Customer Reviews

Grout Grabber GG001 Grout Removal Tool for Most Reciprocating Saws or Sawzalls

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My trusty Sawzall is probably the one small power tool I could not live without, so when I saw the Grout Grabber for the first time, purchasing it was a relatively easy decision. The white grout around a shower in our home had past its prime, and replacing it became the Grout Grabber's first challenge. In less than 2 hours the grout between the 6x6 tiles had been worked down low enough to allow for a new grout application. Wow! Try 2 days or more with a traditional hand tool. The blade action held up well--no noticable ware. I had no trouble reaching all angles and surfaces. The only mistake I made was not buying additional blades when I originally purchased the Grout Grabber--it only comes with one, and unless you have 1/16" grout lines, you'll want at least 2 blades.

I found the Grout Grabber to be all but useless. First, a proviso: my grout was extremely nasty - very hard, more like stucco actually. Sure, this tool removed some of it, though not quickly and not without a bunch of blade changes. Maneuvering the large sawzall around the enclosed spaces that were tiled was pretty tedious too.

After struggling with this for a few hours and getting a moderate amount of work done, a buddy recommended a Rotozip, and loaned me his. A quick trip to the hardware store for a diamond blade and I was in business. The Rotozip did the trick. It was fast, went through the grout like my circular saw goes through wood. It also went through the chicken wire that was holding the mortar in place, throwing off some lovely (but harmless) sparks.

Note that I didn't use the carbide grout bit, which I tried and found to be useless. I used a circular diamond blade intended for tile, cement and so forth. Note as well that this blade isn't recommended for the speed of the cheaper Rotozip, but that's what I had and it worked.

Anyway, the combination of the Rotozip RTM01 with RotoZip ZM101 and the Dry Diamond blade worked like a dream. There is a more expensive Rotozip with adjustable speed that should work as well and perhaps be safer.

Just a note to let you know how much easier the "Grout Grabber" tool made the task of removing a large amount of incorrectly installed grout. I tried using the typical grout removing tool that you can buy at any improvement store. It worked, but it was not near as easy and especially not as fast as using the "Grout Grabber" tool in a power tool. The "Grout Grabber" tool definitely needs to be available at any improvement store. I had to do some searching on the internet before I found your tool, which I didn't know existed. I am very pleased that I found it. Pass this on to any customers that aren't sure about this tool. At first, I had disbelief as to how much it would help me. It made a horrible, time consuming task much easier and certainly faster.

The product concept is good, but the blade quality is not. A normal carbide blade should be in the $$$ range not $$$. I purchased this tool with 3 blades, it removed the grout great for probably 20 linear feet, by then the blades were worn out. Either lower the price for the product and the blades or come up with a diamond blade.

dear grout grabber, after receiving your grout grabber, i was interested to see for myself just how your product performed with various kinds of grout and in most conditions. i am happy to report that the grout grabber performs extremely well. it is rewarding to see great it works with both unsanded and sanded grouts. i was able to cut grout directly up to the baseboards without damaging the baseboards and remove the grout, out of the joints, down to the bonding mortar. in just a few minutes your tool removed all the bad grout and also cleaned the edges of the tiles, which made it quick and easy for the re-installation of the new grout. at other jobs we were able to perform spot removal and pointed up the grout in a fraction of the time spent with old methodes of grout removal. i have recommended your product to our constituents as wee as the many people requesting information daily from the TILE INSTITUTE of AMERICA's office. thank you for providing our industry with a quality piece of equipment that also works better than expected, sincerely, Gerald M. Halweg, CTC,CSI,President TILE INSTITUTE of AMERICA

I removed the grout between 2" tiles on a shower floor of approx. 15 ft sq. That meant LOTS of grout lines. Fortunately they were 1/16" lines so I only had to use one blade at a time. This thing does work well, but it's still a long tedious job doing a lot of linear feet of grout lines. It took me more than one day working several hours each day. The directions recommend not using full speed of the recip saw and this is good advice. Medium speed works the best. Unlike a previous opinion, it's not that difficult to keep the blade in the grout lines, but no matter how steady your hand the blade will eventually jump out of the line once or twice. Murphy's law. I had a matte finish tile and it did no noticeable damage when the blade accidentally jumped out and hit the tile face. I think if you had a gloss porcelin tile it might put a noticeable scratch on the tile face. The recip saw is bulky and hard to maneuver in small areas, but my floor was a larger area and it wasn't a problem. Working on vertical surfaces is probably more difficult than a floor due to the weight of the saw and the time involved. Packaging says its "dustless" and it pretty much is. It won't foul the air in your work area like dry sawing through drywall or tile will. It just leaves a dry mound of powdered grout along the lines. It's helpful to have the shopvac handy to suck that up every few minutes, mostly so you can see the line better. Overall, there's probably better tools at quickly removing grout (i.e. Feinmaster),but if you've got the time this is probably the best bang for the buck.

My husband returned this one immediately. The photo shows that it will do up to 3/4" of grout, but that's only if you buy three of them (and add them together--which he didn't do). For $45 for three, you are better off investing in a much better tool to do the job. I guess if you had a 12" spot to redo, this tool might be good for you. However, my husband purchased the Fein Multimaster tool (that he saw at the same time on TV as an informercial) for $260 and is absolutely AMAZED at the speed and efficiency at which the tool removes grout--not to mention in a clean and consise manner. It saved him hours and hours worth of tedious work. He initially balked at the price, but now says that the tool is worth it's weight in gold and would certainly recommend it to anyone needing to remove grout, tile, etc.

The grout grabber looks great in theory and would have saved a lot of time removing grout against the wall. I could not manage to keep it in the groove. I tried 2 reciprocating saws and the grout grabber walks all over the place.

I received the grout grabber and immediately put it to work. It worked OK but the grout was very hard since it was near a shower. It was faster than doing it by hand but it was still quite labor intensive. I had a sore back the next morning. Here's a tip. Instead of ordering 4 blades to cut through the wide grout lines I put washers in between the blades and the grout that doesnt get cut with the blades chips out very easily. The blades seem to get dull rather quickley too.

Dear John Laurent, I wanted to let you know how satisfied we are with your Grout Grabber, grout removal tool. We are a good size ceramic tile contracting firm and we have to remove and replace tile on a daily basis. Your product has made this difficult chore so much easier and faster. Prior to purchasing the Grout Grabber tile and grout removal was a terribly messy job. customers would complain about the dust created by the old process. Now we remove the grout with the Grout Grabber which causes very minimal dust which makes our installers, as well as our customers very happy. We have been very pleased with the longevity of the blades used to remove the grout and with the Grout Grabber tool as a whole. Thank you for making this great tool!