How To Repair Front Steps

How To Repair Hairline Cracks in Tile Grout Lines

By Todd Fratzel on Floor

How To Repair Croaky Grout

Cracked Grout Lines Anyone that's installed ceramic tile knows that after fourth dimension y'all may notice narrow cracks in the grout lines. Typically this happens where ii perpendicular faces come together.

For example, where a tiled wall meets a tiled counter top or floor.We have this problem in or master bathroom in a few places on the whirlpool tub surround.

This trouble tends to happen more often with new structure due to the drastic changes in moisture content in the framing materials. As the framing materials dry out and so shrink, twist and become distorted. As a result the tiled surfaces will move and create cracking at the grout lines.

Repairing the hairline cracks in the grout lines is a adequately easy DIY project. (See below for recommendations on repairing larger cracks in grout using a Dremel 568 Grout Removal Kit).

Repairing Hairline Cracks In Grout

Grout for crack repair. When ever you install ceramic tile yous actually should proceed some of the grout stored in a absurd dry out identify for future repairs. Matching the colour of grout later is much easier if yous have some. There actually are ii approaches to this fix. The quick and dirty fix or the complicated repair.

I'k choosing the quick and dingy method considering I want to see if this will work. The simple method is to just fill the existing cleft with grout. The more than complicated method would require removing as much of the existing grout as possible and then re-grouting the joint completely.

Applying grout to cracked grout lines. The grout that was used for this project was an united nations-sanded grout which should be capable of filling the narrow cracks. I mixed up some grout on a modest newspaper plate so that I could throw it away afterward. And then I used my finger to apply the grout to the cracked surface area. I made the grout a piddling wetter than I normally would so that I could get it forced into the thin crack.

Grout Cleanup

Repaired Grout Lines In one case I filled the crack the method of clean up is the same as any grouting task. I cleaned off the grout line a couple of times and then washed the surrounding tiles. You desire to make sure you get it all off so that you're not scraping really hard grout off the tiles later. As you tin see from the photograph the crack is now filled. After the grout completely dries you'll never know information technology was cracked before.

Repairing Wide Cracks in Grout

If y'all have wider cracks in the grout or missing grout then information technology'due south time to consider removing the erstwhile grout and installing new grout between the tiles. Yous can use a simple Grout Removal Kit or Grout Removal Using Oscillating Tool I prefer using a Dremel 568 Grout Removal Kit which attaches to my Dremel Tool or the Rockwell Sonicrafter. Once you lot've removed all the erstwhile grout so you lot simply install new grout equally if information technology were new structure.