You need the right grout as it can be the difference between a beautiful, long-lasting installation and a less aesthetically appealing one that will deteriorate rapidly. The market offers numerous grout from various brands, including Mapei, so you need to pick yours carefully.

Mapei Flex Cq is a ready-to-use, professional-grade grout suitable for residential and commercial installations to grout exterior and interior tiles. This product is from a brand (Mapei) that’s committed to improving the quality of life of people by coming up with highly sustainable chemical construction industry products.

If you are looking to install stone or tile, continue reading this Mapei Flex Cq review for an insight into this grout.

Is MAPEI Flexcolor CQ Good For Shower Floor?

Mapei Flex CQ can be used to grout intermittent wet areas like shower floors, shower walls, and bathtub surrounds. This grout is formulated using quartz aggregate, thus improving workability, easing cleanability, and ensuring color consistency.

You can power wash and steam clean Mapei Flex CQ after 6-7 days, but don’t set the power washer to more than 1800 PSI.

Don’t use Mapei Flexcolor CQ in a steam shower.

Is MAPEI Flexcolor CQ An Epoxy Grout?

Mapei Flexcolor CQ isn’t a urethane or an epoxy grout. This grout combines stain resistance and chemical resistance similar to epoxy grouts with cementitious grout’s abrasion resistance to deliver ease of maintenance.

Mapei Flexcolor CQ is a single component grout formulated from unique sand color-coated in an acrylic base.

Is MAPEI Flexcolor CQ Sanded Or Unsanded?

Mapei Flexcolor CQ is sanded grout.

Is MAPEI Flexcolor CQ stain resistant?

Mapei Flexcolor CQ is a chemical and stain-resistant grout, so your floors and walls will stay clean for extended periods. Moreover, it makes cleaning up fast and easy and saves you time and money on repairing and replacing stained surfaces.

Does MAPEI Flexcolor CQ Need To Be Sealed?

Mapei Flex CQ doesn’t need to be sealed, so you don’t need to spend more money on a sealer. It’s easy for water to evaporate and dry from wet, unsealed grout.

Moreover, you get an easy-to-clean surface using grout that doesn’t need a sealer. This is because a hard-to-clean surface is formed when the sealer’s chemicals mix with grout.

How Long Does It Take For MAPEI Flexcolor CQ To Dry?

For Mapei Flexcolor CQ to cure entirely and make it stain resistant, you need to let it dry for three days before exposing it to water. However, light foot traffic is fine 24 hours after grout application.

How do you grout with MAPEI Flexcolor CQ?

Follow the procedure below to apply Mapei Flex CQ correctly.

Moisten the surface using a rounded, damp grout sponge before applying the grout to make spreading it easier. Don’t pre-wet the tile if you are working on a wall or a vertical surface but make sure it’s clean before grout application.
Hold a medium to hard rubber float at a 45° angle to the surface and use it to force the Mapei Flexcolor CQ into the joints. Clean the areas as you proceed to keep the site tidy.
Ensure the joints are gaps and voids-free and well compacted.

Get rid of excess grout from the surface. Hold the float at nearly 90° to the surface and move it diagonally to the joints when the grout is fresh.
The surface of the grout should be flush with the edge of the tile.

How Do You Clean MAPEI Flexcolor CQ Grout?

Begin cleaning once the surface forms a skinned-over, dry appearance, which is 5-10 minutes, depending on the tile’s absorption rate, humidity, and temperature. Grouting small portions at a time will ensure cleaning can start prior to grout skinning over and drying on the surface of the tile.

Loosen the grout and shape the joints by moving a white scrub pad or a moist grout sponge in circular motions across the surface. Drag a damp, clean sponge in a diagonal direction across the joints of the tiles while applying a bit of pressure. Use a sponge’s one side for every wipe over the tile, ensuring you rinse it after the second wipe.
Keep haze from forming on the tile surface by regularly changing the water bucket.
Do a final wash an hour following the first wash if you see residue on the surface of the tile. You can add clear dishwashing soap to clean water, then loosen any grout residue with a white, clean, moistened scrub pad and get rid of the residue using a moistened sponge.

