I bought this when I was tired of trying to figure out the best grout for my shower and let a Daltile salesman sell me this product. It was supposed to be close to waterproof, but once you buy it you find out it is not. I have done many tile jobs in houses I have lived in, so grouting is hardly new to me. It is one of the easier parts of tiling and my wife and I can grout and clean tile quickly. After reading all the horrible reviews after I bought it (check all the Flexcolor CQ colors for more reviews), I thought about returning it. But I convinced myself some people never have good experiences and some never read instructions. I read and reread all the instructions and looked at lots of videos. I applied in small (3 sq. ft.) areas and wiped down excess immediately and kept at it. It was too no avail—the tile looks dull and the haze is thick. A white scrubbing pad (the mildly abrasive ones that disappear as you use them) with an abrasive tool and a microfiber cloth will get a lot of it off the next day. Not sure whether I have to get tile haze remover from Mapei for this (I promise myself never to buy Mapei products again). I only did about 15 sq. ft. so far. I will apply Grout Release today to the rest of the almost 200 sq,. ft. of tile I have. They recommend that for bumpy tile, but even with subway tile the haze is very bad. Applying the grout is very, very time consuming on a wall. It is highly sanded and does not adhere to itself well when wet, so pieces of it constantly fall off the float. It is important to add and tape visqueen or other covering to floors and any other surface you don't want grout on because removing it is very hard. It does not easily get it into spaces between tiles, though because it is sanded it works on wide and narrow spacing. The previous owner did this shower and did a bad job—including walls not square or plumb, so tile spacing was very difficult. That is one advantage of this grout—it works from 1/16 to 1/2". It claims to be color consistent and does not stain though it doesn't matter much on subway tile. It took me an hour to do the small amount with constant cleaning. Probably a very, very small amount on the float is all that works unless you are doing a floor. Having to constantly go to the bucket for small amount slows you down even more. This product has been on the market for quite a while. Some love it and some hate it. The reviews on the internet show both contractors and homeowners have the same reactions of love and hate. There is hardly any in between. Maybe after doing this for 5 or 10 jobs, you can master it, but for contractors that means expensive calls backs and for homeowners that means aggravation, extra work and maybe more money. A good product for a masochist, someone with a variety of tile spacing because of poor initial construction and maybe to avoid color issues. For the rest of us, almost anything else has to be better.

After reading lots of reviews and watching lots of youtube videos, I went out yesterday and got myself a Neato. Best Buy had the model I wanted in stock and they matched Amazon's price, so I got a pretty good deal. I went with the pet/allergy model since we have 2 cats and 2 dogs. I charged it and set it off in our finished basement, which is where the cats hang out a lot. Wow, I'm pretty optimistic. It seems to be good at systematically working itself around the space and it picked up a LOT of pet hair and dust. It's pretty entertaining just to sit and watch it problem solve. The only thing that it was having problems with was small, light throw rugs...it tended to scoot them and fold them over on themselves. But even there, it seemed to figure out how to approach them from the side and at an angle to got on top of them. I have high hopes for my new little robotic friend.

