Saltillo Tile and a sloppy mess

[sterling]

I purchased a fixer-uper house which has saltillo tile in kitchen, baths and living room. The kitchen and baths have dryed grout smeared over almost all corners of each tile. Many tiles seem to be stained grey... maybe sealed without removing the grout haze? Some areas next to walls/baseboards have grout built up over the edge of the tile almost 1/4 inch thick. So far the only products we've found to remove the grout are slow going and very labor intensive... 30 tiles took over 2 days to clean. The tile appears to be unsealed (soaks up our product in a matter of seconds). We're currently using an acid based grout haze remover... and a product called Zap Is there any product or procedure that will make easier work of this project?

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[Davestone]

Sme diyer probably tried his first saltillo job without sealing before grouting. I honestly don't know of an easier way other than acid washing and chipping and scraping. Without seeing it i wonder if it's worth it?

[Trask]

this is nuts but before I gave up or ripped it up I'd remove the base board and get a floor sander and edge machine. It'd be one hell of a mess but it could be a nifty look if it was honed or polished right. :crazy: Another one of those deals I would only do in my own house for fun. :yipee: then again this may not fall into you idea of fun :bang: ..my wife ain't buying it either. :shake:

[Davestone]

I've tried sanding saltillo before,and it was a nightmare. You wind up with voids, and holes and a crummy color and texture on the surface.I wound up pulling them up and redoing them. :bow: :)

[Trask]

Oh well, it sounded like fun.