Dura Ceramic Grout Problems
jimla
12 years ago
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Comments (6)
jimla
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Cleaning grout off ceramic tile
Comments (3)Concerning the tiles at the ceiling, the taping mud should clean off with water. As for the shower pan tile, go to Lowes or HD, and look for a NONacid grout haze cleaner. They may try and sell you sulfamic acid crystals. Don't use them-- not yet. Try the nonacid cleaner, first. If that doesn't work, the sulfamic acid is the next step....See MoreInstalling DuraCeramic?
Comments (7)On the sixth try, we finally found a flooring guy who seems to know what he is talking about. He came out to see our kitchen after demo and after removal of the water-damaged subfloor. He pointed out that we have (upward of the joists) 5/8" plywood, 1/2" plywood, original sheet vinyl, lauan, and newer sheet vinyl. He guessed that the second plywood layer was installed to raise the the original sheet vinyl kitchen floor up to the level of the adjoining dining room hardwood. The KD/GC had removed the "old floor," per contract, down to and including the original sheet vinyl, and removed and replaced the water-damaged part of the subfloor. The joists were fine. The flooring guy said the white stuff remaining on top of the undamaged subfloor was NOT underlayment like I had thought - it was a thin paper backing of the original sheet vinyl that had been glued to the subfloor and did not come up when everything else down to the original vinyl was removed. The staples had been put down through the lauan and original vinyl before laying the new vinyl, and remained after the GC had pulled up everything down to the original vinyl. The flooring guy recommended screwing down the two layers of subfloor into the joists to get rid of squeaks and remove or pound down the staples, then sand and level the subfloor. Then install either (1) 6mm Halex followed by the DuraCeramic, or (2) float the DuraCeramic using the Congoleum flexible UnderFlor(TM) underlayment. He recommended the Underflor. When I said I wanted a very stiff floor, he said the 1 1/8"total of the two layers of plywood subfloor would provide plenty of stiffness, and when well screwed down, would be just fine. This sounds OK to us - anything we should question? If the price comes in anywhere near reasonable, we think we will go with this guy....See MoreProblems Dura Ceramic congoleum
Comments (24)Glennsfc, you are correct about doing all the research before buying a floor. I had read all the reviews and I knew I was taking a chance on this flooring. I was hoping I would be one of the lucky ones who wouldn't have any problems. And I am happy with it for the reasons I stated. I just wish it had been more durable. And Duraceramic is more expensive than most tile, but costs less to install. Overall, it costs about the same as tile. And doug_gb, yes, tile and wood are ABSOLUTELY better products. But no matter how much poly you apply to wood, it will warp if you have enough standing water. It's not exactly the best product to use in a kitchen, although many people do and probably don't have any issues with it. And tile is hard. If I stand on it for too long, for even an hour or so, my back and legs ache. I can stand on my duraceramic floor while cooking and doing dishes and not have a problem. And tile IS cold. I have tile on my floor around my fireplace. It's right next to the duraceramic. The tile is cold to the touch while the duraceramic feels the same temperature as the room. I wish I had a way to test the actual temperature difference, but the tile IS definitely colder. (And I have tile that is farther away from the fireplace that is still cold, while the duraceramic next to the fireplace still feels like room temp. So, it doesn't have anything to do with distance to the fireplace. It is the tile.) But we are planning on redoing our master bathroom soon, and we'll probably have to replace the vinyl floor with tile, just for resale value. And odds are I will put in tile when we have to replace the duraceramic. And then I'll be over in the tile forums complaining about how much colder my house is and how my back and legs always hurt... I just don't think you can find perfection in a flooring product. You've just got to look for what's most important to you. So, I wanted to let people know that there are good things about duraceramic, but that the tradeoff (durability) just might not be worth it to them....See MoreDura-Ceramic
Comments (3)We installed it in a house we fixed up and sold, so I can't speak for how it has held up, but I really liked how it looked and how comfortable it felt (much warmer and not so hard on feet). I actually dropped a lightbulb on the floor and it didn't break. I personally prefer something softer than tile in a kitchen due to dropping plates, cups, etc. and I think this is a good option to have the look of ceramic....See MoreFloortech
12 years agojimla
12 years agolynetta51
11 years agoStoneTech
11 years ago
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