Wednesday, November 10, 2010

WHEN IN GROUT?

I've been very preoccupied starting up a new business.  The timing is not ideal, as far as this house is concerned; but as far as I'm concerned, this construction should have been put to bed long ago.    
My focus has to be on this new venture, and I'm finding it very difficult to concentrate on the house.



Our bedroom floors; at long last, are finished, sealed, and polished.     Hard to believe that the job was started the first week of August,when we went on our cruise;  and it took until November 7th, to get it completed?????        I've flipped out, nit picked, and criticised the whole time, but it is, what it is.    And what it is; is done.    Finally.      My $5.50 a square foot marble, ended up not being such a bargain, once I decided to have it grouted in epoxy.          If I could do this all again?    I would have used regular grout, and saved a pile of money, and as it turned out, time.

Epoxy is great; in that it doesn't absorb dirt, stain, or change colour.    You can achieve a smooth, seamless profile, without the lipped edge you get from regular grout.
 In the past, I've used epoxy grout on a very white  marble, and although it doesn't stain, the grout still looks dirty.  It doesn't stay white unless you scrub every inch of it, manually.
I prefer to use a dark grout, picking up the darkest colour in a tile.    Unless you clean like Joan Crawford, light coloured grout is going to collect dirt on the surface,cracks and crevasses, and show it.    At least with dark grout, it better hides the inevitable dirt.
White, and light coloured grout, advances, so you notice it first.    Who wants to feature their grimy grout?     Not me, that's for sure.    Although with what we paid for this grout job......?


I was looking at some old photos of our Florida house and I love the marble, but wish we had gone with a darker grout.  It looks good from a distance; but close up your eye is drawn to any surface dirt.
I love the hand painted sinks I found, and wish I could remember who made them?

I had no idea that my blog was inaccessible, until my former housekeeper emailed me because she couldn't find it.     I didn't intend to put my settings on private, and I never would have noticed, so thank you E.   Won't you please come home for Christmas?  I miss you!

4 comments:

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Donna I know what you mean about grout!
My bathroom white subway tile has alabaster toned grout...so dirt doesn't show up as much and my cleaning lady comes every week...I think it works.
what is your new business?
I'd love to know what you are embarking on!

Hill House Ramblings said...

Oh my, it looks like your renovations are coming along very well. This looks like quite a sizeable project. I feel for you! I'm sure it will all turn out beautifully. Someday (hopefully soon) it will be behind you! Oh, and good luck with your new venture. Sounds exciting!

H.H.

No Sacrifice Bags said...

Leslie, you are lucky. Perhaps your grout is epoxy? Epoxy won't allow stains to penetrate, even red wine can be mopped up. Regular grout soaks up stains; although sealing it helps.

H.H. I wish we had only been dealing with renovations, but this has been an entire build.
We've had to move more earth than most subdivision communities, and we are going completely green, with five wind turbines, geothermal heating/cooling , solar, and photo voltaic power.
It's very exciting, but also very stressful.

By comparison, my new venture has been moving along, without a hitch.

Thanks for your well wishes!

Cheers,
Donna

Anonymous said...

Quick question, I have been reading all this about grout avidly...what I would love to know is epoxy grout flexible?

TIA!!