Using BAL Easy Poxy Epoxy Grout

[Perfectionist]

I have benefitted from many of the comments in the thread 'What make is a good epoxy grout' and feel that I should give something back.

I was really discouraged by all I read about how difficult epoxy grout is to use, and petrified at the thought of having to use 1kg of grout in 45 minutes (it would normally take me a day to get through that much), but I was desperate for my shower room not to get mouldy within a few weeks of completion. It sounded like a very stressful time.

But I believe I have found a way of using BAL easy poxy grout that really is very easy and STRESS-FREE! It takes a lot of time and patience, though, so is unlikely to be suitable for professionals unless their customers have very deep pockets. I have just finished grouting 8 square metres at a rate of no more than 1 square metre per 1½ hours.

Here goes:

Tools you will need:

Icing bags and a nozzle (I used 3mm for 3mm gaps) (used to decorate cakes).
Nozzle brush
Water (it does not need to be hot)
Cotton rag ( I used an old Marks and Spencer vest)
Cellulose thinners (ie thinners for thinning car paint or radiator paint)
Pot for cellulose thinners large enough for the tools to go in for you to wash them
Digital kitchen scales accurate to within 2 grams.
Empty baked bean-type tins (four for every 1kg pot of grout)
Mixing stick, preferably rectangular in cross-section
Latex gloves

Method

Weigh into a tin 200g of BAL Easy Poxy grout powder and add 50g of hardener (the liquid stuff). If you use the mixing stick to add it you can carefully stop at exactly 50g. Apparently if you get this ratio wrong, the colour of the grout will not be consistent, and the grout will not harden off properly, which is why tiling shops told me that BAL say that you must use all the powder and all the hardener at the same time - although BAL told me that weighing it myself into smaller quantities was OK. The moment your powder and hardener make contact is when your 45 minutes starts, so make sure everything it to hand before you add one to the other.

Carefully add the grout to the icing bag. Again, if your mixing stick is rectangular in section, you will be able to use it to transfer the grout from the tin to the icing bag.

Use the bag to squeeze the grout into the gaps between the tiles. With only a few seconds of practice you will find that it is easy to get the right amount into the gaps whilst not getting any on the tiles. If there are any holes, run over them again with the nozzle.

Stretch the wet cloth over your index finger and run your finger along each grout line. This presses home the grout, squeezes out any surplus grout, and leaves a pretty smooth finish with a consistent appearance. Rinse the cloth frequently. Any surplus that gets on the tile can be easily removed, using the same wet cloth, running your finger over the tile. If you want to be absolutely certain that there is no residue left on the tiles, carefully dry each tile with a towel.

With only a little practice I found that I could use all the 250g grout I had made in about an hour, and I didn't have to rush at all.

You MUST them clean all your tools in the cellulose thinners before measuring your next 250g of grout. If you mix old and new grout, the old grout will harden in the nozzle or bag and prevent the fresh grout coming out. It might affect the hardening process of the new grout, as well. I found that it was too much trouble to clean the icing bag, so I threw it away and used a new one. After two bags at £2.30 each I went out and bought an icing syringe. Unfortunately they are very expensive (I paid £33 for mine) and mine held only about 100g of grout, so I had to keep recharging it within the 45 minute period. On the other hand I had more control over the nozzle, and it was much much easier to squeeze out the grout. If you do this you will also need to obtain appropriate size bottle brushes to clean it afterwards. You will need a nozzle brush to clean the nozzle. Cake decorating shops sell them along with the nozzles and the icing bags.

When measuring the next batch of grout, use a new tin, to avoid mixing old and new grout.

There are dire warnings on the grout pot, the powder bag and the hardener about how bad they are for you, (the powder certainly smells very strongly of ammonia until it is mixed with the hardener) so I started off by using the latex gloves, but I later found that I suffered no adverse effects by not using them. I did use them for washing out, though, because cellulose thinners is covered in warnings as well, and I didn't want to get undiluted grout on my fingers when I pushed old grout out of the nozzle and syringe. I did find, though, that the cellulose degraded the latex, so I had to be quick before the gloves disintegrated.

Rate of coverage: I used 3kg of grout to cover 8 sq metres of tiles. The tiles were 8 inches by 10 inches, and the grout lines were 3mm wide.

I hope this information helps anyone else who is nervous of using epoxy grout, and concerned about working quickly. Using this method you can take your time and achieve a really professional looking result. Just give yourself plenty of time.

[pjc]

well done mate u have made me a laugh but i c your fear but i have never found it quite that bad

[Dan]

Thanks for that. I appreciate it and so will many members for many years to come.

Though I must stress that it should take a tiler no more than 20 minutes to grout a 1 square meter area with easy poxy (which isn't an adhesive or a grout - just to keep the terminology correct - but can be used as either / both) and a couple of emulsifying pads and the correct epoxy (stiffer rubber) float using anything around the 200x200mm sized average thickness tile with a 3/4mm joint.

It could put some off learning about it reading either of our versions here but it really does leave a neat finish that's second to none in many ways.

Thanks again perfectionist, stick around we could do with some random huge posts like that fine example that's your first too!!!!! (I just noticed that - welcome aboard).

[Perfectionist]

Thanks for your comments, Dan. Actually, it's my first post anywhere - so I'm glad it's got such a warm response!

Another advantage of the method I've described above is that you don't need to buff up the tiles the following day - the job is finished as soon as you put your tools down, although if you do find a bit of residue on the tiles you can get it off very easily with a rag dipped in cellulose thinners, provided you do it within 24 hours.

I have tiled about 15 bathrooms, toilets, kitchens etc in about 30 years, so although I have a bit of experience I am far from being a professional. I have always marvelled how tilers can do it so quickly. This is one of the reasons I was so concerned about using BAL grout: if professionals hate it, who am I to think that I could manage it?!