@#$*ing grout!

[jlm]

Thanks for all the tips. I ended up just taking the hit (oh, my aching back!) and sawing out the grout with the carbide grit grout saw they sell at the Borg. It worked, but what a pain. I wish I could've convinced myself to buy the Fein, but once I saw what blades for that thing cost, I didn't figure I'd use it much beyond this job!

Since the tile pattern is kind of elaborate (four 2"x1" rectangles surrounding a 1"x1" in the classic "pinwheel" pattern), it meant that there were straight long grout lines every three inches (these were a cinch to clean out), but four little pain-in-the-butt 2" long lines in every 3x3 square. Lots of grout, lots of dust, lots of kneeling.

The only upside is now I'm really, really glad I couldn't find a within-the-budget price on my first choice of tile - one-inch hex tiles. It probably would be easier to tear up the whole floor than clean out those grout lines...

[Hellrazor]

Sounds like it would be even more critical to cover the toilet paper dispenser...

Nice... all of the pain from eating 20 hot peppers without actually eating any

[Salty]

Well, having used all 3 methods, Dremel, grout saw and Fein MM, the Fein is by far the best and fastest.
It ground out grout 3 times as fast. Not as much dust either because I can hold the shop vac hose right beside the blade as I go.
The Dremel was a disaster because every time the guide would get to the next tile and it was not perfectly even, it would jump and tear into the glaze. That lasted about 5 minutes and I gave it up.
You would still need a grout saw to get into the corners.
I also use the Fein for lots of other stuff. Great for getting into the corners when sanding. This past weekend I installed a kitchen sink and used it on the long cuts because the jig saw would not get that close to the backsplash and the front had the faceframe right below the cut line.
Only thing I haven't used it on yet is cutting the cat's nails, but I'm working on it!