Use fresh water to clean your tools while the grout is still wet.

Can I Use Flexcolor CQ On Glass Tile?

You can use Flexcolor CQ on mosaics or glass tiles. In addition, it can be used in quarry, porcelain, ceramic, cement-based terrazzo, and natural stone tiles like polished marble, marble, slate, travertine, and granite.

Mapei Flex CQ Reviews- MAPEI FLEXCOLOR CQ Ready to USE Grout with Color-Coated Quartz

This is a ready-to-use specialty, professional-grade grout for residential and commercial installations. It has a dense composition that helps avert water-based stains by making the grout surface water-repellant.

It’s formulated using the quartz aggregate’s latest innovation, ensuring improved workability, easy cleanability, and color consistency. It is suitable for surfaces made of natural stone tiles, ceramic, porcelain, cement-based terrazzo, and quarry.

This grout will not stain your surfaces and is resistant to mildew and mold because of the BioBlock technology. In addition, it’s resistant to cracks and chemicals and doesn’t require sealing.

Mapei Flexcolor CQ grout is ideal for intermittent wet surfaces like bathtub surrounds, shower floors, and shower walls. Don’t use it in areas with temperatures greater than 52°C ( 125°F) or in submerged areas.

Following application, protect your surface from light foot traffic for 24 hours, normal foot traffic for 48 hours, and heavy/commercial foot traffic for 6-7 days. Moreover, let it cure entirely for 3 days.

Pros

Chemical and stain-resistant

It dries to a uniform, hard color surface
It can be used on various surfaces, including glass tile
It’s available in multiple colors

Cons

Installation takes more work

Mapei Flexcolor CQ problems

While Mapei Flexcolor CQ is a popular choice for grout, there are problems you may face using it, and you ought to be aware of them and how to solve them. Let’s delve into this.

1. It Can Be Challenging To Smoothen The Grout

Since this grout is slightly sandy, smoothening it takes effort and time. However, this doesn’t mean you won’t get the job done; just that the process will be much harder.

2. Mapei Flexcolor CQ Application Takes Time

While you can apply Mapei Flexcolor CQ grout quickly, the results may be less desirable. Therefore, it’s better to take your time applying it correctly and dealing with any issues you could face in the process.

Since Mapei Flexcolor CQ grout application is time-consuming, professionals tend to charge more for the job.

3. The Grout Dries Faster On The Surface Than The Joints

Mapei Flecolor CQ dries quickly, which can be advantageous as it will allow you to use the place much earlier. However, this quality can also be problematic as it requires you to be fast during application because while the joints stay wet, the surface will dry very swiftly.

Keeping up with the application is challenging and technical, making it pretty complicated for someone with little or no experience doing this kind of work.

Solutions To Mapei Flexcolor CQ problems

Since most problems associated with Mapei Flexcolor CQ arise from wrong application, you can solve them through proper application. Here’s how you can ensure you use this grout correctly.

a) Follow Proper Procedure

Since Mapei Flexcolor CQ differs from traditional grout as it has special instructions, you must adhere to a precise application to ensure the result is desirable. The manufacturer provides essential instructions, but you may find them hard to understand.

Consider hiring a professional or, at the very least, seek their guidance.

b) Apply Mapei Flexcolor In Portions

Since this grout dries fast on the surface, it’s better to apply this grout in portions as that makes it manageable. Divide the place into sections, then grout one area to completion before proceeding to the next.

This approach prevents dried-out surfaces and makes cleaning up easier.

c) Use The Right Float

You can use a medium or hard float when applying for the best results. Whatever you do, never use a soft float because that will produce undesired results.

NOTE:

You don’t need a professional to apply Mapei Flexcolor CQ. You can do it yourself, provided you follow the instructions and techniques to achieve the desired results.

You can find this grout in 26 colors, so you cannot complain about limited choices.

Final Remarks

Overall, Mapei Flexcolor CQ is an excellent grout that produces long-lasting desirable tile work. However, on the flip side, this Mapei Flexcolor CQ review clearly shows that it has problems that can make the application pretty frustrating.

Fortunately, you can avoid most of these issues through proper application.