Is it necessary to let grout slake in the mixing container? It would be easier to push the grout into crevices before it thickens, and allow more time to work. Wouldn’t the grout slake anyway, once it’s between the tiles?
I’m wondering if there’s a chemical or structural reason to slake before applying the grout.
Janet
A rear addition provides a small-scale example of how to frame efficiently.
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Replies
grout is a mixture of binders, pigments and solids to perform properly ALL the ingrediants must be "Wetted" by the water.
some of the ingredients absorb the water slower than others, Slaking allows them to "catch up"so they can react appropriately.
also the water will soak into any clumps and assure that they are mixed more homogeneously (hope that doesn't get the ###)
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"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion"
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
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If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
"ALL the ingrediants must be "Wetted""LOL, sometimes the short version is best!'course the shortest version is just, "YES!"
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I'm not an "Institute of Colloid and surfactant science" graduate but I play one on TV....
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"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
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If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
It may help with air bubbles too. If the directions on the bag tell you to slake, then you'd better do so. Mix it just a little bit wet if it gets too thick on you.
be carefull with that "little bit wet"That can make it easier to work, but most failures come from too wet.
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The instructions say so, right?
I've never been one for just plain going by the book either without understanding why...
So you need to see the process on a microscopic scale.
The goodness of cementious products like this is dependent on both a chemical reaction and a mechanical one.
Essentially the primary ingredients are the parts of microscopic sea animals from long ago. They are shaped much like small suction cups.
Then you need to remember how surface tension of water works. Spill a couple drops on a glass surface and see how it beads up? It takes a little mechanical action for it to spread out over the surface.
That is what is going on with mixing, then slaking off, then mixing again - you are letting the surface tension of the water break down and fill the cups of the little old seashells so there is no air interfering with proper adhesion that will hold the powder together for a lifetime.
If you work it too quick and you have failures such as shrinkage cracks or flaking.
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Little sea shells? Man, I want to wear YOUR glasses, mine suck. All I see is grit..LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gotta learn to GROK it man!
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Ah Master, I am but a lowly weed hopper in your vast meadow of wisdom.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
Hey, I just wetted my grout..I got a batch of SEA MONKEYS!
Cool!Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
and I just about wetted my pants laughing at that
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Seriously, who else but you knew that grout was Sea Monkeys? Not too many folks I'll bet.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
quit riding the monkeys now or somebodies grout will get stiff.
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Your knowledge never ceases to amaze me.
You're a real smart feller, feller smart. Say that fast, 10 times. LOL!!
"It is what it is."
Yah, Yeah, Yeah....all the wimins say the same thing too;)
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I always mix again after slaking time allotment. Directions say so.
if U have to ask ...
U obviously haven't laid enough tile.
or have laid the tile U have laid ... ? ....
not fast enough.
'cause ... if U had laid enough ... or enough fast ...
You'd not even question the slaking.
the slake ... is a wonderful time.
it's a time to chug a bottle of cold water ...
a time to hit the portapotty ...
a time to wander around the job site and annoy all the other trades who aren't forced to "slake off" on a hot summer day ...
slaking is time to stretch the knees and clear the mind ...
zen kinda stuff ...
before getting back to the hard work of laying tile.
slaking is a natures way of saying ...
hey kid ... relax for a minute ... or 10 to 15.
there's plenty of hard work to do ...
no need to rush into it all at once.
only reason I tile is to slake.
take that away ....
and it's too much like roofing!
'cept .... lower. usually closer to the ground.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
One of your more beautiful posts - like watching a flower unfold in time lapse!
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well ....
it was from the heart!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Kinda like a really long haiku.
I never thought of you as a slaker... a slacker, but not a slaker....
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"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
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If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
Freakin' poetic!!!
That seashell thing was a light bulb moment for me as well.
jeff,
"Its to much like roofing?"
You don't let your shingles slake? Maybe that's why it take me so ong to shingle a roof.
Russell
"Member of the Jewish Carpenters Union"
'To slake, or not to slake: That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the shame and call backs from improper grouting,Or take the time to properly slake as per the directions.
Edited 8/19/2008 10:21 pm by Heck
Edited 8/19/2008 10:23 pm by Heck
This thread is turning into a library! We have poetry, zen religion, history, chemistry, business, technical trades, romance....
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"We have poetry, zen religion, history, chemistry, business, technical trades, romance...."
isn't that the list of what's been banned!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
"Forum creep" it must be!A version of mission creep or budget creep.All we need now is a singing librarian wearing purple to mix the grout
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Wow... slake poetic artistry....Can you do a MC freestyle rap at the next BT fest? Sweet stuff....Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
Anybody know how to pronounce this word?Is it slack, soft A or slaeke hard A?and are there regional differences?
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cut me some slake brotha
take up the slake.
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"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
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If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
Don't have a bag of grout to look at, but here in NW Oh I have always used the long A pronunciation.
How is it spelled on the grout bag?
slack
slake?
Don't know if grout succumbs to roberts rules of order or the marcus of canterbury's rules but "ake" is usually long A.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
OK, I knew I had a carton of grout or two on the shelf over there, so I went to look and see how they spelled it.My grout was black BTW, so you can imagine how my keyboard and face looks now, having gotten residue on my fingertips while rotating the carton looking for the english version of the instructions....So after all that, and getting my eyeballs narrowed down to the fine print focus...The way they spell it is s-i-t as in "...allow the mix to sit for ten minutes..."LOL
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Reminds me of a Thanksgiving dinner and ex-bil mentioned the taste of the green onions, but he called them "Scullions" , everyone at the table corrected him and said "It's SCALLIONS, you moron"
This went on for awhile and finally he grabbed a dictionary and came back into the room and said, "Ok, lets see?" 'S...Sc...Ok HERE IT IS! It Says "Scallion"...SEE SCULLION"
Man he cracked us up..LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
LOL!
Funny.
By the way, with J Buck, I'm pretty sure it's pronounced with the small 'a'
:)
I have always heard it pronounced "slaeke" with the hard A on the west coast.
Hmmm, I'll bet there are more hard A's on the east coast than on the west coast!;)
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Longhttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slakesss-lake.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Good! That is how I have always said it, but not because I knew.besides, I hate to have any slackers on the job. I want to see job applicants with wear showing on the knees of their jeans and the toes of their shoes, not the backs of their heels or the seat of their britches.
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ache ... like ... my back aches from not enough slaking.
I like to slake ... allows me to slack.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Shall I bake you a cake to take?
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Sure.
get a hold of Ralph and ask for Kathy's Orange Cake recipe.
had some in Fla ... delicious!
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
so it wasn't a shake-a-cake EZ bake cake mix?
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hey ...
just thot.
now we have a daughter in the house ...
I can finally get myself some of that EZBake Cake I been craving for years!
haven't had any since the youngest niece grew up.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Slake your grout. My tile guy is militant about it.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.