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mosaicnewbie

Grout turning back to sand!

mosaicnewbie
16 years ago

I just finished a beautiful design over a wooden serving tray. I grouted it yesterday and this morning the grout is turning back into powder form! This is only by 3rd project and the others went off without a hitch. Of course, this is the one I have invested the most into. I have a feeling that the wood is maybe absorbing the moisture from the grout and not allowing it to "cure", but I'm not sure what to do about it. Should I mist it? Regrout with another type of grout? Help!

Comments (15)

  • bamasusanna
    16 years ago

    Thats odd! I would've thought a serving tray would've already had a sealer on it. It would seem that if your tray is absorbing moisture the wood would swell and warp too.
    Maybe the grout was too dry when you mixed it?
    Quite the quandry..

  • sunshine_funshine
    16 years ago

    What kind of grout did you use? On one of my first projects I bought the expensive spectralock stuff, but didn't get the bucket. I brought it home and just used the colored sand in the carton, mixed it with water and went on to grout it. It turned right back to colored sand when it dried. LOL.

    Felt stupid but I finally figured out I needed to mix it with the bucket and found the spectralock stuff to be the best! Expensive, but the best! (Yes, I am slowly learning that directions are important to read first!)

  • mosaicnewbie
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Hello Bama! Leave it to me to create a quandry! I'm not sure about the grout being too dry, but it seemed a good consistency. No swelling of the wood that I can tell. I'm gonna see if anyone has any other ideas and then I guess try to re-grout? Though I'm afraid the same thing will happen again. There is a lot of experience on this forum and I'd bet my nippers that someone will know what to do!

    Standing by with "Dust in the Wind" (sandy grout),
    MosaicNewbie

    p.s. What is GOG?

  • mosaicnewbie
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Dear Funshine,
    If you were here I would kiss you! As I read your post, I thought "Gee, SpectraLock, that kinda sounds familiar." I ran down to the garage in my PJ's (yes I'm still in my PJ's at 12:44 in the afternoon) and low and behold there sat the carton of wonder grout I thought I had purchased especially for this tray because it "didn't need to be sealed", was "stain resistant" and "durable"....all the qualities I felt a grout needed to have on a serving tray. Unfortunately those are the only words on the carton that I read. I guess I figured grout is grout. Sand...water...whalah...grout.

    I can't thank you enough for taking the time to post with your comment OR I probably would have regrouted and gotten the same result! What is it they say about people who repeat the same actions and expect a different result? Insane? Whatever!

    So, I'll make another trip to the craft store and get some good old everyday GROUT!

    You saved my project and my sanity (for the time being).....And I am so very grateful!

    MosiacNewbie

  • bamasusanna
    16 years ago

    Welcome to our world MN!
    GOG... Glass on glass.
    Did you follow the directions on your grout? Did you let the grout "slake" (sit undisturbed for approx 10 min, after you mixed it?)before you applied it? Did you grout in direct sun? Is your zodiac sign in the 3rd phase of the moon? LOL!!
    I'm quite the detective ain't I? ;)

  • nicethyme
    16 years ago

    alot of us have done this! for some strange reason mine held together mixed only with water but I know Slow's turned to dust too. I wish the labeling explaining the 2 part system was BIGGER

  • silvamae
    16 years ago

    This is ONE of the reasons that I love this forum! I have been mosaicing/grouting for 9 years and I never knew that the Spectralock system was a two-part mixing system; I never heard of grout turning back to sand . . . We never stop learning . . . The only products I've ever used are Polyblend sanded grout and Acrylic Mortar Admix.

  • nicethyme
    16 years ago

    yep, in very tiny writing Spectralock has an A on one box and B on a carton... it's an epoxy system... it seems to me that the displays in store ought to be more self evident

  • sunshine_funshine
    16 years ago

    LOL! Glad I could help. Also really glad to know I'm not the only one who has done this!

  • bamasusanna
    16 years ago

    Oh! It's the case of the "two-parter"!
    Glad you got an answer.
    BTW: POST PICTURES!!!!

  • crackpotannie
    16 years ago

    I never knew that either but then I've never tried it.

  • bamasusanna
    16 years ago

    Our Lowes had some of that marked down to .98(just the part A).I was wondering if you could mix that with white or light gray grout to color it.

  • curbdiver1954
    16 years ago

    I had the same ting happen (actually it's still happening) with a polyblend brand grout. My first GOG is still "shedding" black grout sand on the window sill in our guest bath. Made it almost a year ago. Just water and the polyblend, same as I have done it before and since that one piece. Makes DH crazy everytime he cleans the bath.

    Any ideas why it's doing that??

    Pat

  • shrty411
    16 years ago

    No idea why but did you try sealing it to see if that helped?

    Maria

  • nicethyme
    16 years ago

    Well, like all things sometimes it can be a little quality control problem. In Pat's case I'm guessing that the curing ended prematurely or very likely the ingredients of the grout weren't the right balance. Last year I was doing some mortor on a waterfall project and I kept thinking how that mix really was giving me a long workable time... well yes, in fact it hadn't set up by the next day either... there was no cement in the bag - pure sand.

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