Removed tile finish with Nylon brush. Help!
 

My husband and I are first time tilers. We tiled the floor with little to no issues. Then came the shower. We started with black hexagon tile and black grout. I mixed the grout too thick which meant it was hard to clean off the with float and dried quickly. Between the amount of grout left on the tile and the dryness, after hours of scrubbing we gave up and left the rest for the next day. We did this knowing well it would be dry the next day. We read that a nylon brush attachment on the drill would buff the dried on grout off. Worked very well actually but scoffed up the tile, and yes, we used water. It’s clear in multiple places the finish is scuffed off. Read brass cleaner may help...did nothing. Any advice or ideas on how we can restore the finish to the scuffed areas? My only thought was we need to paint the entire tile wall which we do NOT want to do.

Welcome, Nycole. :)

Let's start by determining what you've got. Be very specific about the tile; brand name, make and model. You cannot yet post links, but if you can spell out the URL with an extra space in the www a moderator can light it up for you.

Also, the same specific information about the grout you used.

Thanks CX for the reply and guidance.

The tile is hexagon 25 by Codicer 95 in black. The only place I could find online was in grey

https://tile.expert/en-us/tile/codic...YaAnosEALw_wcB

The grout Polyblend Plus non sanded grout in charcoal

https://http://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Bu...6010/313296527

The nylon brushes we used were the 80 grit nylon abrasive cup brush and wheel from Harbor Freight. The cup brush did not damage the tile where as the wheel is what caused the damage.

OK, I changed your link to reflect the black color.

I think your problem might be permenant. That website indicates the following under Specifications, Honed Surface, just below where it says it's a Glazed Porcelain Stoneware:

While I'm not at all familiar with that wording relative to a glazed porcelain tile, I'm thinking that you've removed the glaze by more aggressively "honing" the already honed surface. That's just a guess, mind you, but I'm also guessing you can't fix the problem short of replacing the affected tiles. I could not find any information on that site indicating whether the tiles might meet the pertinent ANSI Standard (A137.1) for ceramic tiles (nor any European equivalent), so we don't really have any way to determine the tested durability of the glazed surface. Perhaps the standard in in there somewhere (they do indicate a Shade Variation number) and perhaps someone else can find it.

Could you also provide a link (which you can now do) to the abrasive brushes you used. I'm not familiar with those, either.

As for the grout, it should have been mixed to a rather stiff consistency and forced into the joints. I've never had a Polyblend grout get out of hand, but I'm also not familiar with the "Plus" version of that product. Indeed, never heard of it before today.

That said, leaving the grout to cure overnight without having finished the joints or cleaned the tile surface was a fatal mistake. Can't do that with cementitious products, 'specially when you've created a problem. Portland cement is completely unforgiving of time lapse; it starts to cure the moment it senses the presence of moisture and never keeps on so long as any moisture at all can be found. Once you place a Portland cement product, you hafta finish it all in one go as our Brit friends might say.

Tell us about those brushes.

My opinion; worth price charged.

Here’s the 80 grit Nylon Abrasive Cup Wheel that I think Nycole has used. I’m sorry to say that this isnt a good tool to use on most tile for most cases. Unfortunately, this particular nylon bristle product is rather unique as it has abrasive impregnated into the nylon bristles....and would be quite as damaging to the tile surface as if sandpaper was used to clean a car instead of a soapy sponge. But...

I don’t quite understand. Are you saying instead of running the wheel where all the bristles simultaneously made contact with the tile (drill would be perpendicular to the floor) that you laid it don’t on its side like a wheel to a car makes contact with the ground and the metal perimeter of this cup ground against the tile?

:)