I'm old and I'm slow and I used Keracolor U with the grout additive in place of water. It was getting too hard to work with, balling up, drying after 15-20 minutes and I couldn't figure out why. A few days later, I figured out that because the additive and grout was stored in my garage, the mix may have been warm enough to accelerate the curing time. The only way I could wipe everything down was to use a wet sponge and avoid a disaster.
Thank you for showing us the application on a wall. I've watched ten videos before finding your video and they all (including Laticrete Corporate Videos) were applying it to a floor or horizontal surface. Nobody else had the guts to show it used on a wall or vertical surface. Thanks!
did u use on corners? if not which product (link preferred) did you use? I hear with epoxy type grout you can add on the corners with no problems of cracking in the future
You could use epoxy and it’s strong, but the thing is if the structure flexes or expands enough from temp changes, something is eventually going to give. It’s safer to use flexible sealant.
Thanks for giving us so much information on bathroom remodel. We are in the middle of our own bathroom remodel and we have gained a lot from your videos! One of the best ideas that we got was from your video using Go Board backer board for the shower. We used Go Board and it made the shower installation so much easier! Thanks again!
That's an interesting layout for the tile. Spectralock is so much improved over the first epoxy grouts which were very hard to apply. Special liquid, 2 part dry mix, and working with 2 square feet at a time you have to charge extra for grouting plus the cost of the grouts added to the final bill. I'm retired after 40 years of tile and flooring but it's interesting to see how grouting has advanced since 2011 to now in 2023.
You should try Loctite Polyseamseal Tub & Tile Adhesive Caulk for shower wall plane changes or seams. Silicone caulks deteriorate in few years, no matter what promises whatever brand makes on them, others than elasticity and color selection, none of them withstand scrubbing or lasts years. Loctite adhesive caulk product cures hard while seals gaps up to 1/4 and cures stiff and repels water and any grease, very good product, however color is limited to white only.
i have 10 year old mapei sanded color matched caulk in both my showers, as perfect now as they were 10 years ago, so b/s on that only lasting a few years. i have also done about 10 bath remodels in my own neighborhood , all with sanded caulk and all ranging from 10 years to a couple years and all in perfect condition because i ask them. i do shower remodels only and not one issue with sanded caulk. i suppose if your work is lame, thats one thing, but if you build your shower right, silicone is overkill.
Does this require sealer? I've been using Mapei Ultra Color Plus FA grout because it doesn't require sealer and doesn't cause efforecsnce , it's designed to keep it's color. Does this grout you recommend have some of those same qualities? I'd love to find a pre-mix grout yet am always worried about trying products I'm not familiar with.
I’m a big fan of FA too. Used quite a bit of it. It’s really about the same as far as grittiness. But one bonus is that it doesn’t absorb or darken when taking a shower. One pet peeve of mine on traditional type grouts like that. I also think soectralock1 will resist cracking more too 👍
It dries fast, but it is easy to scrub with cold water and mesh scrub sponge within few hours after application, after that use microfiber cloth or sponge to wipe it dry, so no need to be afraid of quick drying. It cures very hard in about day or two. Spectlock1 is sandy and very rough compared to epoxy (I am comparing to Litokol). I would still rather use epoxy grout for shower floor than this grout. This grout seems very similar to Mapei CQ, but Mapei doesn’t recommend CQ for shower floors application unlike to Laticrete Spectalock1, at least that what I recall from 2-3 year ago. Price wise, Spectralock1 costs as much as epoxy, so if you have methodology to work with small batches of epoxy grout, by splitting it in manageable batches (unfortunately there is no much English information on dealing with epoxy grout, I got my experience from russian youtube channels, they all use epoxy grout left and right, nobody bothers with cementeous or anything else there, so there is plead of good howto videos. Epoxy grout looks much cleaner, however it only suits impervious tiles, Porous stone I.e. travertine won’t be practical with it, resin will absorb into travertine and won’t be possible to remove once cured will have wet stone effect look.
Easy to install and good grout aren't necessarily the same thing. Everyone should keep that in mind. This stuff is probably great for contractors but for the homeowner 5 years later???
Epoxy grout is the best stuff you can get You pay in price. It’s like $100 for that small tub in the video But you never have to seal it and the white I have has stayed white I’m diy-ing my next tile install so wanted to lookup how to use this grout
@@dylan-nguyenI just redid my shower and used epoxy grout for the first time. I was nervous about the working time but the epoxy grout was pretty easy to use.
i've used flexcolor cq a couple times and didn't care for it too much. Do you like spectralock1 better than CQ? I always found it hard to get full joints on polished rectified tile with CQ.
Absolutely 👍 I’m with you. I don’t care for cq either. Way too gritty and runs out of joints easily. This is much better in my opinion. Only thing I don’t have is personal experience yet on what it looks like years later. So far it seems to stay stain resistant 👍
Good review that doesn't feel like a pushy sale tactic
Very helpful! Thank you!
Do you immediately begin washing after grouting? Or do you wait 5-10 min? Thanks again
Oh grouting that's easy part 👌🙄
125 bucks for a gallon of grout? What universe am i living in?
great demonstration. I think one great trick is to wipe it down first, I have seen a lot of people struggle with drying, that would help...
Do you groute where the tile meets the tub?
I'm old and I'm slow and I used Keracolor U with the grout additive in place of water. It was getting too hard to work with, balling up, drying after 15-20 minutes and I couldn't figure out why. A few days later, I figured out that because the additive and grout was stored in my garage, the mix may have been warm enough to accelerate the curing time. The only way I could wipe everything down was to use a wet sponge and avoid a disaster.
