OB in SA

Not sure about epoxy grout. Hombre will have to do some test runs first . Beaumont guy told us tilers run away from it cos not easy to use.

Hombre says silicone is supposed to be mould proof but it still gets mouldy. But silicone is easy to replace so that is okay. Anyway, we will have a go and see for ourselves what this epoxy grout is like. Ardex doesn't have epoxy in ultra white (they just have white) so we will use the normal grout and seal for our white tiles for our laundry and bathrooms.

I use that for a tiled kitchen top about 15 years ago........it was like spreading honey and the more you worked it the worse it got. Like a lot of things I guess, it's about getting the technique right 😎

Hope they have improved from 15 years ago Bruce!

I woke up this morning to find that Hombre is already halfway doing our kitchen splashback.
Yay! No more hideous orange!

Kitchen splashback done! Moment of truth for the epoxy grout. Hombre will test on tiles laid on a piece of gyprock. If we are not happy with it, we'll ditch it.

Wow looks great

Thanks Marshall. There's a lot of convincing happening by me right now. Hombre is using the epoxy grout and doesn't like it. But it looks great so far (we will see how it looks like after it dries ie haze on tile). He's doing it for our kitchen splashback but very adamant that he's not doing it for the rest of the house.

Epoxy misty grey grout on white subway tiles.


Hombre cursing under his breath. Lol!

Kitchen splashback with epoxy misty grey grout. Love it! Yet to be siliconed on the edges.

Lools great

Just out of interest, what does Hombre not like about using the epoxy. 🤔 As you say, things have probably changed since I did it, looking great though 😎

Haha, he says it's just horrible stuff to use. Smell is not nice too, if you do it the whole day you probably will end up with a headache OR use a mask. It's like grouting with dough, sticky. It's hard to push in but he got it in the end using the side of the float. Time consuming also I guess. He would have finished grouting in like quarter of the time that he spent today. He also did 5 little mixes. The test run was good cos it gave him an idea what to expect. You have got to keep on top of it, don't let it dry on the tile. I helped by bringing him clean buckets of water as he cleans the grout off.

I love it though. I am still convincing him to use the charred ash epoxy grout we have sitting here for our timber look and bathroom floor tiles instead of returning it. And also whatever grout we will pick for our living room tiles. He isn't saying yes though. He said he will replace the normal grout if it gets that bad in the future so he doesn't have to
use the epoxy again.

One tip though - cover up your stuff really well. Especially your cabinetry in the kitchen. There's some stuff that went in our drawers, we cleaned up straight away but you don't want it staying long. Really sticky feeling.

By the way, I know it's 15 years ago but did the epoxy that you used looked good for how long? Ie was it really stain, water and mould resistant? We have yet to find that out.

👍😎

I bought grout for our tiler when he was doing our timber look floor tiles, and he was also thoroughly unimpressed by the ardex epoxy I bought. He said it would constantly bounce up after working the grout into the gaps next to an area already filled with grout.
Also, as you already noticed, the residue is really stubborn. I had a massive issue getting them clean after handover. I had to cover my tiles with corflute before the tiles were actually cleaned. I cleaned them about 3 months after laying.
I had no idea what I was buying actually, but I can say it's super practical for floor tiling.
We have a little dog and two busy children that always seem to track mud and drop food, but no stains and very easy to keep clean.

SteveMc cheers for that. Glad to know it does what it says to do. I did find it takes longer to cure, checked the grout later last night and it still feels a bit damp so that's telling me it will be more resistant. Also, you don't add water in the mixture. There's two different types of premixed liquid in the pack.

Yep, the residue is hard to clean. We did find it makes a difference using a wet sponge cloth (Hombre uses normal sponge for the usual grout). We used 2 cloths, one Hombre uses when the area is first cleaned off, then he will go over it with the second cloth. Each one has its own bucket of water. And we kept changing the water. I am looking at the tiles now and yep, there's still a bit of residue left on a few tiles but it's not too bad. You can slightly wet the tile and wipe it over with a smooth cloth. If it persists, wiping with a metho maybe another option. But it looks like we don't need to do that.

I also think it's worth it. But I am not doing all the hardwork. Hombre said it's a free workout. Lol!

For anyone out there who's thinking of using the epoxy grout, we already use this in our kitchen but we found this is great for cleaning the tile.
Edit: This is during the grout application. Cleaning off the tile properly so when it dries, there's not much residue left.

I hired a wet brush vacuum from kennards at artarmon and it was the best thing to use. Cordless, self propelled, articulated. We used a 25% vinegar solution as recommended by our tiler, and it came up perfect. For my floors it was a God send. Our tiler wouldn't suggest any chemicals or cleaners apart from vinegar so if your planning to use anything else please be careful.
They call this the iMop. Very expensive and something I'd like to purchase myself if I could.

Tiles look great!!!

And let there be light!!!

I love having lights! Hombre doesn't have an excuse now, he needs to crack on with the tiling. Lol!