Continuing series about DIY tiling
So…after you put down your tile, what’s next?
You wait. Depending on your area, the humidity, and so on, you wait for at least twenty-four hours. Do not skimp on this time! It’s far, far better to wait until the thinset is completely dry than to come back early.
Once it’s fully dry, say, forty-eight to seventy-two hours after you finish tiling, you need to put grout into all those hard-earned spaces between your tiles.
Grout is where the art happens. Grout can take an ordinary-looking tile and make it spectacular. It’s really a finishing item. Your tile will look so much better once you put the grout in. (See picture above — the top half has grout, the bottom doesn’t.)
Before you start with the grout, the first thing to do is to clean up the tile. Do you have extra mortar anywhere? Now is a great time to sponge/scrub it off.
Are all your grout lines mostly clean? Or did the mortar smoosh up between a few tiles as you pushed them around? If it’s the latter case, you need to clean out those grout lines as well. They make tools for this, and if you’re dealing with really fine grout lines (say, between and around subway tile) these are your best bet. Otherwise, use a putty knife.
