![]() My tiles had irregular edges (simulating a handmade look) and some of the grout joints were greater than 1/8" and some a bit less, so this solved the "should I use "sanded or unsanded" dilemma!" One thing that is kind of neat about it is that it really doesn't use sand as filler-it used coated quartz crystals (I guess that is the "CQ" in the name) which aren't supposed to scratch sensitive tiles as easily as regular sanded grout and, because the coated quartz is very fine, it can even be used in 1/16" grout joint. Glad to know I am not the only grout "perfectionist" out there who took months to get the grout right! The Flexcolor does also come in avalanche, which is whiter than their regular "white" grout. I really love the way it looks and has held up (Being ready-mixed it was easy to use, too.) It has held up really well on our kitchen backsplash. It is an expensive grout, but it never needs sealing and it is very stain resisitant. So if anyone else out there needs a warm white grout, I would highly recommend the Flexcolor CQ standard white grout. I never thought I'd get that excited about grout, ha, ha! (To tell the truth, though, if I hold a piece of very white paper next to the grout, I can tell that it is a "warm" white, rather than a cool white. Lo and behold, their standard white grout looked like a beautiful, clean white next to my yellowish undertoned tiles!!! I was so ecstatic to finally find the right grout. It is not cement-based (it is a ready-mixed silicone acrylic or something like that). I finally tried a brand-new type of grout that had just come out by Mapei called Flexcolor CQ. (If my husband knew how much I was spending on grout he'd have a fit!) I came to the conclusion that there must not really be any such thing as a true white sanded cement-based grout! (After all, cement is grayish and sand is pinkish, right?) I ended up trying out 13 different types and colors of grout (mostly whites, but I even started trying other light grout colors) on my sample boards. Part of the reason I was so careful about finding the right white is that I remember someone posting on this board (from 4 or 5 years back, I think) how the white grout looked purplish next to their yellow tiles!! They had photos of it, and I wanted to make sure I didn't end up with the same thing! I think there is a name for this phenomenon, something about seeing the color opposite on the color wheel on an adjacent white surface. However, I did notice that if I held a sample of the avalanche grout up to something white it did look pure white! So I guess how we see color really does depend on what is next to it. I think it might have been the pink undertones in the sand causing that effect next to my tiles. However, I ended up trying a sample tile board with the Avalanche (sanded) grout and it looked pinkish (I mean a slight pink undertone) next to my yellow-undertoned ivory colored tiles. I am sure that Avalanche looks white next to white tiles. I am the original poster who asked this question last year! Thanks for posting, Lynnster52, as I am sure it will help others. If anyone here has any experience with this color, I would love any feedback. (Don't have enough left-over tiles to make another sample board!) ![]() Now I am afraid to open the bag and waste not only my time and money, but my one and only sample board that I made. She said they were going for the look of snow (hence the name?). She said that she thought Avalanche, if it had any undertone at all, had a blue undertone to it, but she wasn't sure. I called the company and they said that they have had trouble getting an accurate color for Avalanche on the paper charts. I went to Lowes and noticed a definite pink cast to the plastic sample there as well (and I asked the salesclerk, and he noticed it too.) It did not look good with my tiles at all. Then I noticed that the Mapei paper color charts I had (I had collected quite a handful over the last year or so, LOL) all seemed to show Avalanche with a pinkish undertone or "cast" to it. In the tile store, the Avalanche plastic grout sample stick was the one that seemed to look the best with my ivory subway tiles (they have a golden or sandy-colored undertone-not the usual bone or bisque color.) I bought a bag of Mapei's Avalanche white grout, hoping for a true white grout. Is it a true white? Does it seem to have any pinkish or blueish or greyish undertones?
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