Should we have beautiful seams? After evaluating 3 high-end products...

The seams of ceramic tiles have always been a headache for everyone.

The newly laid white bricks are clean, but they have turned black after a few years of use.

For example, the Westin Hotel I stayed in was much more diligent in cleaning than ordinary people’s homes. After several years of use, the cracks in the bricks are still dirty and yellow, which is very disgusting.

The solution is to make beautiful seams.

However, do you really understand the differences between the sewing products on the market? Which one is the best?

Today, we will use experiments to find out.

Let’s first briefly talk about all the products related to brick joints on the market and what are the differences between them.

The earliest method used to fill brick joints was ordinary white cement, which cost a few yuan for a large bag. It easily became dirty and powdery, and has now been eliminated.

Caulking agent, also called caulking agent, is cement plus quartz sand. Quartz sand is the raw material for our kitchen countertops, so it is much stronger.

Sewing agents are mainly resins and curing agents. They no longer require cement, and their texture is almost the same as plastic.

Epoxy colored sand is made by adding quartz sand to resin and curing agent, with a mainly matte texture.

You see, it is actually a combination of cement, resin and quartz sand.

But which product is the most cost-effective? Is the more expensive the better? Today we are going to do an experiment spanning two months to find out.

The three products we specially found are all from relatively good brands.

The caulking agent is Deco's light gray cement caulking agent, a pack of ￥25, 2kg.

White caulking agent gets dirty easily, so we specially picked a colored caulking agent to see if the situation would be much better.

The seaming agent is imported brand Sika, a set is ￥69, two tubes are 400ml each.

For epoxy colored sand, naturally choose the famous Mapei 149, a bucket of ￥850, 3kg.

The material cost alone can range from ￥1.25/100g to ￥28.3/100g, a price difference of 22 times.

Is the performance gap between them really that big?

These are three sets of identical tiles, and the gaps between them are the same thickness.

After using three different materials for construction, we will conduct a series of tests simulating daily use to see how big the difference is. Construction comparison?

The grouting agent is in powder form after unpacking, just mix it with water.

Its construction is very simple, and the construction fee is also very cheap, only a few yuan per meter. Most of the time, it is directly included in the price of laying ceramic tiles, and there is no separate quotation.

If you don’t make any additional suggestions during decoration, the master will default to using white caulking agent for you. Of course, you may not use a brand as good as JCDecaux and Henkel Black & Decker.

The seam beauty agent is easy to recognize and comes in two separate bottles.

As for porcelain caulking agent, real porcelain glue, and beautiful porcelain glue, as long as there are these two bottles, they are all such products.

During construction, the resin curing agents in the two bottles are mixed together and will solidify quickly.

Before making the seams, the tiles must not only be cleaned, but also the seams must be waxed to facilitate tearing off the excess after the seams are dry.

Many people think that the labor cost of sewing is expensive, and they want to buy sewing and do it themselves.

But after watching the master's work, I very clearly suggest that you don't save this money:

This is really troublesome. Just a few seams like ours, the master will do it. for 10 minutes.

Secondly, it is also a delicate job, especially the intersections where you need to be patient. See if you can cut a straight line with scissors. If you don’t have that skill, don’t harm your home.

In addition, during the construction process, the master also revealed a little secret to us:

Because the white seams are easy to get dirty, the tiles need to be fully cleaned before construction, and they are beautiful. When the seam is not dry, a little bit of dust will stick to it forever, so the master definitely does not recommend you to do white seams.

Of course, white seams and wood grain tiles are also the most ugly in the universe.

Epoxy colored sand is the most expensive and the most abundant. You can understand that it is based on the caulking agent and adds quartz sand.

In its packaging, the resin and curing agent are also separated, and the curing agent has a separate small bucket.

The construction of epoxy is the most laborious. It requires accurate electronic scales to weigh the resin and curing agent, and adjust them as needed.

After the painting is completed, cleaning and scrubbing should be performed significantly more times.

The construction fee of epoxy is usually ￥15~30/meter. There is a legend in the industry that there is a husband and wife team that specializes in epoxy colored sand and earns 300,000 yuan a month.

The price comparison of the three products is as follows: Appearance comparison?

The caulking agent and seam sealing agent will be completely dry 3 to 5 hours after construction. Sewing requires an additional process, which is to shovel off the excess.

The epoxy colored sand takes 3 to 5 days to dry.

The grouting agent has a cement texture and is very natural. It is recognized as our favorite style. The light gray brick joints and dirty pink tiles are particularly high-end.

The first impression of beautiful seams is white, especially white, so white that it is dazzling, but it is a bit uncoordinated.

And because we chose matte tiles, the tiles are not reflective but the seams are reflective, which is particularly strange.

For this reason, we do not recommend using seams on matte tiles such as cement tiles and wood grain tiles, let alone white or gold seams, otherwise they will be particularly ugly.

However, among the product samples JCDecaux recently sent us, there are a few special matte and beautiful seam colors. If you are interested, we will test them next time.

The texture of epoxy colored sand is also quite special. Its particles are not as rough as the caulking agent, and it is a bit like the flying snow spray played during the holidays.

In addition, this color is recommended by Mapei. It is said to be the whitest ICE WHITE, but the color is obviously a bit darker.

Aesthetic comparison: jointing> Epoxy colored sand> Comparison of beautiful seams and dirt?

Next we will pass some series of tests to look at the performance of these three materials. What's the performance like?

In order to simulate the conditions encountered in daily use, we will use 3 small tests to simulate daily dirt.

