Anyone?

I can't speak to other grouts, but I had epoxy put in my shower remodel for the same reason you're asking. I HATE to scrub the shower and I wanted to be able to use chemicals to kill mold (I have well water with no chlorine - it's not too hard, but very "alive"). I love it so much!! If mold shows up (and it doesn't too often) I just squirt some cleaner with bleach on it, let it set and rinse it off. No cracking in 8-9 years and it's a 1980's house.

Thanks everyone! Does anyone have any experience with the Urethane grout? I would love to know if it is as easy to clean as epoxy since it is cheaper and more flexible. I do live in earthquake country, so movement happens.

Also to seal or not to seal... I am using grey grout, so I am concerned about picture framing (where the white marble turns grey around the edges). So I've read everything from seal the tile completely before grouting (the sides too) and that the grout will still adhere because marble is so porous to never seal your marble because if it does stain you can use a poultice to remove the stain where if you seal it, the stain is permanent. Both opinions were from people who claimed to install tile for a living. So confusing! This seems to be regardless of the grout type.

I have read really good things so far about Urethane... apparently it is as easy to clean as epoxy. If anyone has used it please report!

Thanks.

The JohnBridges forum has some discussion Here.

For urethane it looks like a 7 day drying period before getting it wet. And you need a specific product to remove tile haze. "It is a stinky liquid, good ventilation is a must, and a fair amount of rubbing is required to get the haze off. It is not an easy and quick cleaning job, proper wiping during grouting is less stinky and probably takes less time, but if haze remained, Blaze will help." .https://www.amazon.com/Bostik-Blaze-Urethane-General-Cleaner/dp/B009E7T1UA/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Despite my best judgement and research, I ordered urethane grout for the entire house tile job however heard from the builder that the tile guy wanted another $2/sf to use it; wow no way I said this guy thinks it that much more difficult to do, I know it takes additional time but and additional $2/sf? hah!, perhaps he lacked the expertise; no time to demand or look for a new tile guy and what with our white large format polished rectified tiles, would look terrible with a haze (a common post urethane tile job complaint) and the massive tile job, I did a complete 180 and sent all urethane grout back and instead chose to use standard grout; hope I don't regret this decision.

Sanded vs Unsanded is a subject in itself but here's a few key differences. Unsanded grout is extremely sticky (has no sand) is for narrow grout lines and is also recommended for polished tiles and a choice for shower walls. Sanded grout (has aggregate sand) should never be used for joints less than 1/8 of an inch and is the choice for tiles more than 1/8 of an inch apart. Sanded grout is thicker, resists cracking, making it more durable and also does not shrink. Unsanded grout can be prone to severe cracking when it has pressure applied to it, making it unsuitable for most flooring applications.

There's discussion on JohnBridges forum six years ago. Here.

It takes 7 days for urethane to dry and Blaze from Bostic is the recommended haze cleaner.

"It is a stinky liquid, good ventilation is a must, and a fair amount of rubbing is required to get the haze off. It is not an easy and quick cleaning job, proper wiping during grouting is less stinky and probably takes less time, but if haze remained, Blaze will help."

It’s a total oxymoron to be so concerned with grout and you’ve got marble on the walls. That’s trying to keep a horse in a barn with the doors gone and the barn on fire. It’s a useless effort entirely.

I have had the tilers use epoxy grout in all my tile applications in my current home after using it in my last home. I had white epoxy grout on the master bath floor in my former home. Here, I have white grout on my kitchen backsplash and on my shower walls, and 'natural gray' (which is more of a taupe) on my bathroom floor.

When anything gets on the backsplash, even classic stain-causers like heavily acidic sauces, I can just wipe it off. Even if I don't notice it until a couple days later, it wipes off easily leaving no trace.

I chose it again for my shower because our water is very iron heavy. Although I may end up having to clean iron coloration from the grout, it does not absorb and will not permanently stain the grout.

Even though it is an extra expense and requires that the tiler knows how to use it, I would never chose another type of grout, ever.

Thanks! I did read those urethane threads... 7 days is no problem. Also there are a lot of threads about epoxy leaving a haze and there is special haze remover for it as well.

It is 4k extra to do everything with epoxy grout and 2k extra to do urethane, so I am trying to quantify what exactly I am giving up by choosing urethane over epoxy. Right now, I am leaning towards doing epoxy in the master and urethane everywhere else (2.5k extra).

I knew I would trigger a snarky comment about marble from Sophie :)

I know all the risks. That is why it is on the shower walls and not the floor or counter. Yes there will be some inevitable etching I'm sure, but if we can manage to get it installed without changing color/etching, then it should be minimal as we are not 5 and do not throw things all over the shower walls. We decided it is worth the etching risk to get to look at beautiful marble every morning, so any advice about the sealing would be much appreciated.

Btw, here is our marble: https://www.countryfloors.com/neptune-white/

With marble, one consideration is rusting. It depends on the marble, if it has iron in it, to rust with exposure to moisture.

The marble I used above was a listello on my wall of ceramic white tiles. For my shower wall, I used porcelain marble look alike. I have been very happy with the utilitarian aspect of porcelain. My counter is Carrara honed. It is a wonderful feature too. Nothing has stained it and I don't worry about etching, as it is honed. The room is low light for the most part, so doesn't reflect any variation in etching textures on the counter.

I would not do a shower floor in marble tile unless you can be guaranteed that it won't discolor with water. Then there is the drainage slope and the stones porosity that makes it uneven in color until it drys out.