Laticrete SpectraLOCK Pro Premium Mini Parts A & B, 2lb (0.9 kg)

I purchased this grout for a shower floor I am building because I wanted the best possible mold and stain resistance for the “hard service” showers are subject to. I was quite apprehensive before mixing up the grout. Why? Because it’s an epoxy product ... and I would only get one chance to get it right. You can’t temper or tweak the mix with water to adjust the consistency. And I would be on the clock ... no dilly-dally time. I assembled parts A & B and C (the colored ultra fine sand mix). Followed the instructions to the letter ... Mixed A & B thoroughly, added Part C and mixed thoroughly ... and the grout finished to a PERFECT consistency!! and worked into joints that varied from extremely tight to about 1/4” ... although most joints were 1/8”. A smooth ‘epoxy’ grout float is essential, and with a little elbow grease the grout worked easily and perfectly into the joints. Before mixing it appeared as there was no way the milk carton of ultra fine sand would mix properly ... it appeared to be too much dry mix ratio for the epoxy. Nope. The components mixed PERFECTLY to a very workable consistency. I shouldn’t have had ANY apprehension ... this Laticrete epoxy grout kit is bloody PERFECT! And clean-up went perfectly as well. Again, I followed the instructions and cleaned the tile twice, at designated times. The FIRST clean is the serious clean, when I ensured grout buildup was removed from a few tiles that were tipped a bit. My tile was a tumbled travertine, so the grout filled some of the voids and recesses in the tile ... again, perfectly. The sanded grout wasn’t too coarse to fill the voids. I will DEFINATELY use this epoxy mix again ... it was absolutely perfect!! Don’t be apprehensive like me ... follow the instructions and you will get a perfect result. I did. This “mini” kit just barely (but perfectly) grouted my 38” x 42” shower pan with a small, random ‘French’ pattern (photo attached).

Going into this job, my huge concern was being able to get the excess grout cleaned up before it dried and made a hazy mess all over my tile. Boy did I put my concern into the wrong area! Take a first timers word for it...the REAL concern is getting this stuff pushed into the grout joints without your arm falling off! I decided to go with the mini kits so I could do one wall at a time and not risk having a big batch wasted if I couldnt finish fast enough, and im sure glad I made that decision. By the time I got to the bottom of the first wall, I barely had the arm strength to finish. This stuff will wear you out. It doesnt flow very well and even though I used a polyurethane grout float, it still required tons of arm strength to get it pushed into the joints. I would say this was EASILY the hardest part of the whole install. Cleanup was a breeze. I spent about an hour from when I mixed it to when I finished applying it to the wall. Then I walked away for 15-20 mins before the first wash. I used the sponge and followed the directions. That took probably 85% of the excess off. Then I let it sit another 45 minutes or so before the final wash. I used a white scotch pad dipped in the rinse water to do a quick scrub, and immediately wiped the area down with a dry microfiber rag. This got rid of any remaining haze to about 99%. After that I took a fresh microfiber along with the slightly damp used one I had from the previous step, and did a "wax on, wax off" motion going tile by tile. A few circular swipes with the damp one followed immediately by drying the tile with the fresh one was the final touch in restoring the full gloss of the tile and eliminating any slight haze left. Dry time was a non issue for me personally. From the time I mixed the batch to the time I finished the wall completely with the final rinse was a good 3-3 1/2 hours and the grout haze was still coming off without much fight. Coloring was a perfect match between all 3 batches as well. I cant speak for longevity, but i will say this stuff dries HARD as a rock. During cleanup a few days after, i had a dried chunk on the floor about 1/8" thick, and i could not physically break it in half. Very impressive. Overall im pumped with how the final result looks, and would definitely recommend this stuff.

I'm writing this as a DIYer whose first experience with applying grout was this product on a marble basketweave mosaic floor...which was also the first tile installation I've ever done - nothing like a challenge eh? I cannot speak to its longevity but I can comment on a few things. I took some extra tiles and created a small test bed on a sheet of plywood to test out color combinations before installing - we tested almond and mushroom. The tiles have variable spacing in the pattern...anywhere from 1/16 to about 1/4 - per the instructions I held back 10% of the part C color. The tests were done with all test tiles having been sealed with Stonetech Bulletproof (as a precaution) and half of them treated with Stonetech grout release. I did the initial wash at 20 minutes and then the final wash at 60 minutes. Grout was applied with the MD Building Products 49829 float. The most challenging part were the two washes; essentially after a pass with a sponge on each side it is time to rinse and then redampen the sponge with the wash solutions. HAVE LOTS OF SPONGES AND SCRUBBER PADS! YOU CANNOT HAVE TOO MANY SPONGES OR PADS!!!! After a while the sponges gunk up and you have to switch to a new sponge. Having a second person who's dedicated duty is to rinse and prepare sponges would help a lot as well. After the final wash there was essentially no haze left on any of the tile (marble and travertine) on either test area (with or without grout release). There were also no scratches present in the finish on the tiles so the silica in Part C seemed to be immaterial. As others have said...this is expensive; especially for a mosaic floor where a lot of grout is needed. I'm not completely sure what people mean by difficult to work with since I've never done this before or used a non-epoxy grout. I took my time, worked carefully, followed ALL the instructions and feel it turned out quite well - even for a first time DIYer.

-I used this grout to repair the leaking skimmers in my 12 year old pool, I was losing a half inch of water a day. I grouted all around the entrances to the skimmers where they meet the wall of the pool (they are still solidly in place, not loose). this quality product adhered well to the face of the tiles, the existing grout, and the faces of the plastic skimmers (my worry), I prepped all surfaces by scraping and scotch-briting, sprayed with 91% alcohol, and let dry. I used a small postal scale to get the two liquid & one powder (color) quantities correct 1:1:5 ratio (part a, b, and c). I had a bit of trouble with the product sagging, but I had a couple of large joints (1/2 inch plus) so I expected some sag,... eventually it firmed up and stayed put. work time was about fifteen minutes, mixed a batch (1oz, 1oz, 5oz by weight) for each skimmer and ended up only using half of the "mini parts" ingredients. the only complaint I have other than the sagging, is the TEN DAY dry time for submerged applications, I didn't expect that, and it means the pool is down for a while. considering how much money I saved doing this myself it's worth it. I hear it's $4000-8000 per skimmer to replace them... worth a try, and seems better than the temporary fix of underwater putty. - i'll try to return to this review in a while to evaluate it's success/failure, as I know there are many folks with this common pool workmanship issue. (installed 6/24/17) (7/10/17) -so far so good, waited the ten days for curing, repaired my leak, and seems to be hard as rock, pool water did not soften it yet, and it's holding solidly (9/23/19) -this stuff is like rock, pool water seems to have no ill-effect on it, underwater or splashing/water line

Bought this for my shower floor so it would not wash out (used Prism for my floor tile and will for my wall tiles but a YouTube tile guy said prism would wash out on a shower floor over time). 1st, it only covered 11 of 16sq' (and wasted none) but the big deal is that I have ruined the tile (looks like I have 1 year of soap scum on the tile already). I followed the instructions perfectly. It does not state you have to use sealer or release agent on porous tiles but that it will facilitate (make easier). I didn't want to use a sealer as it will put a coating in the tile joint and that will eventually dissolve and leave the grout with no bond to the tile. Pick shows top tile grouted and bottom not. Buy at your own risk!