Value for money grout?

[Stone Head]

I stumbled across this fabulous website a few weeks ago as I need to get my 100sq metre flagstone patio regrouted. The grout appears to be standard mortar and has lasted around 4 years before cracking quite badly in places.

[Stone Head]

The trouble is the size of the patio and even thought the flags are quite big (most 600x600 or bigger) the grout lines average a good 25mm wide. The 2 part Gftk mortar appears to be the dogs, but according to their website I am going to need 16 x 25kg tubs at £90 a pop, which is just bonkers.

I've had 3 people look at it, one suggests ripping it up and relaying again (even though the flag are fine and down solid). He quoted £8,000!

Another said just use a standard sand and cement mix, the 3rd recommended Geo fix which many on here don't appear to like, but at least it's only £30 a tub.

I'd like a quality job done which last 5-10 years, but if it costs £1,500 just for the materials, compared to £500 for Geofix and a few hundred for a basic job, it doesn't add up.

I know I know you pay for what you get, but I don't want a Rolls Royce. Anybody got an VW solution? I maybe able to stretch to an Audi solution?

Many thanks

[Tony McC]

At 30 quid a tub, that's roughly 10 times what it's worth!

You really do tend to get what you pay for when it comes to these resin mortars, and a one-part polymeric such as you mention will disappear under a power washer and, if it manages to hang around long enough, will crumble over the course of a couple of winters.

Did you get a price for Romex D1? That's in the same league as GftK 2-parts, but they usually are abit more competitive on price.

I know 1500 quid can be scary, but I've worked with dozens of clients who, having originally baulked at the cost, are now so grateful that they did, as they have had, in some cases, 10 years or more of completely trouble free service.

[lutonlagerlout]

100m2 in sand and cement could be best part of 4 days for a 2 man team to point with sand and cement
theres £1200 gone for a quality job and if it rains you are naffed
LLL

[Stone Head]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

Is Jointex D1 the same as Romex D1 - I have just got a quote for that about £70 a tub, so indeed cheaper.

The guys says its for traffic though, and they mainly set it to councils, and over the top for a patio. He says the Jointex 2 easy (which I think is a dry mix polymeric rather than 2 part slurry) would be 100% fine, even power-wash, that's £50 a tub. Is this better than Geofix?

What's people's thoughts on these products? Are there any other dry mixes which maybe cheaper than the 2 part mixes, but do a good job?

Just to be clear lutonlargerlout the patio is 100m2, I wouldn't need anything like 100m2 of sand and cement. I've only got 1 hard working guy for 4 days to take out existing grout and put back, hope that's enough !

Apologies for all the questions

[Stone Head]

Ah from your website I can see Romex is not the same as Jointex, even thought the tubs look very very similar and they both do a Easy and D1 range - confusing or what. Is Jointex as good as Romex?

[cookiewales]

Try nexus pro joint tell them cookie passed you on 😀

[Tony McC]

Jointex don't do a D1 - you must be confused.

The company responsible for distributing Jointex products once had the UK/RoI licence for Romex products, but that was a good while back.

Jointex don't currently have a 2-part resin mortar on the British/Irish market. To whom have you been talking?

[jd paving]

, I can easy do 30 metres per day working alone using my pointing gun to point flags and to be honest I cant even justify it been a 2 man job to point flags as long as joints are clean and ready to go , I would work on approx £ 12 per metre for that type of job as long as flags are ready to point , ps I do agree with lll with the costings of approx. 1200 though
thanks john

[FBF]

Jointex don't do a D1 - you must be confused.

When I was looking to buy Rompox D1 I got side tracked by the Jointex option too because they do advertise a D1 product and it did look similar to the Rompox tub. The D1 is shown on right hand menu on the Jointex home page: http://jointingmortaruk.com/ and this is their dedicated D1 page: http://jointingmortaruk.com/jointex-d1-medium-extra/.

They even do 3 colours: Neutral, Grey and Basalt - which look identical to Romex's Neutral, Stone Grey and Basalt. Not surprising it's a bit confusing!!! ;o)

[Tony McC]

Well! They've certainly changed the packaging, and the product names, since I last reviewed their range!

I knew that changes were about to be made, following the retirement of the previous brand owner, but I didn't realise the changes would be a pretty-close-to-the-knuckle assault on Romex names and colours. I wonder if the lawyers have had a look at this?

Anyway, Rompox D1 is still a 2-part resin mortar and it seems the Jointex version is a pre-coated version, that is, technically, also a 2-part resin. I've NOT reviewed this products, despite what it says/implies on their website. My review refers to their 1-part polymeric product. Consequently, I can't comment on the efficacy of the Jointex version....but I *will* be on to the distributor to get some samples for trialling.

[lutonlagerlout]

j D paving how often is the job as easy as it seems?
I have been caught out too many times with sand cement pointing,would rather have more hands less hassle now

LLL

[jd paving]

lll
its all about what works best for you aint it and if your jobs can stand more hands than that hats off to you for pricing them right

thanks john

[lutonlagerlout]

JD I agree entirely mate
stick to what works best !
because of the variation of sands around the UK what works for you wont necessarily work for me and visa versa
cheers LLL

[jd paving]

lll
i am sure it is the same in your town where sands can vary from builders yard to builders yard
I personally like to use 2 parts building sand to 1 part river or concreting sand to 1 part cement for pointing
but I am constantly experimenting with various sands,
I ideally would like to use less building sand and more river/ concreting sand in my mix but I find if I cut down on the building sand to much it tends to clog up the pointing gun

cheers john