• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Speak to me of tile grout?

Duae

Duae

New member
I've been planning out some tank decorations and love the idea and look of Styrofoam sealed with tile grout.

Now I know this is probably silly of me, but I was thinking tile grout was a bit like spackle paste. You went to the store, found the one kind available, chose the size tub you wanted, and came home with your spackle! I went to the Lowes Hardware tile section, and started looking for the tile grout.

I found an entire aisle of it. Bags and tubs and cartons and mixes and compounds. I walked up and down a few minutes, gave up and left.

I don't really want to ask an employee because they're either very condescending, or they mumble unintelligibly. What tile grout would be best for a few small snake projects?
 
LOL! I totally had the same problem!

I ended up buying a bag of un-sanded grout with polymer. Not sure if this is what's recommended, but I built a rock-wall background for my 90gal tank and it turned out great!
It took a while to sort out the perfect consistency, I did 4 layers of grout over the styrofoam. My first coat was too thin and chipped. Second was too thick and cracked. Third and fourth fixed everything!
Just be warned, styrofoam projects are time consuming. I gave each coat of grout ( 2 was recommended) 24hrs to dry. Then I painted, which was 2-3layers and also 24hrs to dry after each coat. Then I had to seal it, which was another 2-3 coats and this I let dry and air out for over a week to make sure all the fumes had dissipated. BUT I plan on doing it again, so it's not that bad :)
 
I am building a full 3D background using grout & have had exactly the same problem.
In the end i decided on a grey floor & wall tile powdered grout which has no mold inhibitor. I started with a thin layer, with each layer becoming thicker, 4 layers in total.
I am currently dry brushing the final details before sealing, it has taken about 10 days so far & yes i will be doing it again too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top