BREATHABLE
ColorClad™ is not designed to waterproof your tile floor. If that floor really needs to be waterproof, say in a shower or on an outside deck covering an occupied space, then that surface should be waterproofed before the tile is set. This is just sound building practice. A waterproof membrane needs to be pinhole free with no exposed edges. That is impossible to do by just coating grout lines.

Colorclad™ is impermeable to liquid water. It passes ASTM D6904 which is a coatings test to determine if a steady high pressure water spray will allow water passage through a coating. That is testing a pinhole free film with no exposed edges, again conditions that do not exist on a ColorSealed floor or wall. So don't think water pours through our sealer. ColorClad™ itself is indeed waterproof.

Of greater concern to many builders and engineers is the ability of a grout sealer to breath, or allow the escape of moisture vapor through the sealer. Mike Holmes (host of Holmes on Homes on HGTV) published this article a while back that stirred up a lot of talk in the industry. While we don't agree with his blanket statement of never sealing grout, he does raise a valid point about the importance of allowing the grout to breathe.

The construction industry generally considers anything with a permeability rating of less than 1 to be a vapor barrier. Epoxy, urethane and even alkyd coatings typically fall below a perm rating of 1. Although the tile industry has never come up with a specification for sealers or even for grout regarding acceptable vapor permeation, we feel that based on our testing and calculations, ColorClad™ applied as directed, with a perm rating of 15, provides more than sufficient breathability for a grout sealant.

We welcome engineers, builders and even our competition to work with us to help develop test methods and standards to promote a better understanding and acceptance of grout sealers in this regard.