I don't have area rugs with fringe so the Roomba handles them pretty well, I pick up the smaller ones by the door that I use to keep the dogs from tracking in from the yard. Low pile is fine - I don't let it run on one rug that I have that has long loops, I'm sure it would stall. I understand if you have black rugs or rugs with dark edges the Roomba won't go over them because it thinks it's a drop (like a step). It uses a sensor to watch for stairs and such and will stop when it gets to them. To elaborate on the Scooba a bit more for those who are curious, yes, it does a wash more than the Braava which only pushes around a damp cloth. You set it up to clean a "small room" or a "large room". It has a water reservoir to which you add cleaner. The cleaner is not sold in my area so I buy off Amazon. BestBuy is supposed to carry it but not my local store. iRobot also has it on their web site. It doesn't take much cleaner - I only add a small amount to the water. The I set up my lighthouses/virtual walls to keep it in the area I want scrubbed (and obviously not on the area rugs). It runs around a bit to get a feel for the space and then it starts - it lays down a thin film of water as it goes, it vacuums and puts down the water, goes back and forth and in circles, using the brushes I suppose, then it goes back and vacuums up all the left over water. So the floor is pretty dry by the time it shuts off. It's a bit entertaining at the end as it shakes itself off, kind of like a dog. You then dump out the water from the dirty side of the tank, rinse it out and pull out any hair. You can then add more water to the clean tank and top off the cleaner, and recharge it. I found it does need another small area rinsed out or you will get an error code, but easily done. The dirty water is noticeably dirty so it is doing something to clean the floor. As I mentioned, the manufacturer warns against other cleaners. and other users have posted that the unit will fail if caustic cleaners are used, as it will damage the unit. I have sprayed windex on the floor ahead of it with no issues. It's not a perfect solution as you will still need to damp mop your baseboards and tight areas occasionally, but I do like it for my bathroom and I have on occasion used it on my engineered wood, but I follow it with an old towel and wipe up excess water so the wood does not absorb it. If you, or your family members have long hair, I would definitely recommend doing a quick vacuuming or Swiffer run first to pick that up before running the Scooba, as it will pick up hair and then you will be very unhappy pulling it out of the reservoir and brushes. It is also not very quiet so don't think you can run it while you take a nap.

Hallmark sent one of their guys out and inspected the floor. They claim this is all install and humidity. I keep my house at 35-45% humidity with a whole house humidifier. I had a curbside additional opinion and he said there is no way the floor could ever be refinished which I was told with the purchase of the wood by the retailer. Ultimately, it isn’t just the splinters but all the brushed areas are showing the wood underneath. Bottom line is this hallmark floor is garbage and I spent over 30k on flooring (install and boards) for a floor that won’t last 5 years. I am still contemplating if I have any further recourse and have yet to give negative reviews of the seller and of hallmark floors in every place I can- not that that matters. Below is the report. The Independent Inspector Concludes: o Manufacturing: no related issues observed o Site: The moisture content readings of the product do not support the ambient conditions of the site the day of this inspection....The low moisture content is likely contributing to the chipping/crackling/splintering of this product. The Rumba remote vacuum is not recommended for this type of product and can be a contributing factor. Robotic vacuums....can leave micro-scratches on the hardwood. Subsequent damage is not covered under warranty. o Installation: There are several planks with finish issues and significant edge damage which were filled after installation which should have been culled and not installed. o Performance/Expectation: 10-15% of the planks are exhibiting side and end edge chipping and splintering that has occurred since the product was installed – the issues are worsening with time. Face veneer splits/cracks have also appeared over time. Distributor rep. and Independent Inspector confirm the average Moisture Content (MC) of the flooring to be 5.2%. Our floors when packaged are dried to between 8-10% MC. This floor has lost a considerate amount moisture since install. As wood dries it shrinks and eventually cracks / splits as noted. The distributor rep. reported the edge damage appeared to be installation related. The Independent Inspector notes that fill was used after installation in an attempt to repair the damage. 2360 S. Archibald Ave. Ontario, CA 91761 Phone 909.947.7736 Fax 909.947.7776 Objectional noises are consistent with unapproved fasteners and or an out of flat subfloor. Also noted by the inspector and confirmed by the photos, the fastening schedule is every 7”- 9”. Per our Installation Instructions guide (www.hallmarkfloors.com) the fastening schedule for this floor is every 4”- 6”. This could also be a contributing factor to the objectional noises. Any objectional planks with perceived manufacturing defects should have been culled out at install and reported to the dealer. Our Maintenance & Warranty guide exclude the use of robotic vacuums on this floor and any subsequent damage. A history search of the production run installed in this home was preformed dating back to January 1, 2018. April 2018, we received into our Ontario facility over 31,000 sf. of this run from our factory. It has been sold out for some time. To date, no other claims have been received against this production run. Review of all the information provided, no manufacturing defects could be identified. Consequently, Hallmark Floors is unable to authorize any corrective measures under warranty.