying cement based grout now the next thing to consider is a sanded versus a non sanded grout some grout has sand added to it some grout doesn't have sand added to it now for most subway tile you're going to use a non sanded cement based ground okay that's because you're going to have small grout joints of less than an eighth of an inch in most subway tile installations and the non sanded grout is going to be easier to work into those joints and it's going to stick better on a vertical surface without trying to droop down okay so you want to go typically with a non sanded grout now in some cases if you had larger grout joints that were larger than an eighth of an inch or if you were grouting floor tile and for some reason had subway tile on the floor which doesn't really usually make sense then you might use a sanded grout in that situation you just have to be careful because on a lot of these shiny ceramic tiles a sanded grout is actually going to scratch the surface and obviously that's not gonna look very good so again as long as your ground joints are less than 1/8 of an inch which they probably are you're gonna want to go with a non sanded cement based grout okay that's ideal for small grout joints on vertical surfaces now that you hopefully know which grout you're going to use it's time to apply the grout so let's go ahead and do a demonstration the first step is to mix the grout to the right consistency of course you'll want to make sure the tile is clean and the thinset has had time to cure for at least 24 hours when mixing grout always add the water first then have the grout to the water and mix until you reach the desired consistency you'll want to pay special attention to getting the right consistency because it will make the job go faster the grout you see me mixing here is actually a little too thick and I recommend mixing it a bit thinner than this this grout still worked just fine it was just a little more difficult to apply and it hardened faster than I would have liked just like mixing thinset you're gonna mix it for a few minutes let it sit to slake for 10 minutes then mix it again for a few minutes before using it and just like with thin set you never want to add more water once you've let it sit to slate because it will weaken the grout now you'll see that I'm using a putty knife to mix the grout you can also use a drill with a paddle mixer as long as you run it at a slow rpm mixing grout too fast can actually mess up the color of the grout now when you watch other YouTube videos of demonstrating how to grout tile you're gonna notice that they mix the entire bag or maybe they hold back a little bit of the bag to use for later in case they make a mistake but they're pretty much mixing the entire bag of thin-set now I would highly recommend against doing that instead start with a small amount okay just enough to maybe do half of one of these smaller walls do that small amount first kind of learn the process learn what it's like even with these demonstrations it's not going to be as easy as the pros make it look on YouTube trust me I went through that process and it didn't work out well once the grout has been mixed according to the instructions on the bag or box it came in it's ready to apply to apply the grout you'll need a tool called a float which is designed specifically for applying grout you'll also need a bucket with clean water and a brand new clean sponge to apply the grout scoop up some grout with the float and wipe it on the wall then push it into the joints by holding the float at a shallow angle and wiping diagonally across the wall you'll want to push the grout in from multiple directions like you see me doing here so that the joints get completely filled with grout many people recommend making upside-down X's if you hold the float at a shallow angle it's going to leave grout on the tile and push grout into the joints when you hold the grout at a sharp angle you'll see that it removes grout from the tile surface so first you'll hold it at a shallow angle to push the grout into the joints then once an area is covered wipe off excess grout by holding the float at a sharp angle you'll also notice that the direction I wipe the grout is diagonal if I was to apply the grout by wiping sideways or straight up and down the grout wouldn't fill the joints as well once you've applied the grout to an area about the size you see here go back with a clean damp sponge to remove excess grout and clean up the grout joints this is the step that will determine how consistent your grout joints are and therefore how professional your grouting will look so pay attention to detail here and remove any excess grout just make sure not to add too much water back into the grout in this step you want your sponge to be damp but not wet to the point it is dripping water otherwise you risk adding too much water back into the grout and weakening it so wring out the sponge really well before wiping the walls and rinse it often to keep it clean and effective depending on how wet you mix the grout and how long you let it sit before you wipe with a sponge the grout will either be very easy to manipulate with a sponge or it may be a little bit harder so adjust your wiping technique to accommodate so that you create consistent grout joints as you can see on this wall I let the grout get a little too hard before wiping it down and I didn't do a very good job cleaning up the grout joints with the float so I had to spend more time than normal wiping with a sponge to get consistent grout joints I also had to apply more force while wiping the grout joints one little trick that I figured out that made the job go way easier is to go back and clean up the grout joints with a float before I wiped with a sponge I did this by going against common recommendations and wiping along each grout joint I found that this made the final clean up with a sponge go about five times faster pay attention to the angles that I'm holding my float while doing this notice that even though I'm wiping in the direction of the grout joint I'm holding the float at a slight angle so that when I hit an adjacent grout joint I don't wipe out the grout from the joint again this all takes a little bit of practice to streamline your process so take it slow only mix and apply a small amount of grout at a time and you can get a professional result even as a beginner and one more thing avoid applying grout to inside corners where a wall meets another wall this is an expansion joint that should be talked don't worry if you get a little bit of grout in there you can easily wipe it out before it hardens after wiping the walls with a sponge wait at least three hours and then go back and wipe off any haze with a clean dry cloth and the grout is ready to seal so how long will it take to grout a shower like this now it might take a pro about an hour but expect it to take you several hours to complete because you'll be doing it in stages and you'll be learning as you go now once you finish grouting your tile you're gonna want it let it cure for 48 to 72 hours then you're gonna want to go back and apply a penetrating sealer to it now I have a video on exactly how to seal tile with a penetrating sealer with recommendations on exactly which sealer to use and everything but you're definitely going to want to seal your cement based grout now again if you used epoxy grout you don't need to seal it I hope you found those videos helpful if you did be sure to LIKE comment and subscribe below this video to show me some love and help the YouTube algorithm get my video does it be seen by more people I would definitely appreciate it and finally if you are a skilled DIY ER and you want to learn how to turn your skills into a profitable business that can generate a six-figure income and allow you to escape your day job join me over at handy man startup comm where I have all kinds of free business training and paid business training to help you get your business up and running fast I hope to see you there and I hope to see you in the next video thanks for watching I'm Dan Perry [Music]

Channel: Handyman Startup

Views: 100,814

Rating: 4.9235077 out of 5

Keywords: how to grout tile, how to grout wall tile, how to apply grout, how to grout shower tiles, how to grout subway tile, how to grout bathroom tiles, How to grout a shower wall, grey grout, subway tile, grout shower niche, mixing grout, how to use a grout float, grout sponge, tools for applying grout, sanded vs unsanded grout, non-sanded grout, best grout to choose

Id: Uhkg339JocE

Length: 13min 4sec (784 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 09 2019