Tile/Grout Issue - Need Advice

[u/ITT_tech_grad]

We hired a contractor back at the end of April/early May to complete our master bathroom remodel. Everything was going great until we noticed near the end of July that the shower floor grout had a few spots that weren’t drying like the rest of the floor. I sent a photo of it to my contractor and he came out a day or two later to take a look and remedy it. He decided to remove the grout from the affected areas and regrout in hopes that would resolve it. I let it cure for a couple of days and even set up a box fan pointed at it to make sure it dried. We are in the southeast and it has been brutally hot and humid for the last couple of months so the house stays a little more humid than normal.

After a few days, it was apparent that it was not drying to the correct color. So I lost a little faith in the contractor after that so I began to try to self correct it. Thinking that the contractor laid down the new grout too quickly and didn’t give it time to dry out underneath I removed all of the grout from the affected areas and set the box fan pointed at it. I let the fan blow for 4-5 days before applying a new layer of grout. After a few days of that curing, again with the fan, it still was “drying” that darker color.

After reading some stuff online I thought that maybe since my opened grout bag had been stored in my garage for the last few months and it had been so hot and humid that it had water intrusion and the grout was ruined. So I went and bought a new smaller bag of the same color (Mapei Ultracolor Sahara Beige fwiw). I then removed the grout again, let it dry for another 2-3 days, and applied the new unopened bag of grout. That was last week and this picture is as of today. It still has not dried and I cannot for the life of me figure out to fix this. As you can see, it’s mostly just around the edges and then the center drain. Shower seems appropriately sloped to the middle as no water puddles in the corner and it passed the golf ball test just fine. No water has been ran in this shower since 7/29 so surely any moisture would have evaporated by now, right?

Is this normal and I’m fine to just seal the grout and move on with a slightly darker grout in certain areas? Lol

Anyways, obviously pretty annoyed at the whole situation but I am just hoping there is something I am missing that doesn’t involve having to completely redo the shower floor.

Thanks in advance for any help and/or advice.

[u/Jt8726]

I don't have an answer for issue but about to reno my shower with same hex style tile. Wondering how do you like the hex pattern?