Thank you for showing us the application on a wall. I've watched ten videos before finding your video and they all (including Laticrete Corporate Videos) were applying it to a floor or horizontal surface. Nobody else had the guts to show it used on a wall or vertical surface. Thanks!
did u use on corners? if not which product (link preferred) did you use? I hear with epoxy type grout you can add on the corners with no problems of cracking in the future
You could use epoxy and it’s strong, but the thing is if the structure flexes or expands enough from temp changes, something is eventually going to give. It’s safer to use flexible sealant.
Thanks for giving us so much information on bathroom remodel. We are in the middle of our own bathroom remodel and we have gained a lot from your videos! One of the best ideas that we got was from your video using Go Board backer board for the shower. We used Go Board and it made the shower installation so much easier! Thanks again!
Awesome 👏 yeah go board makes it super easy! Great to hear the success with it 👍
That's an interesting layout for the tile. Spectralock is so much improved over the first epoxy grouts which were very hard to apply. Special liquid, 2 part dry mix, and working with 2 square feet at a time you have to charge extra for grouting plus the cost of the grouts added to the final bill. I'm retired after 40 years of tile and flooring but it's interesting to see how grouting has advanced since 2011 to now in 2023.
No doubt. I used to cringe at the word epoxy 😆 it’s now my favorite grout 👍
@@BathroomRemodelingTeacher do you prefer this over the MAPEI ultracolor FA?
ANY OTHER GROUT BRAND EQUAL TO SPECTRALOCK 1 FOR A SMALL ONE TIME JOB?
We used Dusty Gray. It went in dark gray, as it should, and dried almost white.
Did it stay light? How has it held up. We just went with dusty gray for a dark floor but bought the pro epoxy version.
is this stuff better than the MAPEI ultracolor FA ?
Did you use matching Spectralock grout caulk in the inside corners or use the regular Spectralock grout? Thanks
I'd like to know as well. Do the corners get grouted or caulk?
Always caulk the corners to allow for expansion and contraction. If you don't, you'll have cracks in all of the corners that are very obvious.
Is it install the grout or apply the grout ?
You should try Loctite Polyseamseal Tub & Tile Adhesive Caulk for shower wall plane changes or seams. Silicone caulks deteriorate in few years, no matter what promises whatever brand makes on them, others than elasticity and color selection, none of them withstand scrubbing or lasts years. Loctite adhesive caulk product cures hard while seals gaps up to 1/4 and cures stiff and repels water and any grease, very good product, however color is limited to white only.
i have 10 year old mapei sanded color matched caulk in both my showers, as perfect now as they were 10 years ago, so b/s on that only lasting a few years. i have also done about 10 bath remodels in my own neighborhood , all with sanded caulk and all ranging from 10 years to a couple years and all in perfect condition because i ask them. i do shower remodels only and not one issue with sanded caulk. i suppose if your work is lame, thats one thing, but if you build your shower right, silicone is overkill.
What color grout did you use in this video?
Where do u get this grout?
amzn.to/3pk7fF8
Loving your videos! Thanks man!
Does this require sealer? I've been using Mapei Ultra Color Plus FA grout because it doesn't require sealer and doesn't cause efforecsnce , it's designed to keep it's color.
Does this grout you recommend have some of those same qualities? I'd love to find a pre-mix grout yet am always worried about trying products I'm not familiar with.
I’m a big fan of FA too. Used quite a bit of it. It’s really about the same as far as grittiness. But one bonus is that it doesn’t absorb or darken when taking a shower. One pet peeve of mine on traditional type grouts like that. I also think soectralock1 will resist cracking more too 👍
@@BathroomRemodelingTeacher thanks for the info, I'll definitely be trying it out.
is this water resistant? thx
How long do I need to let it dry ,before showering 😂
24 hours
does it dry really fast,ie better for pros not amateurs?
It dries fast, but it is easy to scrub with cold water and mesh scrub sponge within few hours after application, after that use microfiber cloth or sponge to wipe it dry, so no need to be afraid of quick drying. It cures very hard in about day or two. Spectlock1 is sandy and very rough compared to epoxy (I am comparing to Litokol). I would still rather use epoxy grout for shower floor than this grout. This grout seems very similar to Mapei CQ, but Mapei doesn’t recommend CQ for shower floors application unlike to Laticrete Spectalock1, at least that what I recall from 2-3 year ago.
Price wise, Spectralock1 costs as much as epoxy, so if you have methodology to work with small batches of epoxy grout, by splitting it in manageable batches (unfortunately there is no much English information on dealing with epoxy grout, I got my experience from russian youtube channels, they all use epoxy grout left and right, nobody bothers with cementeous or anything else there, so there is plead of good howto videos. Epoxy grout looks much cleaner, however it only suits impervious tiles, Porous stone I.e. travertine won’t be practical with it, resin will absorb into travertine and won’t be possible to remove once cured will have wet stone effect look.
@@BlahBlahManYeah thanks for your time
Easy to install and good grout aren't necessarily the same thing. Everyone should keep that in mind. This stuff is probably great for contractors but for the homeowner 5 years later???
Epoxy grout is the best stuff you can get
You pay in price. It’s like $100 for that small tub in the video
But you never have to seal it and the white I have has stayed white
I’m diy-ing my next tile install so wanted to lookup how to use this grout
@@dylan-nguyenI just redid my shower and used epoxy grout for the first time. I was nervous about the working time but the epoxy grout was pretty easy to use.
i've used flexcolor cq a couple times and didn't care for it too much. Do you like spectralock1 better than CQ? I always found it hard to get full joints on polished rectified tile with CQ.
Absolutely 👍 I’m with you. I don’t care for cq either. Way too gritty and runs out of joints easily. This is much better in my opinion. Only thing I don’t have is personal experience yet on what it looks like years later. So far it seems to stay stain resistant 👍