Tile grout coming up
 

Our home was built in April, 2021. Tile in kitchen, family and dining rooms. We had carpet replaced with same tile in August, 2021, before we moved in. Per instructions from installers, we've cleaned tile with warm water and a touch of vinegar an estimated 12 times. After letting it dry, wipe a wet cloth across a grout seam and the grout comes up on the cloth.
Installation company has come out 4 times without a solution. Our 1-yr. warranty is up in July so we went on record with TV instead of going directly to the installation company. TV told us to work directly with the installation company so we are back to where we started. Daily our feet/socks/indoor-only shoes are dirty with grout.
HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS? ANY SOLUTIONS ?
Per the installation company, the grout is supposed to already have sealer in it. So they said sealing the grout would not help.
Suggestions appreciated. Otherwise, we may have to fight with the installation company to replace grout or grout and tile, which sounds messy, time-consuming and expensive (for the installation company).

Try this, take some water and just place a few drops on the grout, if it beads it was sealed or has sealer built in, if it is absorbed, then NO sealer was applied or added to the grout. I have never heard of using vinegar for cleaning grout, we use ZEP PH neutral cleaner, works very well.
I am GUESSING the vinegar is slowly dissolving the grout.
I think you have 2 choices, first have the company remove all of the grout and correctly reapply new grout. This will be very messy. The second choice would be a color matched (to your grout) sealer. This appears to be a product similar to paint that is applied to the existing grout to seal the grout and maintain the color. I have personally used Grout Shield with excellent results. I did the whole house 2 - 3 hours at a time, moving furniture as necessary, took a couple of weeks. There is NO mess with this approach. Drying time is about 1 to 2 hours.
Hope this helps, good luck for your project.

villagetinker;
Thanks for your response.
Just to be clear, we are, of course, trying to clean the tile, not necessarily the grout.
We tried your water test: it is absorbing into the grout.
*The vinegar used, as instructed, was about 1 tablespoon per gallon, so very little vinegar used.
Does that change your response ?

Let me ask another question, does the grout in the bathroom walls do the same thing? Is it coming off like the floor? I am going to send a PM with my phone number to discuss further.
Our house 2013 vintage did not have the grout sealed and we never had your problem, however since it was not sealed it tended to get dirty, so I went ahead and sealed it with Grout Shield.

The brand of grout is more than likely Mapei. The builder has used this, exclusively, in The Villages for years. Your home detailed report will specify the brand and color of grout used in your home. If you don’t have the spec sheet, contact home warranty by email to confirm the brand (I’d be surprised if it’s not Mapei). Mapei does make a grout that claims not to need sealing after installation.

In my opinion, none of the grout here is “sealed”, at least to the extent that a sealer applied after grout application is concerned.

I’d also reach out to Mapei about the issue you’re experiencing, for a professional opinion.

No problem with the grout on the shower walls or floor (different grout it appears).

I just spoke with my step son that has done tiling for years, and he has never heard or seen the problem with the grout. I like the idea of confirming the maker of the grout and then calling them. They may actually have some pull with the installer.

First of all stop using vinegar in any dilution on your grout. It is known to erode the sealer especially the grout that has sealer in it on installation. Secondly is the grout coming up on all the tile or just the tile you replaced the carpet with? Also what are you using as far as equipment to clean the floor?

I clarified with my wife: She never used vinegar when cleaning. She just used warm water (not sure why installation company said to use a little vinegar).
The problem is throughout the house, original build AND tiling the bedrooms (bedrooms tiled 4 months after house built).

Confirmed Mapei Ultracolor grout.

IMO this is just sloppy work by the Villages (big surprise) - has nothing to do with sealed, not sealed. Before your 1-year warranty is up, you should have your house inspected by one of the local inspectors (ask around, there are lots of good ones) and make sure s/he calls out the grout issue. My experience (2 hew houses here) The Villages puts a lot more credibility on these reports then they do direct calls from homeowners.

Both of our inspections came up with dozens and dozens of issues, all of which TV fixed

The warranty department should be contacting the company. Have them tell the company that all grout needs to be removed and replaced. Most companies will bend over backwards to keep their contracts with the developers.

Telling them anything is not going to work but some people think the harder the yell or demand the more they will get. Do the inspections as suggested and then write a polite business like cover letter and send certified mail with the report. All thatdemanding is going to get is for your requests to be put at the bottom of the stack.

I checked with the wife - she never used any vinegar.
Yes, grout comes up all over the house. House main rooms tiled 5 months before the bedrooms.

We were using a Swiffer, dry pad wetted with warm water. Also used a dual-rotating shampoo-er but only with warm water.