Hi all,

I'm new to this forum (and new to tiling) so hope someone may help.

At the weekend I finished grouting using the product in the title. But the end result was not too pretty. the colour of the grout was dark in some areas and lighter in others. The dark patches seemed to be harder too.

This is the second time i used this product and the same thing happened the first time (previous weekend)

Am currently scrapping it all out for a rerun for this weekend.

I mixed the powder in a bucket with a mixer attached to a drill, applied the grout and wiped off at 45` with a damp sponge?

I have been to the mapei site and have been reading the datasheet. I am going to follow the instructions to the letter next time.

It says mix, leave for 2-3mins and the mix again.
apply the grout within 20-25 mins.

When the mix loses its plasticity and becomes opaque 15-30mins (I don't understand plasticity and opaque? will it be obvious?) wipe with a sponge at 45`

Then 5-60mins later abrade the joint to neaten with scotch brite.


Can someone please explain to me if I missed anything or which bits are most important?

Thanks in advance
steve

Ultracolor plus is an excellent grout, but it MUST be mixed and used in accordance with the instructions. It sounds to me like you may have washed of with too wet a sponge, or possibly not mixed correctly. You may have mixed too quickly and introduced air into the product. I have used the Jasmine several times and never had a problem like you are describing. I have never found the need to abrade with a scotch brite pad later though.

To see if the grout has set enough to washed off, do the "finger test" i.e, lightly touch the grout and if it sticks to your finger it is too wet still. it is also best to do not too large an area at a time. Did you mix a full bag at once and use it all before cleaning off?

Sorry to hear that Steve never had a problem with that before, hope someone can enlighten us
Welcome to the forum by the way

Thanks,

I split a 5kg bag into two (one half for each weekend) but I shook the bag really well first. however when I added the water I just did it until is looked the right consistency to put up? what was left in the bucket looked the right colour when it was almost set? I used all the grout first before then clearing off, the wall is probaly only 4ft by 8ft.

steve

Ultracolor Plus is very sensitive to the amount of water you use. Unless you measured out both the powder and the water, this is most likely where the problem has arisen.

Mapei coloured grouts are not in any way forgiving, you MUST follow instructions to the letter, especially powder to water ratio. Ignore at your peril : colour difference can be severe !!!! wipe off too soon : poor results. Wipe off too late, difficult to remove. Fail to clean off properly : haze difficult to remove !!

I think (and hope) its the water to pwder ratio that I've got wrong, I must admit I did just mix it until it looked a nice consistency, rather than weighing the bag and working out the exact amount of water.

Thanks for all the advice by the way.

P.S. I'm loving raking out all the old (new) grout

as said above you must mix exactly as directed otherwise you will have problems.I think its 5kg bag to 1 litre of water..but just check packaging to be certain.Follow the guidelines and you will be fine im sure.

used jasmine many times plus many of the other colours, never had the problem that you describe, must add that I never use a mixer for grout, always use my hand...

Originally Posted by devonmark

used jasmine many times plus many of the other colours, never had the problem that you describe, must add that I never use a mixer for grout, always use my hand...

I personally use a small trowel

Thanks again, I mixed the first lot by hand, but because it didn't work too well, bought a mixer for the second batch, thinking this was the problem.
It must be too much water, from what has been said.

It will be too much water - add it gradually. A mixer isnt realy requried for such small quantities, but if you do then use it fairly slowly and not overlong. By the way always put powder to water, not the other way round - you might not have meant it as you wrote it, but thats what you described doing, so mix less rather than more.

Iv'e used it a few times now, never any problems with shade but boy does it go off quick, next time I will mix half a bag at a time and then I'm not chasing my tail.

Used the jasmine today and no probs for me.

I have a purchased bal mixing buckets as this makes it very easy to measure the exact amounts of water to powder, I don't know as mainly use bal products, but maybe mapei also make something similar you could buy.

Originally Posted by Mrs Tiler

I have a purchased bal mixing buckets as this makes it very easy to measure the exact amounts of water to powder, I don't know as mainly use bal products, but maybe mapei also make something similar you could buy.

