Great new grout

If I were retiling my bathroom floor—and believe me, it definitely needs to be—I'd give Bostik's TruColor grout a close look. Like many DIY-friendly grouts, it comes in a bucket, already mixed and ready to use. Just stir it up a bit with your trowel, dip in your float, and grout away. But unlike those other pre-mixed grouts, you never need to seal it. And unlike epoxy grouts, which don't need to be sealed either, TruColor won't yellow and there's little if any waste.

TruColor utilizes a tough urethane polymer to give it stain resistance and flexibility. There are no powdered pigments, which can streak and fade; it uses colored quartz particles instead. Blockade, an anti-microbial additive, helps keep mildew at bay. Cleans up with water and carries a 10-year warranty.

Although it's only available "sanded," Bostik says TruColor will fill joints as small as 1/16 inch and can be used on glass tiles without scratching. (The "sand" is mostly rounded granules of  recycled glass). Just play it safe and test it on the glass first. 

Make sure to pay close attention to the installation instructions. The "open time" is three hours, but you should clean as you go, sponge-wiping the tile clean within 10 minutes of so. (That cuts the grouting time by half, Bostik says.) Also, the uncured grout is water sensitive, so you have to wait 7 days if you put it in a shower stall. On the plus side, you can walk on it in one day. Or you can do a bit of grouting, stop, and come back later when you have to finish. Both good things if I ever retile my bathroom floor.

A 9-pound bucket of Trucolor sells for about $76. That's about the same price as epoxy, but none of it has to go to waste. You can scrape the leftovers back into the bucket and use it again within two years.