Does the "dry and burlap" method *necessarily* demand muriatic acid? And do you actually mean "dry" or just very stiff? Is there anyplace I can read about this in detail? Let me put it this way-- I've never seen a time when burlap and dry grout (and I do mean handfuls of dry powder) DIDN'T require acid cleaning afterward. I read something called a field report from CTEF that talked about using cheese cloth. I didn't understand it, but it makes sense that cheese cloth would remove less grout from the joint than a sponge. It said something about lightly dragging the cheese cloth across the joint. Is this related? No, this isn't related. You can also do a search on johnbridge.com in John's forum on using microfiber cloths in the same manner. It's a new twist on still another old method of grouting, which entailed using a sponge to loosen up the grout on the face of the tile and shape the joints, and then instead of using a sponge for the final cleaning, a well wrung out terrycloth towel would be dragged diagonally across the tile to clean it. Now instead, cheesecloth or microfiber cloths are used. Some are even swearing by these "shamwow" cloths. Short of that, do you think it is an absolutely mad idea to take a little bit of sand paper to knock down the severe edge of the mosaic? It isn't actually sharp, but if that edge is always going to be felt, I'm not sure that my bare feet are enthusiastic about the prospect. (I'm not suggesting anything dire, just hitting the edges a bit. And I have a lot of extra tile to practice on.) Is this insane? I personally think you're talking about alot of work for nothing, but then again, it's not my feet. If you're going to do this, you're going to want to go through several grits of sandpaper on a sanding block, and wedging the corner of the sanding block into the joint to knock down that edge, and then bring the finish back with the finer grits, going from about an 80 grit to about a 600 grit, or even higher. You'll see when you try it out on your sample.

depends on the tile - if it's really soft stone like Onyx, sanded joint filler will scratch the polish - I had to go and make an inspection on a ceramic tile job where the knuckleheaded installers (they were NOT Pro's in my opinion) scratched the gold leafing on $150.00 A PIECE ceramic tile liners when they used SANDED JOINT FILLER... it scratched the Gold leaf right off the tile and they ate an $18,000 dollar tile order that had to be replaced at their expense. That was NOT a happy day at their office!!!! Joints that are 1/16" or tighter in most cases will be fine with dry grout (non-sanded). As the joint width gets wider, the dry grout (non-sanded) will shrink too much and develope tiny hairline cracks in the joints... not cool. sanded joint filler is used in joints 1/8" and wider - the sand helps eliminate the cracking, plus it's a slightly different type of blend of cements and dyes to help eliminate the hairl;ine cracks too... what is the natural stone you are grouting? this will have some bearing on which type of joint filler I would suggest you use...... kevin Kevin M. Padden MIA SFA Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry www.azschoolofrock.com

Tec Power Grout or another urethane grout woud be my suggestion. It never needs sealing, and won't scratch most stone or glass. It also won't have the more difficult cleanup of epoxy, or the yellowing issue.

Quick update for anyone who might care or finds themselves in a similar situation... I ordered some more matte finish tiles to play with and while playing I thought I would grab some of the leftover tiles I already have and try it with the grout I had bought at Lowe’s which was Mapei Flexcolor CQ in pearl gray. Well needless to say the crackle issue did not appear at all. So I’m assuming it was the unsanded grout that was recommended to me when I ordered the tile that was the problem? The Mapei grout that I used does not specify sanded or unsanded but there are no visible lines after grouting with it.