Yes they do.

Ok thanks for all the comments. I finally finished removing all the grout and so today have re-grouted.

I measured the quantity of water stated 0.2 litre as I was using 1 kg of powder. I added the powder to the water and mixed ny hand using a stirrer. every thing was clean and fresh before use. I wated 2-3 mins and mixed again. the consistency was liek a thick almost stodgy. I applied it no probs and had set a timer so as not to use benyond the recommended time, then between 15-30 mins later as stated started to clean with a sponge. brand new tile sponge wet bu wrung out as much as I could so it was barely damp. got it all looking very good.
However it still isn't one complete colour and the spare mix which was left over is the perfect colour. ??? the grout is just a bit darker in places randomly all over.. Lord knows what is going on . when I was removing the old stuff the colour underneath was perfect too?
should I expect the colour to be exactly the same all over or am I being too fussy?

Steve

You need to leave it to fully cure to see what the colour is going to be like. You may find it is drying a little quicker in some areas than others. Leave it until tomorrow and see what it looks like then.

Ok thanks, fingers crossed

Dont' know if this post is too late. I work a lot with Mapei and love the stuff. One thing I've noticed is that as you mix it, you get 'flames' of colour coming through in the mix, i.e. with Jasmine you'll see flashes of yellow in the mix as you stir it around. Very important , me thinks, is to make sure that you've mixed it properly to get an even colour. I often just mix with a spatula in a bucket and don't measure out my water according to what the bag says (and not trying to promote this either) as I just get a feel for the mix. So, whatever you mix with, just make sure you've done it thoroughly. I've never had Mapei disappoint me on colour consistency. I've used some others, especially in grey, that have messed me around when I started off ... but I think it was due to using too wet a sponge when wiping down. I think with opaque they mean hazyness on the tile. However with Mapei you've got to watch your grout by testing as recommended previously. Otherwise you'll work up quite a sweat trying to clean it off ... not fun.

Use this stuff all the time, it's good to work with as has a quick dry time, but as other have said takes a bit of getting used to ie amount of water and definately hard to clean off if left for to long.Never had a problem with the colour though, saying that did once when used grey adhesive as customer changed her mind as ladies do and wanted jasmine grout not grey. Had to scrape out and make sure the joints were some of the joints were cleaner.

Well, again the people who have replied thanks.
Personally I can't see what I have done wrong ( three times) albeit the first two could easily been down to the wrong mix ratios or too much water on the wipe down.
The third time the mix was correct, and was mixed well no streaks at all, the left over grout dried perfectly (annoyingly so). However although the third time is better, the resjults are still not what I would call satisfactory. The colour is not the same all over, some areas its almost milky tea in colour. I noticed when iI was scraping out the second grout that these darker areas were harder too.
I am happy the mix is mixed well enough Based on the left over colour in the bucket.
Funnily enough when I sanded the top layer of grout on the second batch the colour was fine too. Am considering doing this all over on the third batch. Top layer meaning thickness of say gloss paint.

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Same problem - one side more yellow than the other. Not sure what happened. This information is very useful for Mapei Jasmine on limestone.

i have to purchase more grout tomorrow night,i think i'll go for the keracolour this time.

Anyone - I like the lighter colour on some joints that Jasmine produces, do you know what causes the darker, more yellow colour?

OK. Please read this if you are following this thread. Mapei Jasmine grout, using 12mm limstone tiles, deep grouting needed. Day 1 and Day 2 the grout was definately more yellow on one side of the room than the other. It looked terrible. We were tempted to scape it all out and start again. On the third day, the yellow turned to the proper Jasmine colour. It had felt completely dry, but was not! Also found cleaning up the tiles from grout on the surface of the actual beige limestone tile accentuated the grout colour. Learning point: Wait for several days when deep grouting and the yellow will turn to Jasmine. Note: There is still just a little streaking in some places, jasmine/yellow but it is not noticeable. Hope this helps, very strange overall.