Mapei Flexcolor CQ

[TightLines]

received my flexcolor sample tub and t-shirt recently..... loved working with it except my alabaster looks awful white..... anyone ever use grout refresh on cq???

[tilemanct]

Joe,
Its not urethane.

[MAPEI - Technical Service]

Joe, Grout Refresh can be used on Flexcolor CQ, it works just fine.

[jwmezzanotte]

Dan

I apologize that I have not posted up any comments about the grout you sent me. Thank you for that.
I just simply haven't had the time to do anything with it. But I will find time, and will post my thoughts/pictures.

[MAPEI - Technical Service]

John, thanks for at least feeling guilty

And with a request from our resident CID Award winner, MarkTarkus, we are officially out of Flexcolor CQ sample buckets. Thank you for the amazing interest in trying our new grout and I look forward to seeing how it's working for all of you. If you stopped by to see our demo at Coverings last week, you had an opportunity to see the product in action but nothing beats trying it yourself.

[Jason12479]

Appreciated the bucket of grout that was shipped to me and already have purchased some for a couple bathroom floor jobs. Loved the ease cleanup and how well it spread. It's nice to go back the next day with a bucket in th motorcycle and not having to bring other tools for mixing!! Have yet to try it in showers yet or not sure about garage floor job. Not sure if that's te right choice or how well it would hold up to salt off the vehicles?any suggestions on what to use?

[MAPEI - Technical Service]

Jason, thank you for the comments on your experiences, I'm glad that it worked well enough that you're looking for new places to use it. Showers are no problem, that's exactly the type of application where this product shines. The salt from car tires isn't an issue and the garage floor should be fine too. The only thing I would caution is to clean up any spills of automotive fluids quickly. Hot oil dripping from a car might be a staining issue, but it would for cement grouts as well. You would have to go with epoxy if you wanted absolute certainty that the grout wasn't going to stain in a garage.

[tilemanct]

Does Flexcolor CQ come in all of Mapei's standard grout colors?

[nelsonkoehn]

I think they come in all the colors. Their ad says 24 or 26, something like that.
I just had a meeting with a rep last week and he said they are now mixing it in 29 colors, need to make new color charts!

I reckon Dan will be along shortly and help out. Maybe he is out for the weekend.

[MAPEI - Technical Service]

Sorry for the delay, I was in Nashville for a few days for the TCNA board meeting. There were some good discussions about thin tile standards, mortars that are used thicker than 1/4" (previously called 'medium bed'), and the new proposals by OSHA on respirable silica. If you're not aware of the OSHA proposals, they're kind of scary for installers.

Anyway, on to your Flexcolor CQ questions. Flexcolor is available in 26 colors that are shown on the color card. To see them, go here and click on "color palette":

http://www.mapei.com/US-EN/Tile-&-St...I-Flexcolor-CQ

In addition, we're adding 2 of the dark brown colors upon request due to the number wood plank installations. We think this will be a perfect solution for wood planks.

[nelsonkoehn]

Originally Posted by Dan

...mortars that are used thicker than 1/4" (previously called 'medium bed')

Do tell.

I seen one other reference to this subject on another thread but couldn't find it now.

mods: is this material for another thread?

edit: This is the other reference, by ole CX hisself.

[cx]

Lotsa threads on that already, Nelson. Here's one if you wanna continue the discusstion.

Better that you should strike the term from your vocabulary, though. It's not gonna find its way into the technical language any time soon, judging by the discussion at recent technical committee meetings.

[ifrantz]

I registered in order to post a question on Flexcolor CQ cleanup. Our installers completed Marazi Eclipse 20" installation with Flexcolor CQ in1/8" grout lines. Overall the job is very satisfactory, but it seems the grout "resin" was not completely removed. By this I mean the glue or binder that one must wash away to leave just the clean tile. The tile itself is best described as having a dull or matte or nonskid surface. However the installed tile has a mottled shiny effect at certain light angles. We did a certain amount of scrubbing with detergent 3 days after installation, with little improvement. I have added grout myself in some low areas, and have encountered the dilemma of keeping a good full grout profile yet wanting to wash more and more with clean water (wrung dry sponge). So I can say that the gloss is definitely from the grout as I can tell the areas that I have worked on have this sheen as well. In summary, I can say that the gloss is removable with very very hard scrubbing with abrasive kitchen sponge and detergent, but the grout is still too new for me to feel comfortable using such a method on the whole floor surface (I have tried this cleaning only on the tiles themselves). Needless to say I don't look forward to using this cleaning method on my 400 square feet project. I look forward to hearing your ideas! Thanks, and great forum!

[nelsonkoehn]

Try going down to the home improvement store and look for some latex paint remover, crud cutter is one brand right off hand. Comes in a spray bottle. Damp down a rag with this and it should come off fairly easy.

[ifrantz]

Nelson, thanks, I'll try it. Any concern that crud cutter would compromise the grout itself?