How do I soften and remove excess dry grout from ceramic tiles?
Answers:
Water and a sponge. Keep rinsing the sponge in clear water. Water will not damage the tiles, or the grout. Make sure you don't dig into the grout line.
If this doesn't work you will need to get some sulfumic acid. They carry this at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. Muratic acid will also work, but is more dangerous to work with.
Other answers:
We used a screwdriver to scrape it off. But it's very tedius and after a while we wore down the screwdriver until it was a blunt stump.
It turns out that the metal could scratch your tiles if it has a smooth surface (our tiles were kind of rough looking anyway). Here's a site that talks about this:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/433_Excess_Grout_Removal.shtml
We used a screwdriver to scrape it off. But it's very tedius and after a while we wore down the screwdriver until it was a blunt stump.
It turns out that the metal could scratch your tiles if it has a smooth surface (our tiles were kind of rough looking anyway). Here's a site that talks about this:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/433_Excess_Grout_Removal.shtml
you may be in trouble . try getting it wet again with water.
I am a tile granite bmarble installer/contractor, You said overnight? then it has already cured wippingf with a damp sponge will do nothing!Like the one guy said he used a screwdriver. You basically haveb to use some ki9nd of metal to scrap excess off tile. You can use a painters tool, a margin rowel,a chisel ( one with a nice sharp edge)heres what your gonna do whatever tool you choose the trick is going to bescrapping along the glaze with enough pressure to remove curred grout, just putb tool on surface of tile (make sure u dont hold it at any more than a 45 degree angle if you do you increase yor chances of scratching the glaze but to be very honest it is very hard to scratch the glaze on a tile unless its a cheap (clay) tile. Dont be afraid just go for it!
overnight. oops. it's on there. I'm a tile contractor, too. Bobby is right. just a sponge and water isn't going to do it. The grout has cured. I'd start with the abrasive pads and elbow grease. then move up to the acids. then chisels. After that tear out or well placed area rugs.