SPECTRALOCK 1 Pre-Mixed Grout

TL;DR: totally worth it to not have to use my own discretion regarding mix ratios. easy enough to work and clean, reasonable work time. just mind the cure time if you plan to *use* your bathroom. 1 day for dry, 14 days for wet ready. Easiest part of the job.I'd love to regrout our whole bathroom, but it's our only functioning shower 😅 so that's off the table for now. Paired the silver grout with Marin 2x2 inch square tile in aloe green. Stripped every tile off the backing to re-space at 1/16.. for my very first tile job.Well, the grout was a cake walk. It crams into gaps easy, and I worked it really hard. It dried grittier than I'd like, and I did have to work somewhat fast. But it's holding its color, despite continued work in the bathroom, trimming tiles with an electric metabo 710 die grinder with diamond rotozip 1/4" bit and making a TON of dust.Takes 14 days to cure fully and handle water.. but I was able to set the vanity in after just 1.I'm not putting this stuff through its paces. I'm just a total novice that finished a project semi-decently and hid most of it under a vanity.I just.. wanted to truly patch the holes in our floor.I was super stressed out about grouting cuz its the last step. It wasn't bad, actually. the premix will give you a decent finish even if you totally suck and are just struggling to interpret the directions how you think a normal person would.They tried so hard to describe how wet your sponge should be......anyways, totally worth it to not have to use my own discretion regarding mix ratios.

The consistency and color of the grout is perfect. It was easy to use with a marshalltown epoxy grout float from Lowes. Epoxy grout floats are stiffer to help move around the grout if you allow it to harden. If you work in small areas it’s easy to work with. The key is to work in small 12” x 12” areas until you get the timing down on how quickly it hardens. I ended up being able to do 3’x3’ sections at a time but you have to move very fast if you want grout more space before wiping off the grout on the surface of the tiles. Shannon @thetilechick has videos on YouTube and Instagram that shows the process too.If you aren’t familiar with epoxy grout I recommend these tips.I just did a shower and bathroom floor in Spectralock 1. I followed these steps to make it easy and eliminate grout haze.1. Sweep the Tile Floor or wipe off tile area.2. Dip sponge in a bucket of clean water ring it out a little and wipe down the tile area you want to grout. Ring the sponge out in a separate empty bucket.3. Grout a small area with an epoxy grout float.4. Dip sponge slightly in clean water & wipe grout off in a circular motion with just enough pressure to get the grout on the surface of the tile off. Ring out the sponge in the dirty water.5. Wipe area down with a microfiber cloth. Be careful not to push down into the grout line.6. After you do the whole floor I would wipe down the entire floor with clean microfiber cloths to minimize grout haze.

This grout was easy to use and looks great. It dries quickly without being hard to use as long as you do it in patches and a rough clean before moving on to the next section. My project was for a penny floor, which means there was very little space in between the “tiles” so if the grout was a bit dryer from being pushed around another section I just had to dampen it with a spray bottle of water a bit. Otherwise, it was easy to use, tbd on how long it holds up but it has been about two months so far and seems great so far with no crumbling or weirdness from bathroom humidity.

My first issue with this product is that the instructions (including all the toxicity warnings) are printed on a round piece of plastic suspended inside the container, floating in product. It comes completely coated in the product and is therefore unreadable until you wash it off. Of course by then you may have touched it since you didn’t see all the dire warnings yet. The product itself is hard to work with, seeming too crumbly to go easily into the grout lines. It didn’t cure up within the time indicated on the instructions, something I learned the hard way by, using the gentlest touch possible with the sponge, wiping out much of the product from the grout lines on the initial moist wipe-down. It took fully four times longer than indicated to be able to be wiped the first time, and several days for a full cure. Pretty unacceptable in my book. To top it all off, it started growing mold almost immediately, which shouldn’t happen with a product that touts mold resistance. For the record, this was in a fully cleaned and restored shower. Pretty disappointing and expensive product. It’s only been a couple months since I used it and I’m already looking to redo the grout because it’s not holding up, a huge pain and a hundo down the drain, quite literally. Looked great for a minute.

Epoxy grouts have a mixed reputation - great for waterproof, color consistent, non-fade, non-stain durability, but incredibly hard to work with due to nearly impossible removal of residue outside the grout lines. The SpectraLock product is a great alternative with most all of the benefits of epoxy, and few of the issues. Just finished a large section of vertical grouting, and the working consistency of the grout was almost perfect for that - controllable with minimal dropping of material to the floor and pretty easy to keep the tile faces clear of residue just by using a clean bucket of water and a good sponge. Dries nicely, no cracking or separation, and much better protection than conventional grout. I'd highly recommend it.