Urethane grout is a professional type of pre mixed grout that provides superior durability, stain resistance and flexibility. . . While many professional tile installers shun pre mixed grouts, urethane grout has become a preferred grout for many tile installation professionals.

 

 

Urethane grout is the only type of premixed grout that is used by experienced tile installation professionals.  Other types of premixed grout sold at Home Depot or Lowes are inferior types of mastic based grouts. Many tile installation professionals who have been hesitant about using a premixed grout now use urethane grout for many of their tile installations.  Urethane grout uses actual pieces of colored quartz to provide the color of the grout instead of using colored pigments like in other grouts.  This gives urethane grout the most vibrant, consistent colors of any type of grout.

There are many benefits of urethane grout over other types of grout. Urethane grout is a non porous stain resistant grout that never needs to be sealed. Dirt, grease and grime can easily be cleaned from the urethane grout without using harsh cleaners and aggressive scrub brushes.  Urethane grout is more flexible than regular grout and is less prone to cracking, chipping and breaking due to movement in the tile installation.  Urethane grout can be used in small batches which allows for grouting the tiles at your own time and pace.   Any left over grout is not wasted and can be stored for up to two years and and used at a later time. 

Urethane is a one part premixed grout but it must be properly mixed before using it.  The urethane grout must also be stirred periodically during the grouting procedure.  It is important to keep the urethane grout properly stirred to keep the urethane resins in suspension with the urethane grouting material.  Urethane grout is much more sticky than other types of grouts and it will quickly adhere to the tile surfaces when it is being applied. Due to urethane grouts strong adhesion characteristics grouting with urethane grout is much different than grouting with normal cement based grout. You can only apply the urethane grout to small sections of tiles at a time and the excess urethane grout must be quickly wiped off the surface of the tiles. Allowing the urethane grout to set for more than a few minutes on the tile surfaces will require additional time and labor to aggressively scrub the urethane grout residue off of the surface of the tiles.

Urethane grout will take longer than regular grout or epoxy grout to properly set.  It is not recommended to use any tile surface for 7-10 days after grouting with a urethane grout.  It is extremely important to not get the urethane grout wet before it has completely set.  Exposing urethane grout to water before it has properly set can cause the grout to not set properly and become soft and mushy.  An accelerant can be added to the urethane grout to speed up the setting time. The urethane grout accelerant can make the urethane grouting procedure more difficult making it even more critical to clean up and remove the urethane grout haze in a timely manner. 

Specialized cleaners are available to clean up urethane grout haze that has been allowed to set for too long.  Urethane grout haze is much easier to remove than an epoxy grout haze that has been allowed to set for too long.   Removing an epoxy grout haze can often be a futile effort while a urethane grout haze can be effectively removed with specialized cleaners and some elbow grease.   Epoxy grout cures much quicker than urethane grout so when properly applied an epoxy grout installation will be ready to use within 48 hours. 

Urethane grout can be installed in most types tile installations including indoor, outdoor and wet shower environments.  Tile installations that are subjected to extreme levels of acidic grease can break down the urethane binders in the urethane grout.  This can cause the urethane grout to become soft and mushy in these types of extreme environments. For this reason it is not recommended to install urethane grout in any type of commercial kitchen or in other types of extremely greasy cooking environments. 

Many types of aggressive floor strippers, cleaners and other types enzymatic cleaners can break down the binders in urethane grout.  Many types of "green" cleaning products that may seem safe to use on all types of tile surfaces can also have enzymatic compounds in them that can break down the binders in the urethane grout.  It is always important to use only the approved types of cleaners recommended by the urethane grout manufacturer when cleaning and maintaining urethane grout.

The many problems and issues of cement based grouts can be eliminated with urethane grout.  Cement based grouts are becoming more and more obsolete as newer types of grouts become available.   Urethane and epoxy grouts both have superior qualities and characteristics in many ways over cement based grouts.  The additional cost of these synthetic grouts will be saved over time in the ease of cleaning and the money saved by never having to seal them.  Urethane grouts and epoxy grouts both have similar characteristics as far as durability, ease of cleaning and never having to be sealed.  The main differences between these types of grouts is in the application procedure.  Grouting with a urethane grout and grouting tile with an epoxy grout all take a specialized grouting procedures that are vastly different than grouting tile with a cement based grout.   It is important to completely understand and practice the appropriate grouting procedure before actually grouting your tiles with any type of grout.  You do not want to ruin a perfectly good tile installation by not properly installing the grout.

Grouting with a urethane grout does take some time and practice to get the procedure done right.  If you have never grouted before it might be a good idea to consult a tile installation professional to recommend the best type of grout and to install the grout for you. 

You can read some valuable information and tips on how to hire a tile, grout and stone installation contractor on our contractor information page here. . . Tile Installation Contractor.