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.

Irishcreamgirl - thank you for the compliment (curious if you'll still like it now that it's grouted!) and the starting point was being the faucet, between the two windows. Petra - thank you for your kind comments, including about the whole struggle we're having at home with health. :-/ Amity - you are so kind, thank you for following the progress and liking the flavor of the icing. :) Again, WE SHALL SEE if you still like it once you see the grout! Kinda scary! But I'm not afraid of honest feedback so once you see it, be brutally honest! Prill - thank you for the feedback! Sciencechick - thanks for your vote! Francoise - why thank you! Wow - that's quite the compliment!! :) Bmorepanic - thank you for reminding me about the rules for caulking! I looked and looked for that and was so glad to find your comment! Malhgold - how right you were! I should have demanded to see samples on extra tiles or did my homework and done it on my own well ahead of time! I agree about it being one of the more difficult choices. That and the faucet were the two hardest so far! Red Eared Slider - thank you! Dianalo - I'm agreeing with you more and more. ;) Either that or something that truly blends in with the base color of the tile. Ah well, you live you learn! And again, I don't hate it. Just not the picture of blending in I had in mind. But the lightest color I offered any of you so in the end you still gave good advice (the majority of them I mean)! Honorbilkit - thank you for your .02! Cat mom - thanks for liking the kitchen! Jakabedy - that "overall impression" is the problem I'm having at the moment. It's okay when you look at individual pieces but all together it looks nice but not great. Hard to explain. I'll post a pic as soon as I can. Pharao - ding ding ding and we have a winner! ;) No - it's okay the way it is, REALLY IT IS! But anyway, I see your point now that it's a bit too late! hahaha. I just was so afraid of it getting stained! Boxerpups - okay I'm dying for you to see it since you think it's a lovely color. It just doesn't have the overall impression I expected (everything looks gray now, beside a countertop that's gray, so there's just not enough warmth and when the marble wasn't yet grouted, it did indeed look a lot more white, even though the shadows in between the tiles gave the impression of a darker grout!). Also it just doesn't feel very "period" which as you may recall, I get a little hung up on sometimes - especially considering I did something so "out there" by attempting to make stainless look period...so this just adds more modern to an already modern thing happening. But again, this can be lived with and with the right color for the upper cabs and all the nick nacks put back in place, etc., it might look better! Onedogedie - I'm reading you loud and clear! Mtnrdredux - Thanks for loving the kitchen! The uppers are original, from 1913. The lowers are what we just replaced since the ones before were put in in the late '70's we think. I'm glad you don't think it's trying too hard! That's funny cause that's something I work hard at - keeping things balanced and relatively simple while still taking into consideration that it's an old house, etc. I appreciate that - and am curious if you'll still think that after you see the grout (not quite the look I was after but it might still pass for not trying too hard)! As for timeless, I feel this grout makes things look a bit more modern (my kitchen is now starting to look like the loft-style hair salon I go to)!! Thank you...

We spoke to the manufacturer and they basically said that this happens and it is the nature of the product. That said, the likely cause was the contractor mixing the new bag I bought with an old bag he had. TEC advised not to use old product or bags that have been open for any length of time. They did suggest using distilled water instead of tap water, but I doubt that was the issue. I made sample boards with tap water and didn’t have any discoloration issues. TEC sent me their grout colorant and I applied 2 coats. This was very tedious and took at least 5 hours for a small powder room to paint every grout line with a tiny brush. However, it did work and nicely covered up the white spots. You can see the painted colorant on the first pic and the pic with the toilet is before the colorant (notice all the white spots). I was very irritated and stressed by all of this, but was relieved the colorant worked and it didn’t have to be retiled.

Lara, I just completed this same project with a glass mosaic tile on mesh. It really was not difficult at all, except that placing the sheets, especially the first two or three, was a bit nerve racking to get the spacing between the mesh sheets right and not have to do cutting. I also have tiles before, but never a mosaic of tiny glass, and made the mistake of not wiping the grout soon enough for it to come off easily. This made a lot of back-breaking work for me scraping, chipping and scrubbing it off after it was too dried, I used Mapei FA, and my recommendation is mix, and grout, only a small area at a time. If you can have a helper set a timer for twenty minutes each time you start grouting, start wiping off that area immediately, and have that helper start wiping off the haze every tenor twenty minutes after that - do thattwice or three times as much as you think so no grout remains on the glossy surface, and you will be able to do this quite easily. Tape off and cardboard protect adjacent surfaces, ie the cooktop, the counters, the wall cabinets, and get a flexible foam tube (I got mine from lumber liquidators) for where the backsplash meets the counter — don’t grout that joint but use caulk after the job is done, as this is a place where grout would crack, but this foam tubing and caulk will move with the cabinets and the wall. Good luck!