All,
Thanks for your replies.  Right now we  place a scrub brush attachment on my machine when it comes to to pick up the slurry. And we scrub and rinse @ least two time. But yes we do a large area before we remove the powder. Will next try a much smaller area  on my next job!
 
Thanks,
RK

--- On Tue, 7/21/09, John Freitag <jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com> wrote:

From: John Freitag <jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com>
Subject: RE: [sccpartners] Honing Powders.
To: "Restoration and Maintenance" <sccpartners@stoneandtilepros.com>
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 2:54 PM

Roger,

 

My experience with honing powders has not been a problem. The key when using honing powders, polishing powders, or any powders is to make sure you are flushing the grout lines once you have finished the honing process.

 

By flushing the line what I mean is once you have finished a section of floor run over that area again with more water and the honing powders should flush out of the grout lines.

 

What most people do that gets them in trouble is they try to do too large of any area before cleaning up and the honing powders and the slurry start to dry in the grout lines this causing  a problem.

 

I also recommend when ever using a powder that you have with you a soft scrub brush, grout brush on a handle and lightly scrub the grout line before vacuuming up the water and slurry / honing powders etc. this will remove the excess powders and slurry etc. from the grout lines and actually help clean the grout.

 

My suggestions is to control the size of the area you are working in and make sure the slurry etc does not start to dry before you start to vac it up.

 

 

John E. Freitag

President/Director

The Stone and Tile School

Office 407-567-7652

Cell 407-615-0134

jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com

 

schoollogo

 

www.thestoneandtileschool.com

 

 

 

From: fhueston@gmail.com [mailto:fhueston@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Dr Fred
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 10:42 AM
To: Restoration and Maintenance
Subject: RE: [sccpartners] Honing Powders.

 

Roger

 

lighter grout can be from honing powder residue or it can that the grout is discolored.  There is not a lot you can do if that is the original color.

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Stone & Grout Meister, LLC <mail@stoneandgroutmeister.com> wrote:

Look at Prism made by Polyblend …….. Just did 2000 sq ft of tumbled unfiled travertine color is perfect ! You should see the installers here, what a joke! I’m re-grouting 200 sq ft now, the installer used a bag of grout the customer had stored in her garage for 12 years. I asked the installer why he used a 12 year old bag of grout with a shelf Life of 2 years or less. He replied “it’s just grout, It’s not like you’re going to eat it.” The customer suggested he use it, and return the bag he bought to save money.
 
Joe
 
From: anthony@777-7797.com [mailto:anthony@777-7797.com]
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 9:47 PM
To: Restoration and Maintenance
Subject: RE: [sccpartners] Honing Powders.
 
 
Not much, grout has to be mixed extra properly.
 
If you open a bag of grout and look at its contents along with the cement you will see little tiny colored clusters. That’s the powdered dies they use. It’s not totally mixed so unless the installer mixes an entire bag at a time, you cannot get a consistent color.
 
Now imagine applying grout for the first time on limestone installation, it dries so fast there is almost no way they can pull a full bag unless they have an assembly type of system where one guy applies , one guy cleans and another follows. I have rarely seen this!  Now imagine a larger area, you are suppose to dry mix all the bags together as well.
 
Most mix a small amount at a time.  Also if the installer doesn’t use the exact same amount of water, coloration will further be affected.
 
And when you clean up the grout residue during installation, you should clean it using a consistent amount of water on the sponge as well as keeping the water clean.  What they are asking to do is never done especially during a commercial job, so it’s almost normal to get shades of whatever color they used.
 
Below is a few lines of what is written on a bag of grout
 
 
2.1 For best results, have the same person mix all of the grout.
Consistent mixing and cleaning techniques will promote
more uniform results.
2.2 Before mixing the grout with water, dry-blend the product
to avoid color variations in the finished grout, which may
arise from pigment settling during shipment. If two or more
cartons or bags are to be used, dry-blend all the contents
together.
5.5 To prevent discoloration and soft or powdery joints, avoid
cleaning with excessive water.
 
 
Anthony Masecchia
Master Stone Consultant
Marble Maestro
T. 514.777.7797
F. 514.904.1815
E. antonio@777-7797.com
 
Active President of BNI Westmount
 
Marble.Maestro  on facebook
 
Please take note of my new email antonio@777-7797.com
 
From: Roger Konarski [mailto:qm144@yahoo.com]
Sent: July-20-09 11:14 PM
To: Restoration and Maintenance
Subject: [sccpartners] Honing Powders.
 

 

With a lot of limestone in homes or other honed surfaces, we frequently use honing powders. No matter how thorough we are in cleaning the grout lines, some always end up with some grout lighter or different color from the rest of grout.  Why is this? What can be done to prevent or correct this problem?

 

Thanks,

RK

 




--
Frederick M. Hueston PhD
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