After laying the tiles, it becomes necessary to seal the technological seams. Here, you need tile grout or, as professionals say, fugue. Today, it is presented in two variations:

Cement or epoxy resin-based.

Cement fugue

is a classic tile art, which is a mixture of finely ground cement with a pigmenting substance, plasticizers, and other additives. These grouts can be used to seal both narrow (up to 5 mm) and broad (more than 5 mm) seams. It is important to remember that the composition of the cement fugue for grouting wide joints must include sand of a coarser fraction.

Cement grouts

are available both in powder form and in a ready-to-use state. Here, it is recommended to give preference to the powder version in a bag since you can store the remaining grout for a very long time away from moisture. In contrast, the finished grout in an uncorked plastic bucket will quickly lose its properties.

Advantages

The advantages of cement grouts include convenience and ease of use, low price, versatility, and quite tolerable strength of the resulting joint. The disadvantages are instability due to pollution, household chemicals, and atmospheric influences. It is also recommended to use this grout with caution on materials whose surfaces may be damaged by microparticles of sand included in the grout.

Epoxy fugue

has a broader range of applications. It is recommended for use in swimming pools, bathrooms, laboratories, kitchens, and other places exposed to aggressive substances and factors. The undeniable advantage of epoxy grout is that it is compatible with most materials and can be used to process the seams of metal tiles.

Epoxy grout consists of two main components: a hardener and the epoxy resin itself, with the addition of various modifiers and fillers. When working with such a composition, mandatory respiratory protection is required, and, if possible, it is recommended to provide a good flow of fresh air.

Advantages

The advantages of epoxy fugue are its high strength, water resistance, resistance to aggressive substances, fading, dirt, and fungal infections, high decorative properties, and durability. The disadvantages are high toxicity, high cost, and difficulty in working due to the high viscosity of the composition and pre-treatment of the outer surface of the tiles with wax to protect it from unwanted traces of grout. At the end of the work, the wax film is removed with a stream of hot steam.

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The choice of fugue color is based on the stylistic preferences of the owner. However, in addition to style, it is also necessary to take into account the practicality of your decisions; for example, you should not choose light colors for floor grout in bathrooms or kitchens – such grout will certainly darken significantly if cement grout is used). But if using dark colors is not possible, then you should prepare for the fact that after some time, the grout will have to be renewed. If multi-colored tiles were used in the decoration of the room, then the color of the fugue is matched to the predominant color. For mosaics and panels, the best option is colorless epoxy grout.