i dont seal grout on walls or floors, should i?

[Trask]

We are rapidly shifting over to epoxy or epoxy like grout in wet areas …. Definitely with darker colors . I’m really tired of being blamed for a litany of
Residues snd stains that are not our doing but we are being caught in the middle of . Epoxy removes all the blame as far as whose responsibility it is to remove the
“ white residue “ on my black grout.

[davidcaswelltile]

"you have to come back when it's dry, and you spend more time driving than doing billable work. "

I think this statement, being completely raw and true to life, really hits at a common problem for the installer. The desire to do perfect work, but the barrier to that which is caused by our busy schedules, and deficient billing practices. I don't know about you but I often shoot myself in the foot profit wise when I am doing little things like caulking a shower.

Scheduling a caulking and sealing day seems like not a bad idea. I will have meetings with my contractors about this.

I think that profit bias (are we making enough per hour) really can cause alot of anxiety for an installer and the need to make a consistent profit for installations is a real factor.

Anxiety causes fear, fear causes confusion and hastiness, and hastiness is a path to the dark side.

I really like the simplicity of John Bridge's suggestions that a customer towel dry a shower after each use.

Also the idea of learning a grout that reduces need for cleaning and sealing also sounds like a really good idea. I have been getting better at the acrylic grouts. Though they really are more work and require a price increase in certain cases. (sticky and they require a different washing schedule.)

Do these newer acrylic grouts need to be caulked along the ceiling and in shower corners?

Hey trask.

I hate working with epoxy because i feel like it leaves a sheen on tiles...and that the drips from the cleaning water are terribly annoying to clean. Does that just get better with practice?

I like the idea of getting really good at epoxy...but the 80 hours of experience I have installing it on commercial sites, and in one or two showers really isn't enough for me to claim to be an epoxy master.

I once used epoxy grout for a flame finished granite and had to refinish the tile with a welding torch as it discoloured the upper surface. In the end it looked ok (the same as it did) and the sun and rain bleached the colour back to normal. But still, hell week.

[jeffnc]

I think it's great if someone wants to towel dry their shower after each use. However I also think that's a pretty unreasonable thing to ask a customer to do. If they thought they had to towel dry a shower you built for them, it would be a real turnoff.

[davidcaswelltile]

Here Here on that.

Tile installers are in competition with full panel casings and we need to make it as practical as possible for our customers.

[jeffnc]

Yeah, I was thinking of mentioning the full panel stuff (even prefabbed acrylic) myself.

[davidcaswelltile]

I think tile still has an edge on acrylic showers, in fact they are notorious for yellowing over time...tho the new ones might be getting better. (they are still VERY scratchable and get soap scum on them bad.) Very hard to clean after a while. Whereas my shower with black tile and white grout still looks as good as the day I installed it 3 years later. (and I am lazy.) I used really small grout lines and that helped quite a bit, and yeah I'vee had to clean the grout once or twice...but it really is such a beautiful shower. It's mostly just a pleasure.

[Lazarus]

Personally, I like Prism grout as it is antimicrobial, holds true colour, never needs sealing and is easy to touch up. Good for 1/16 to 1/4 inch spacing.....

[John Bridge]

I recommend towel drying of any shower. Whether a customer does it or not is up to him or her.