Mapei grout is considered to be one of the best grouts for a shower surround, and today
I need to grout this 12” x 24” tile.
I’m going to be using Mapei’s Keracolor U, which stands for unsanded grout, and the
reason why is the grout joints are no bigger than 1/8”.
Plus, I don’t want to scratch the surface of this tile.
And if you have a very sensitive tile that you’re working with, you may want to consider
Keracolor U or an unsanded grout for that particular job.
So we’re going to be sharing tips and tricks that we’ve learned over the years, that
I’ve learned from my buddy, Steve White, who is a professional bathroom remodeler here
in Pittsburgh, and also our friend, Sal DiBlasi, who has an awesome YouTube channel that you
should definitely check out.
Let’s dive into the tutorial right now.
Here’s the Keracolor U that I got.
Now, again the reason why I did it is because these glazed tiles behind me, I don’t want
to scratch them.
So being unsanded makes this a great option for those tiles.
The other thing is it’s polymer enriched, which means that you’re going to have less
staining with this grout.
Now you can add grout maximizer to it, which I’m going to be doing today, instead of
water.
And the grout maximizer means that you don’t need to seal the Keracolor U, and it’s going
to be way better, stain-resistant than other grouts that are out there.
Before we do anything with the Keracolor U, we’re going to dry blend it because we don’t
color variation in this grout.
So by dry blending it, you’re mixing all the pigments together in the bag if they have
settled to the bottom, and you’re going to get better color consistency.
So this is the Grout MAXimizer.
We’re going to mix this with the Keracolor U. and what it does is it adds that extra
stain defense, strengthens the grout, and makes the color consistency really good.
You should also shake up the Grout MAXimizer.
We’re going to pour in most of this.
We’re going to reserve about 15% of it at the bottom here.
And now I’m going to pour in most of this 10-lbs bag.
You can use a piece of drywall.
In this case, it’s a piece of KERDI Board.
I’m just going to fish my mixer up through there, and we’re going to mix this up pretty
good.
So one thing I do want to tell you is you don’t want to whip this up too much because
you will get air into the mixture, and that will cause pinholes to form in your grout.
So don’t go hog wild on this.
Once you’re done mixing this, allow it to slake or just sit here for about 5 minutes.
While we wait for the grout to slake, make sure that your grout joints don’t have any
thinset in them.
Obviously you should have done this when you set the tile.
If you do see thinset or any kind of shims stuck in here, remove them because you’re
going to have to pack the grout joints obviously with the Keracolor U.
So just inspect everything.
Make sure that your tiles are nice and clean as much as possible.
And in that way, you’ll be ready to pack the grout into the grout joint.
Now that we’ve waited 5 minutes, what you can do is take a margin trowel like this one.
It’s not exactly clean, but this thinset is set on there.
It’s not going anywhere.
And I would just scrape off the excess Keracolor U that’s on the side of the bucket and get
it into the center of the bucket where you can mix it.
You have to mix up the Keracolor U for another 1 or 2 minutes.
But again, don’t go crazy with the mixing.
Just enough to kind of whip it all together.
As soon as you’re done mixing this up, go ahead and clean off your tools.
Mapei’s instructions recommend taking a damp sponge, not a super wet sponge, but a
damp sponge and just wiping down the tile surface.
That way the grout will glide over it.
And you definitely don’t want any standing water in the grout joints.
So I’m just using a standard rubber grout float to pack the joints with the Keracolor
U.
So as you can see here, this is the consistency of the grout after using the Grout MAXimizer
and following the directions.
So it is very much like a thick peanut butter consistency.
I’m going to start at the top and work my way left to right and down.
We’re going to split this into two sections: the slanted one, and then the vertical section
down below.
Now I do have a gap between the tile and ceiling.
I’m not going to fill that with the grout.
I’m going to be using the Mapei sealant for that.
So all I’m doing is packing the joints and removing the excess grout.
I’m just going to be removing the excess grout on the surface of the tile that’s
not close to the grout joint.
So over here I used a Schluter profile between the tile and the wall.
And I’m just going to be filling that transition with the Keracolor.
We have this transition here where the wall slants down and then goes vertical.
I am just going to fill that in with grout.
Now in the corner here where these two walls meet, we’re not going to be filling this
in with Keracolor U.
We’re going to be using our sealant.
We’re just going to pack these vertical joints here on this main wall.
When we get down to the tub-to-tile transition right here, again, we’re not going to be
filling this joint here with Keracolor U.
We’re going to be filling it with sealant.
So any kind of grout that gets in this joint, you’re going to have to remove it.
After this main wall is done, we’re going to move on to the plumbing wall.
