Gftk and romex - Confused with price and quantity

[paulcc]

I have laid about 13 sq m of concrete slabs 450x450x35 mm. I was going to use cement and sand but with this weather and convenience I want to use either GFTK 840 plus or Rompox Easy. These seem to be the 2 jointing grouts that come up as the best rated when I looked through previous posts.

However I’m a bit confused as to quantities and price.

Looking at the product data sheet for GFTK to point 400x400mm slabs with a 10mm joint width requires 2.5 kg/msq. I fugure as my slabs are 450 square then working on 10m sq I would require 1 tub of 25kg. The price for a 25kg tub is £65.53.

Moving onto Rompox easy. They suggest that a 40cm sq slab with 8mm joints requires 1.58 kg/msq. Using the logic above that would require one 15kg tub which costs £40.19.
There seems to be a big price difference between the two and if the calculation and assumption is correct then it looks like the Rompox is the one to go for? Then I am left thinking is Rompox consistency a lot more bulky that you can get away with 10kg less of it?

Can anyone shed some light on this? Am I looking at this correctly? Don’t want to over spend however don’t want to under order and then have to partially complete the job.

I was looking at easy point but it doesn’t look so easy with the small area that I have to cover.

Any advise would be appreciated?
Cheers

[msh paving]

I have used GfTK on a lot off job's, yes it is a bit expensive but it is a great product easy to used ,the weter the better using it , flows with no compaction,you 13sqm of slabs will take no more than 45 mins from mix to clean up,
If you need any help speak to Gary at NCC
NCC Streetscape Limited
Unit 2 Ackhurst Road
Common Bank Industrial Estate
Chorley
Lancashire
PR7 1NH
Telephone: 01257 266696


MSH

[DNgroundworks]

Ill second that ^^, great stuff to use, also i told the gary that id never used a slurry before so he came out and went through the whole process with us, great service.

[lutonlagerlout]

both products are polymeric and in my experience polymerics will fail down the line
i have done a number of patios in rompox and after about 2-3 years it starts falling to bits
it wasnt cheap and when i contacted romex they made life hard for me,suggesting maybe I "replace the ruined mortar"
you can make a fool of me once but it wont happen twice
and to that end i will be using sand a cement or easipoint from now on
LLL
will get pics because i am royally pished off by this whole scenario

[Pablo]

Rompox easy and gftk 840 are brush in polymerics and are no good but the 2 parts systems by the same firms are very good but painfully expensive.

[lutonlagerlout]

thing is pable when i did my old man's it cost him £150 for polymeric
I wouldnt call that cheap by any means
LLL

[paulcc]

Right - So no glowing reports on either. Costed it up and gftk 840 is close on £100 with postage versus the £40 of Rompox. Also is there nowhere you can buy the stuff in a shop? All of it seems to be mail order. Well re-thinking the whole pointing thing now based on the replies above.

I just want to finish the thing now as it has taken way too long as I only have weekends and evenings and for the most part the weather has been crap.

[r44flyer]

What about Flowpoint? It's about £20 a bag, you'd need 2. mickavalon used it on my in-law's patio and it seems to work really well. Nice finish too.

http://www.instarmac.co.uk/product.jsp?productID=66

[mongo]

With the help of all the great folks and the knowledge of this site, I done my own patio a couple of years ago and used rompox easy. While it was great for the first year, the second year it went brown. I did use a jointing tool to compress the rompox as well when i pointed it (although not required). This year i cleaned the patio with lithofin MN, but it didnt clear up the rompox jointing.



Then 2 years later:



Im quite likely going to jet wash/scrape it out then go for easipoint or a wet 3:1 mix and point it. Will keep my eyes peeled for the posts on jointing going forwards!

[paulcc]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't want to take the risk that the pointing goes off colour.

All things concidered I think I will go for Easipoint. Seems to be the best for convenience and quality.