My previous employee worked for a professional grouting outfit and they would tear out and regrout with epoxy on average 4 hours per shower 2 men. Most of them the grout was ripped out by hand with these:
I use a dremel with a tile cutting blade in it. The tile cutting blades are kind of expensive but man it will rip through that grout no problem. Wouldn't remove grout any other way.
Only down side is its dusty as all hell. But if speed is the name of the game, I've found no quicker way. +The dremel can get into all the nooks and crannies at corners and in niche's.
Okey. Has one of these been regrouted before? How "chippy" is the orange tile and how chipped is too chipped for your client?
Talk with several epoxy providers about work time/ cure time to find the formula that you need to be ready for water in five hours? Or are you saying that you have a 5 hour work day from when you roll on to the job til you must be cleaned and out? The first one is a serious constraint which will likely mean that you get a custom formula from an epoxy supplier read $$. It will then be a work day based on your epoxy cure formula. 3 hour cure = you will grout only what you have cut and prepped by minute 70. minute 70-75 mix epoxy, you now have 45 min (min 75-120)to grout and clean up. As tile setters we are slaves to the process.
Guys to clarify , all 20 does not have to be completed in 1 night . I figured 1 man per shower per night . The showed are 10 in a row , glass partitions on both sides , tiles above , except the end stalls have a side wall .
If I work Friday nights, I get extra hours to complete this .
They just informed me of wanting to use epoxy grout now . How difficult is epoxy to work with?
If using epoxy, you should ask for extra time. Spectralock is installer friendly but requires multiple washes and set/rest time between washes. I would say it doubles grout time.
So you only have one wall per shower. Are you doing the ceiling, too? Keep in mind, overhead work always takes longer and wastes material.
Regardless of what grout you use, it still needs to cure before use.
I actually watched the video for spectra lock this morning and it does look user friendly. ceiling is also included, but i don't mind doing that another day if i need to or even first.
I like epoxy grouts. I have never used spectralock but have used Mapei Opticolor. Easy clean up as long as you work in small areas. I followed the directions and used a lot of clean water. Never had to do much clean up or had too many gummy tiles, but a razor removed any that I did have.
I have started using urethane grout, Bostik. A few here and on other forums, along with a call or two to Angus and most of the kinks are worked out of my system. Dampening the tile prior to grouting was the key. But also using an epoxy scrub sponge and a soft grout float helped. The one thing that you have to watch for on urethane is sagging. Don't use too much water on any of the steps or you will have to repairs to make.
I'm regrouting 3 bathrooms in a target area, I've done big commercial re grout jobs. For flooring I use the alpha and for walls and tight spaces the multi is perfect.
Urethane sucks . And angus was getting paid too much money to say it was good . LOL !
I personally only use epoxy grout on commercial jobs and spectralock is my only choice. No sag, easy to spread and clean with very little if no residue.. take from me. LOL
Better call Laticrete to double check when the shower can be put in service. Being a commercial shower they would probably want a little longer cure time.
I'm shocked that Orlando hasn't called Henry directly to ask.
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