eek! fixing tile-grout anchor mistake

[nereo]

hoping a mustachian with tile experience can help me fix my screwup for minimal cost/effort.

I'm mounting a magnetic knife-bar onto a tile wall.  It's held up by two screws at either end.  Yesterday I drilled holes in the grout, put in the plastic anchors.... and realized I put them about 3/8" too far apart. Besides a face-punch for my "measure twice, cut once," what's the best way of fixing this?

I'd prefer just move one hole (so my mistake is hidden behind the knife bar), but since the new hole would be so close to the old one I'd need to fill the old one first (or else it would just become one large hole).  Can I just squeeze some grout into the hole, let it dry and then re-drill?  or is there some other substance (e.g. epoxy or wall mud or...) that would work better?

[Spork]

If it is in the grout... and you have the original color grout available, you can probably mix up a tiny amount and push it into the hole with no problem. 

That said: unless you have the original sack of grout that the room was done with ... there is likely to be a small amount of color variation.  But... We're talking about a small hole, right?  It's probably not overly noticeable.

[phred]

Plus, one of your artist friends can paint over the patch so it matches the rest of the grout

[Spork]

I might also mention (and you may know this already):  If you don't have the grout.  You'll want to match both the color and the type.  Thin grout lines are normally unsanded grout and thicker grout lines are sanded grout.  Unsanded has a very smooth, finished texture.  Sanded looks a little rough -- not quite as rough as mortar but a little bit pebblier.

[nereo]

I might also mention (and you may know this already):  If you don't have the grout.  You'll want to match both the color and the type.  Thin grout lines are normally unsanded grout and thicker grout lines are sanded grout.  Unsanded has a very smooth, finished texture.  Sanded looks a little rough -- not quite as rough as mortar but a little bit pebblier.

thanks spork.  I definitely have unsanded grout, but i don't have the original bag.  No matter, if I can fill the hole and re-drill 3/8" to the side it will basically be covered up by the edge of the knife bar when I'm done anyway (and since it's somewhat in shadow in the first place i doubt it'll be too noticable from a distance. my worry was that a patch-fill like this either wouldn't adhere or wouldn't be strong enough. 

[Spork]

I've never patched years later... but whenever I have laid tile and grouted, there were always a few voids (my carelessness).  I always went back a few days later and pushed grout in.  It always adhered fine for me.  If you've got a hole, the more you push in the better.  You'll get a little bit of a mushroom on the back side that will lock it somewhat.

[Greg]

As long as you are redrilling in the grout line it should be fine.  Wait several days for the grout patch to harden before redrilling.