We first stepped on it with our shoes on, sprinkled it with water, and then wiped it clean.

Considering that slippers are usually worn at home, the intensity of this experiment has actually exceeded daily use.

In this experiment, all three materials performed well and did not leave any stains.

Next, we used a wet and dirty mop to mop these tiles to simulate usage in a bathroom environment.

This is also a question that everyone is worried about: will the caulking agent absorb dirty water and make it dirty and ugly?

But all three materials will be clean after being rinsed with water.

For daily use, all three materials can be easily handled.

Let’s do another extreme test with pen and ink.

After all, the joints are made of cement. As expected, the ink was absorbed into it and could not be wiped off, leaving very obvious traces.

The pen ink on the beautiful seam can be easily wiped off without any trace.

The epoxy colored sand is somewhere in between. After wiping off the ink, it still leaves a circle of marks.

From left to right, they are seams, seams, and epoxy colored sand.

The third test kitchen was used to test the heavy oil pollution. We specially found some chili peppers in it. Seed chili oil, and let the oil stay for a while before wiping it off, which is more suitable for daily use.

Caulking agent has basically no resistance to oil. All the oil stains are absorbed immediately, and even paper towels cannot absorb them out.

Beautiful seams are still immune to all poisons, and will return to their original shape immediately with a gentle wipe.

The epoxy colored sand also has slight penetration, and after wiping it off with a paper towel, there will still be some residue.

From left to right, they are joints, beautiful joints, and epoxy colored sand

This result is slightly beyond our expectations, because epoxy colored sand is the most expensive and high-end filling material. Sealing material, but its performance is not as good as ordinary priced seaming agent? We will answer this question later.

The results of the dirt test will be announced first. In terms of daily household dirt, all three materials can withstand it; but for extreme dirt such as oil stains and ink, only the seam sealant can completely withstand it. tested.

Unless you choose black caulking agent, colored caulking agent still cannot withstand dirt pollution. Mold resistance comparison?

Mold in the kitchen and bathroom is also a very troublesome problem.

But how do we reproduce mold in our experiments?

We placed the tiles in a refrigerator with the power turned off and covered them with a wet rag to create a warm and humid environment.

Put another box of moldy rice to speed up the process of moldy tiles.

When I opened it two weeks later, there seemed to be no movement.

We came up with a new method, spraying water with tea bags rich in organic matter, covering the tiles, and spraying water regularly to maintain humidity.

After a month, I officially opened the refrigerator.

The tea bags were all moldy, the tea had seeped out, and the rag had changed color.

However, when we opened the tea bag, we were disappointed to find that there was no mold in the cracks of the bricks.

In fact, if you think about it, the moldy parts in our kitchen and bathroom are actually glass glue.

In the gaps between the tiles on the real floor or wall, they will only get dirty and turn black, but they will not become moldy.

Let’s focus on glass glue and plastic cement. They are the two that can really get moldy, especially glass glue.

However, after being soaked in tea for a month, the beautiful seams can still be restored to smoothness easily, as if nothing happened.

But the seams didn’t work. The tea had completely seeped into it and couldn’t be wiped out no matter how hard it was wiped.

The situation of epoxy colored sand is not optimistic either, which really makes us disappointed again.

From left to right are joints, seams, and epoxy colored sand

We tried to use steel wool, but it took a lot of effort and scratched the glaze of the ceramic tiles. , but there is still no way to completely remove tea stains from epoxy colored sand.

It must be pointed out here that the performance of epoxy colored sand is actually not consistent with our consistent understanding. It may be caused by problems encountered during construction.

If you use epoxy colored sand at home, please tell us about your experience. Conclusion?

Here we review the price and performance of the three products:?

The seam sealant achieves a complete victory in function at a moderate price, no matter how terrible the stains are. It can be restored to a bright and new look.

If your brick joints are white, beauty joints are definitely the right choice. It's no problem to use it in the kitchen.

Of course, the biggest disadvantage of beautiful seams is that they are too plastic and reflective, which steals the spotlight.

In addition, because the main component of seams is resin, many people are worried that it will turn yellow.

Mid-to-high-end seams are generally treated with anti-yellowing treatment, but this does not mean that they will still be as good as new after 10 years of use, but they will yellow very slowly.

It’s so slow that you can’t notice it, and it won’t be very obviously different from white ceramic tiles.

So if you want to do white seams, it is best to buy a better seam agent yourself, rather than using the brand-name products brought by the workers.

Epoxy colored sand is the most expensive and can handle normal use, but not in extreme environments.

More suitable for people who dislike the plastic feel of beautiful seams, but are afraid of dirty seams.

In addition, the construction method of epoxy colored sand is also more suitable for mosaics, small bricks and special-shaped bricks.

Otherwise, if you want to do beautiful joints with so many brick joints, the cost will be at least five times higher.

A good caulking agent is enough for daily walking and mopping. If the brick joints are dark and are not used in the kitchen, then the caulking agent will be enough, saving money and looking good.

Which product will your family choose to make? Leave a message and tell us.

Welcome to follow me and provide long-term answers to practical information about home decoration and home furnishing.

Zhufaner currently provides home decoration services in Chengdu/Beijing/Shanghai/Kunshan, mainly providing everyone with one-stop services that are worry-free and beautiful.

If you need help with any questions about home decoration, please feel free to send us a private message or leave a comment.

This answer comes from the user of Haohaozhu, who lives in Chengdu. For more decoration tips and home experience, please log in to the Haohaozhu APP to view