# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Grouting Bluestone

## Craigoss

Hello, 
I need some advise on how to grout pitted tiles. The bluestone i have has some small holes and cats paw over the tiles. I had planned to use a white grout, which would mean all these holes will fill up with white and it will look terrible. I've read some conflicting advice on going about it ranging from taping all the tiles and only getting the grout on the joins, or sealing the tiles and grouting over the whole tile. However even if the tiles are sealled, I'm not sure how you would go about removing the grout from all the small holes. 
Has anyone grouted some uneven porous tiles before? 
Thanks.

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## GDOG

Definitely seal at least twice prior to grouting and if possible before laying, natural stone can be unforgiving.  Grout smaller sections at a time trying to stay off the bulk of the tile and washing with clean water repeatedly and maybe reconsider white grout with bluestone, Never seen it but very contrasting colours

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## johnc

Small sections as said, I try to grout or joint with a jointing tool (piece of rod) cleaning with a wet paint brush and dry rag as I go. Time consuming but very little mess. I don't think I would use white though, I'd look for a close match to the stone colour. In my case I seal after not before. GDOG's method would be more forgiving than my way.

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## Craigoss

Thanks GDOG, I had planned to just use a bluestone coloured grout, but came across plenty of pics online which were using a white grout. See below:   
Do you think I could fill all the tiles with a blue grout, seal twice and then grout the joins with a white?

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## johnc

If you want white then do it all the way through, outside though it will show moss and dirt in no time. I prefer minimum maintenance grey hides a lot of sins.

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## GDOG

Yep as johnc above says, "No white outside" and I'd take it further by saying I wouldn't use white on any floor as it will eventually stain and discolour.  Imagine spilling red wine or soy sauce on white grout, even sealed  :Yikes2: That pic does look good, an expert job.  Might be a light grey rather than white. 
But.......  Sorry, what I should have said was seal first with 1 good coat then once grouted at least 1 but better 2 more coats.  The sealer isn't cheap and the fumes will get you high but they look awesome when finished.    
As for your question, using a darker grout to fill the little hollows etc is probably not going to help as for one you aim to clean all the grout off when sponging and secondly, if you did leave a bit of dark grout in the hollows, the white grout will penetrate the darker grout which is still porous unless sealed.  It'll look awful.  The less grout the better but floors normally need at least 3mm gaps to help fudge the often inconsistent tile sizes. 
What about making a template out of something like zinc/colorbond.  Make it about  300-400mm wide by say 600mm long. A 50mm fold up on the sides will stiffen it and act as handles.  Using an angle grinder, cut a slot in the centre about 4mm wide and almost as long as the template.  File and sand flat so no burrs or sharp edges etc.  Can lay over tile gaps and grout a section with a grouting tool then carefully remove template straight up without sliding then move to next section.  Will still require a smoothing of the grout with a sponge and a few wipes over with a sponge and clean water.  Dunno???....... Sounds good in theory but until I try it I dunno.  Might be slow.

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## Craigoss

Thanks for the update, I think i'll run with the earlier advice and go with colour matched grout and silicon. This is my first tiling job, so I should ease into it. The white would have been a good contrast as I have a lot of dark colours on the front of the house.

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