I tiled my kitchen & dining room floor, and grouted with Mapei grout (color: ivory). I had to apply the grout in 2 sections, and after the grout has dried, the color doesn't seem to be consistent throughout the entire floor. This discoloration occurs even within the sections that were laid at once. (I had this same problem when grouting my bathroom floor, and read that I may have used too much water while cleaning the grout or that the water I used was hard tap water.) Keeping that in mind, this time I used distilled water for mixing the grout, and rung out the sponge as much as I could to avoid this problem, but still got the same discoloration result. I can't tell if the grout has lost it's color, or if it just has some sort of residue on it, but when I wipe a damp cloth over the grout, it seems to get it's color back, but then dries inconsistent again.

Does anyone know what could cause this problem, or what I can do to correct it? The grout is NOT sealed yet, because I wanted to consider all options first.

After much discussion, some options/ideas came up that I could put another layer of grout over the floor to try to regain the color pigment from the "new" grout, but I'm afraid I will run into the same drying issues. another option would be to buy colored sealer (which I tried in the bathroom I spoke of earlier), but I really don't like how that looks and want to avoid doing that. The last option was to try wiping it with a damp cloth right before sealing it to try to expose the color pigmentation.

Please help me with this nightmare and offer me some good advice! I appreciate anyone/everyone's incite!

Is it sanded or not?
And what color thinset mortar did you use?

Maybe its some of that mortar that is showing through. Before I grout, I go over my grout lines and make sure the mortar has not been pushed up between the tile. And when I do find some, I clean it out. Then maybe you have too thin a grout at those areas.

Its just kind of a shot to help, since I always make sure that doesn't happen to me (since my memory says I think it did and that was how I learned, the hard way).

Or perhaps your grout was not thoroughly mixed before you applied it (yeah, I've done that too)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Re-mdlr,