grout advice and additives/ Aquapanel prep

[Tel77]

I'm nearly ready to grout the flooring in my en-suite which has been laid onto WBP and had a look at the selection of BAL products available and was surprised by the amount of choices.

Can anyone recommend a grout for flooring and a suitable additive to give it some flexibilty?
The tiles are large format beige porcelain so was planning to use grey on the flooring and white on the walls.

I'm also going to be doing the walls next which are made up of a mixture of new plasterboard, aquapanel cement board(in the wet area) and the old plasterboard walls that have been skimmed and painted previously.
Having read the information on the back of the adhesive bag(BAL single part flexible) it suggests priming the plasteboard before hand but there's no mention about the aquapanel. Does anyone know if I should I treat this the same as plasterboard and prime as well?

 

[Richard C]

Can anyone recommend a grout for flooring and a suitable additive to give it some flexibilty?

Just use a straight flexy - Superflex or Superflex wide joint depending on your tile spacing; dont use standard adhesive with an additive.

I'm also going to be doing the walls next which are made up of a mixture of new plasterboard, aquapanel cement board(in the wet area) and the old plasterboard walls that have been skimmed and painted previously.

Skimmed plasterboard has a maximum tile weight limit of 20 kg/sqm including addy & grout so you may have a problem if your tiles weigh in at much more than 18 kg/sqm. Check your tile weight or they could end up on the floor!

Having read the information on the back of the adhesive bag(BAL single part flexible) it suggests priming the plasteboard before hand but there's no mention about the aquapanel. Does anyone know if I should I treat this the same as plasterboard and prime as well?

Plaster & plasterboard must be acrylic primed when using powder adhesive to prevent a reaction between the cement in addy & gypsum in the plaster/plasterboard; Aquapanel should not need primed but remove any dust.

 

[Tel77]

Thanks once again for your help Richard.

Working on the basis that the old tiles seem to weigh roughly the same as the new ones and they seem to stay on the wall ok, I'm hoping that I should be ok. There's only about 1.5m2 left of the old wall that still has skim on it as I've replaced most of the wall with aquapanel.

Is there much difference between the superflex and the microflex with the microban?
The reason I ask is that the superflex tech specs say it's not suiatable for areas where waterproof grout is required which presumably includes a shower?
I'm guessing it may be ok on the floor as there should only be residual water on it from when anyone gets out of the shower though.

 

[Richard C]

Both Superflex & Microflex are waterproof in the sense they won’t disintegrate when wet but neither are impervious to water. Microflex contains an antibacterial agent which helps prevent mould growth in wet areas.

Use Superflex wide joint for the floors, Microflex or Microflex wide joint for the walls including wet areas. Microflex can also be used on floors but is more expensive.

 

[Tel77]

Thanks again, I had a feeling that may be the best solution so started to look at prices, availability,etc only to discover that microflex isn't available in white which is my preferred colour choice for the wall tiles.

Would superflex be ok for the walls inc shower area?

 

[Richard C]

Microflex not available in white, it’s probably one of the highest selling make/colour grouts on the market I use it all the time, where are you looking?

I'd stick with Microflex.

 

[Tel77]

I was looking on the BAL website and was surprised about the lack of white as a colour option but have since discovered that it is only the microflex wide grout that is unavailable in white.

Guessing i'll have to use the standard microflex which says suitable for upto 5mm. Luckily I have used 5mm spacers so should be ok.

 

[Richard C]

I always use 2/3mm spacers for walls; personally I don’t think wide joints look right on them. 5mm is a bit wide for a shower area, especially a power shower; you may be wise to consider using epoxy in the wet areas, it is the only grout that is truly waterproof (impervious).

 

[Tel77]

Thanks, I did wonder if I may need to use smaller spacing on the walls.

Can you recommend a suitable epoxy for the wet areas?

 

[Richard C]

http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/products/easypoxy

 

[Tel77]

Thanks again Richard, I think I've confused myself again though as previously you suggested using microflex in the wet areas but now you are suggesting Bal easypoxy

 

[Richard C]

I think I've confused myself again though as previously you suggested using microflex in the wet areas but now you are suggesting Bal easypoxy

Bearing this in mind;

Both Superflex & Microflex are waterproof in the sense they won’t disintegrate when wet but neither are impervious to water.

This is why I suggested you might like to consider going to epoxy;

5mm is a bit wide for a shower area, especially a power shower; you may be wise to consider using epoxy in the wet areas, it is the only grout that is truly waterproof (impervious).