Laticrete Ready-to-Use or RTU

[trashman]

Hi all,
It's been a long, LONG, while since I posted anything on this here awesome forum, but I'm looking for some product feedback. DIY'er here.
I've searched and searched the forums, including some advanced searches of the professional's hangout, and haven't come across what I'm looking for.

Project: residential bath floor and shower floor with 3/4" penny mosaic, and shower wall with 12x24 tiles. Bath floor will be have electric in-floor heat mats thinsetted in prior to laying the mosaic pennies.

The uncommon grout color our designer (my lovely bride) has picked out for the penny mosaic is only available with a Laticrete grout. So,
our choices are Spectralock, Spectralock1, or RTU. Ready-to-Use is about $25/unit vs. $100 for the SP1, and I'm a little scared of taking on the install of the original SP.

I can't find any feedback, reviews, advice -- nothin' -- on the RTU product. Maybe I'm just a lousy searcher. Doesn't anybody use it? Is it just for DIYers that don't know any better?

Thanks for any help.
Dave

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

The following is my personal opinion only. Others may disagree.

It sounds like the penny rounds are on a shower floor? If so, my list of Laticrete grouts would be:

1. Spectralock Pro Premium epoxy
2. Permacolor, a high performance cementitious grout

That's it.

They say you can use Spectralock1. I still would not. But SL1 is the best of the premixed grouts. If I was going to use a premixed grout on a shower floor then Spectralock1 is the one I would use. That's regardless of brand.

The RTU I would not use under any circumstances. Unless you enjoy regrouting on a regular basis.

[trashman]

Thanks for your take on it, James. You are correct about the penny rounds being on the shower floor as well as the bathroom floor. Based on your opinion, we might change to the permacolor, since we are used to grouting with cementitious grouts.
Dave

[Sharon @ LATICRETE]

The best grout to use for penny rounds would be SPECTRALOCK Pro Premium. The SPECTRALOCK 1 and the PERMACOLOR grouts would work as well. We would not recommend the READY-TO-USE (RTU) for penny round shower floors. The RTU specifically has limitations on pebble floors and though penny rounds are not exactly pebble it tends to be grouped in the same family.
In addition the RTU also has limitations of "Not recommended for continuous wet areas (e.g. pools, steam showers, fountains, etc.)" and a shower could be a debatable subject on "wet area". Showers are not continuous per say but if it is a large family and they have back to back showers or gym showers etc...

The SPECTRALOCK Pro Premium would be best recommendation but SPECTRALOCK 1 and PERMACOLOR also work.

[trashman]

Thanks, Sharon! We have opted for the Permacolor, mainly because traditional cementitious grout is what we are used to, and this area won't get a lot of traffic and use. Advice from the manufacturer is much appreciated!
Dave

[Sharon @ LATICRETE]

Best of luck with the project!