One thing I want to mention about the plumbing wall: I’m really, really bummed about this
in terms of the tile job.
That was done because I had a perfect plan for it, and I meant to execute it.
And I got caught up in making a video, and I totally messed up.
So down in the comments let me know if you can see where I messed up on this wall.
Totally bums me out.
So again, I’m just going to start at the top here and fill in this grout joint.
And we’re going to fill in the Schluter profile as well.
This is PVC door casing right here.
This is waterproof.
It’s meant for outside.
That said, I am not going to be grouting in between it and the tile.
We’re going to be using sealant here as well.
I did forget to sponge down this tile with a damp sponge, but because it’s so glossy,
you know, it really isn’t an issue.
But if you have tile that doesn’t have this finish, you definitely don’t want to forget
to apply a damp sponge to it because it will allow your grout float to glide over the tile.
As you’re grouting, just make sure that there aren’t any pinholes in this.
There aren’t any voids.
Really take a close look at the grout and make sure that’s it’s performing the way
that you need it to perform, which is basically just packed into the joint; no voids in it
whatsoever.
Before I move on to the next wall, I’m just going to clean off the bathtub.
By the way, this is also a good time to get any grout off the ceiling that you got on
the ceiling.
You don’t want to let it sit on there.
So here’s the final wall in the tub area.
Again, we’re not going to be filling in this corner joint or the joint between the
tile and the tub with the grout.
We’re going to leave that empty.
Oh, and by the way, this piece of marble here, there is a joint in between it and the top
tile.
Again, I’m not going to fill that in with grout either.
But this joint right here between the tile and the Schluter profile, I am going to fill
in with grout.
There’s a tiny 1/16” grout joint between the Schluter profile and the tile.
One thing I did want to mention was you can use your finger to tool that joint between
the Schluter profile and the tile.
And then finally, we’re going to grout this small little face right here.
But really, most of the grout joint is just the Schluter profile.
We only have one grout joint right here for the tile.
After about 15-30 minutes, the Keracolor U will definitely stiffen up, and you should
have two buckets of water.
So I’ve obviously been using this one to clean the tub.
We should probably swap it out for clean water.
So one for wringing the sponge out in.
So you want a damp sponge.
There shouldn’t be water dripping from this.
You want a damp sponge.
You’re going to tool the grout joint.
And when you get grout on the sponge, you’re going to wring it out in this dirty bucket
here.
Then you’re going to dip it in here to further clean it, moisturize it—for the lack of
a better term—and go back to the tile and tool the grout joint and remove any excess
grout that’s on the surface of the tile.
So for example, we’ve got some grout there.
Some grout on the ceiling here.
I’m trying to only tool in one direction using this sponge.
And in this case, I’m just doing that downward motion in between the tile and the Schluter
profile.
And you have to pay special attention that you’re not removing the grout from that
joint.
Now I’m just going to be using the sponge to tool the grout joints by hand.
In the grout joint, the grout should be pretty much flush with the tile.
To further help with the tooling, you can move your sponge diagonally to the grout joints.
And that will help.
What really helps at this point is attention to detail and just really analyzing every
single grout joint for pinholes, for voids to make sure that it looks good when you tool
it with the damp sponge.
But you don’t want to tool it too much because that can actually lead to F fluorescents with
Portland cement based products.
What should not be happening is the sponge be super wet and you’re putting water in
between the grout joint and the grout.
You don’t want that to happen.
So make sure this is just damp.
The next step is to fill in all of the joints between the tub and the tile and the corners
and at the ceiling.
I’m going to be using Mapesil T for that.
I’m going to start at the corner here and work from right to left.
It’s just easier for me to do that.
No I just dipped my finger into some water and tool this joint here.
I’m going to do that for the entire tub surround.
Now I admit it’s probably better to have the tub full of water.
We’re just not in the position to do that right now because of the plumbing in this
home.
But if you can, fill the tub up with water and then fill the joint between the tile and
the tub with the sealant.
About 1-2 hours after you grout the tile, you might see a haze.
If you do, you can use a microfiber cloth to remove that.
You just move the microfiber cloth across the tile in a circular motion, basically you’re
buffing the tile, and shining it, making it look really good.
All of the tips in this video should help you grout your shower surround.
Now if you want more detailed step-by-step video tutorials like this one, and you’re
redoing a bathroom, click right here.
It’ll take you back on over to Home Repair Tutor where you can take a look at our online
courses.
They’re pretty phenomenal.
I think you’ll like them if you are going to be doing a bathroom remodeling project.
That’s it for today.
Thanks so much for watching the video.
If you’ve got any questions, let me know.
I’d be more than happy to help you out.
Take care.