Urethane grout?

Eliza2011

13 years ago

Hi,

Has anyone had experience with using urethane grout for tiles or glass blocks? I plan to install a walk-in glass block shower with glass blocks on 1 wall & tiles over the Wedi backerboards on the other 3 walls & shower pan. Urethane grout (QuartzLock or QuartzLock2 Grout by StarQuartz) is recommended to me, and it sounds really good from my reading, but I don't personally know of anyone who uses urethane grout & whether it works as well as the manufacture claims (http://www.starquartz.com/grout.html). Is this worth the extra expense? Thanks.

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Eliza2011
Original Author

13 years ago

Thank you for your replies. It seems to me that Tru-Color (by Bostik)& QuartzLock (by StarQuartz) are both urethane grouts, but they may not be exactly the same. Not sure what Jules mean by "Quartzlock was acquired by Bostik, so the grouts may be the same product" since QuartzLock (now QuartzLock2)is still being sold by StarQuartz.

Bill, I did read through the entire thread about the QuartzLock controversy on the John Bridge's forum this past weekend. The mixed reviews seem to be over the 1st generation QuartzLock urethane grout. They now have a 2nd generation QuartzLock2, which I think has been out for about a year & is supposed to be better than the 1st. Would you still be skittish about using urethane grout for a shower stall if there's a guarantee of at least 10 completely dry days to allow it to cure? Have you had a chance to use QuartzLock2?

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Comments (6)

jules8
13 years ago
I used Bostik Tru-Color for my shower walls and floor. Quartzlock was acquired by Bostik, so the grouts may be the same product.

my contractor found it hard to work with on the walls since it was very dry and grainy. but I love not having to ever seal it. The color is uniform since it is a premix. and I hope that their claims of crack resistance are true since we grouted our corners rather than using caulk. it has been one year and it still looks good.

I am very happy with the finished product. but note that it may be hard to work with, it looks grainy when dry, and it takes 7 days to cure in a wet area.

Here is a link that might be useful: trucolor grout
bill_vincent
13 years ago
Quartzlock was acquired by Bostik, so the grouts may be the same product.

This is the first I've heard of that, and I wish I knew about 3 weeks ago. My son has a job to do-- a small bathroom floor-- and the customer specifically requested Bostik's urethane, which up here, is only available thru Walmart. We tried to talk him into using the Quartzlock, but he wouldn't budge, so here we wait (still) for Walmart to get the Bostik grout in.

As for using urethane grouts, the only time I'm skittish is in a shower, or tub/ shower combination. The reason is that once installed and cleaned up, that grout must stay completely dry for atleast 10 days to allow it to cure. If it doesn't stay completely dry, it can re-soften, and it won't harden back up again. Go to John Bridge's forum and do a search. You'll see what I mean.
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bill_vincent
13 years ago
Yes, I have, and it was even in a shower, against my recommendation, last summer. But it DID sit for about two weeks before the owners were even in the house, much less using the shower, so that might be the difference between having problems and not.
golddust
12 years ago
We just used Bostik's trucolor urethane grout in our 4 x 8 shower. The directions say it must cure for 7 days with a steady temp of between 70 and 75 degrees. Bill, should we wait 10 days even though the instructions say 7 days? I certainly don't want it to soften up and we can use our other shower until our new one is good and ready.
D Wirth
2 years ago
Have quartzlock 2 on flooring and tiling in one bathroom for 10 yrs. Its held up beautifully all these years. I used Dark Mocha. No discoloration, easy to clean.

Urethane grout?

Eliza2011
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Urethane grout?

Eliza2011Original Author

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Eliza2011
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