Hints on How to Use the Rubber Float When Grouting

When you are tiling, one of the last steps is to grout the tile.

You will force wet grout between the seams of the tiles. Without grout, you will have structurally weak tiles and unsightly seams that will collect dirt.

Good rubber float technique can make or break your tiling project. Everyone has their own way, but I like to slop about two finger-sized portions of grout onto the edge of my float, and then press it into the seams in a diagonal fashion.

At first you may need to move parallel to the seams, simply to get the grout deeper into the seams. But once the grout is in place, you must switch to the diagonal sweeps.

Rarely will you use the "flat" of the rubber float. Most of the time, you will be using the edge, in the same way you might use a squeege to clean a window.

Do not worry about avoiding the surface of the tiles. In fact, on smaller tiles (six inches or smaller), it is impossible to maintain contact only with the seams. That's the purpose of the rubber float: to both press the grout into the seams, and to scrape excess grout off of the surface of the tiles.