Unless you’re really bored and have the time (or interest) to read the following sob story, skip down to the asterisk.
Back in mid September I had my first real failure in the project. I knew that the inside of the spa would require something other than the standard sanded grout because it would be submerged in 104 degree water. Sanded grout would not be waterproof and would require sealing and re-sealing after some time.
After a substantial amount of research I learned that what I required was epoxy grout, which was expensive and had a reputation as being difficult to work with, but would hold up under water and not need to be sealed.
I bought what I thought was about half the epoxy grout I would need for the spa for $125. Like most epoxies, it is two parts that actually needs to be mixed with a third part, standard sanded grout, which creates one batch. According to the instructions, it was important to mix all of each part together because it was measured precisely.
The first problem was that the batch that would cover half of the spa would be workable for 30 to 60 minutes, which I could not do alone. So I bought small plastic containers and meticulously measured out the exact proportions that divided the batch in quarters, figuring that I could do that much by myself in the time allowed.
I bought a new grout float, margin trowel and heavy duty rubber gloves, waited for a clear weekend day and psyched up to start this final step toward the end of this journey.
Fast forward, although it seemed like eternity, about 6 hours and picture me lying on the couch exhausted and angry, because things had not exactly gone my way. Then anger grew into panic. I realized I had to get up and go back into the spa and remove all of the epoxy grout that I had just finished. I knew it wasn’t right and I was never going to use that crap again-let alone finish the spa if I had to do it with that stuff!
I had only done the rear seat and part of the waterfall wall, which is about 25% of what I thought the grout would cover. At that rate the grout was going to cost me over $900.
I had spent most of the time trying to get the grout to stay in the vertical joints, but it would just seep out onto the tile. It became apparent to me that the grout was not going to stay in the vertical joints, so I decided to remove as much as I could by pushing the grout down into the joints and removing the rest. Time was not on my side at this point and I also needed to get the grout off of the face of the tile or it would be ruined. I called Betsy to help, and between us we removed all of the grout from the tile. Everything else that touched the grout was ruined. The trowel, the float, the bucket, the gloves, the sponges and the scrub pads were all history.
Enter the couch epiphany. In addition to the cost and nastiness, the grout would never stay in the vertical joints-I already found that out, and there were a lot of them in my spa! I knew what I had to do before it was too late. I got up and took a screwdriver back into the spa and removed all of the grout. I was thankful to get back to where I was at the beginning of the day without ruining any tile. If I had to remove any tile because the grout could not be removed from the front of the tile it would have taken the waterproofing with it, and I would have been in deep you-know-what!
But I’m a lucky guy. As it turns out, I didn’t like the color of the epoxy grout anyway, I hadn’t ruined anything, I learned a great (albeit expensive) lesson and things were about to get much better. Thank you, Gene!
Gene Trumbull wrote the book on building a spa. No really. He literally wrote the book on building your own spa that I have used to guide me through the entire process. And he found a product to use instead of epoxy grout.
It is a urethane grout called QuartzLock2 made by StarQuartz that is waterproof, premixed, easy to use, and most importantly, stays in the vertical joints. Hallelujah!
There was just one problem. The marketing information declared that it was not for use in a spa. But Gene had used it successfully and I wanted to believe that it would work. I made contact with the manufacturer’s rep, Jorge, and found out that because the product did not have sufficient time in the field in a submerged hot water application, they could not warrant the product or recommend it’s use in a spa application.
I would have considered the product anyway, because the alternative was using a sanded grout and sealing it, which I knew would fail eventually. After all, the spa is waterproof without the grout. It’s just for looks.
But I’m a lucky guy.
Jorge made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. If I would agree to give his company feedback regarding the installation and use of this product in a submerged heated application, he would provide me with grout for the spa.
*For those of you that have just joined us, I’m in the process of grouting the spa with a new urethane product instead of an epoxy grout that proved too difficult for me to use.
I started with a small section on the back of the waterfall, just to get a feeling for the product and the application process. It was pretty warm and I did a little bigger area than I should have. By the time I cleaned the tools and got back to the job the grout took a little longer to clean up than it would have if I had gotten to it quicker. I knew it would wipe off much easier when I didn’t do as large of an area. I took a little grout out when I had to scrub the tile a little bit, but it turned out fine and I would bring it up flush with the tile when I continued. The grout is premixed and worked well in the vertical joints.
I had help from Tommy when I started up again and finished the entire back of the waterfall at one time. I finished the rest of the exterior, including the top of the back wall before I moved to the front of the waterfall wall and down to all of the horizontal surfaces. My strategy was to do the horizontal surfaces like the seats, steps and floor first, because there would be some excess wiped off of the vertical surfaces that would collect in the horizontal surface grout lines unless they were already done and I could just wipe them off of the tile.
I’m now over half way done with the grouting but waiting for dry weather to finish up.