Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8468 2016 | TECH causing mold and mildew on dried grout to exceed performance expectations, in 40 colors. Fusion Pro Designer Series adds designer-inspired reflective colors. www.custombuildingproducts.com CONTRACTOR PERSPECTIVE––––––––––– GROUT Sam Bruce Visalia Ceramic Tile, Inc. Visalia, Calif. www.vctile.com From a commercial project standpoint, the grout type that is trending up the most is epoxy grouts. Due to its resis- tance to stains and chemicals, many commercial projects are specifying epox- ies because they are easier to maintain, last longer and look good longer. Visalia Ceramic Tile prefers to use epoxy grouts rather than single-component grouts since the application process is most like a traditional grout, and we can efficiently install it. Very few commercial projects that we see specify single-component grouts. I believe that pricing is a big fac- tor to that. When owners want the ben- efits of stain- and chemical-resistance they are going straight to epoxy since the pricing is not that much different than single-component grouts. When value engineering is needed owners are selecting traditional or high-performance grouts to save money.  Until single-com- ponent grouts come down in pricing and become easier to use, I don’t think we will see much of them in the market on the commercial end. In the residential market the most popular grout is the high-performance grouts. CUSTOM’s Prism grout is the standard for all residential projects for Visalia Ceramic Tile. It is preferred by the installers since it is easy to apply and clean. Customers are getting a very good product for a very minimal price increase compared to sanded grouts. Shading issues are no longer a problem with the Prism grout and has led to fewer callbacks, saving time and money. Very rarely do we install epoxy grouts or single-component grouts in our residential market; homeowners are more economical when select- ing their products and they weigh the value to the cost. We have installed more single-component grouts in the residential market than we have epox- ies. However until pricing and the installation pro- cess become more efficient with sin- gle-component grouts, they may not get much mar- ket share. Custom Fusion Pro Designer Series adds designer-inspired reflective colors to CUSTOM’s grout lineup. Grouts