As the demand for sustainable building materials increases, commercial property owners and developers are turning to high-quality tiles as a durable, low-maintenance, and aesthetically appealing flooring solution for high-traffic environments. Tile’s popularity in commercial settings has been steadily growing over the years due to their long-lasting nature, ease of repair, and positive impact on indoor air quality since they do not emit any volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, to fully realise the sustainable potential of tiled surfaces, they must be paired with high-performance grout that can match their environmental demands.
The hard wearing all-arounder
Enter Sika’s new tile and stone grout: SikaCeram® 690 Elite. It’s a premium cementitious tile grout for joint range from 1 to 10 mm designed for porcelain, glass, ceramic and natural stones, particularly those sensitive to discoloration.
Answering the common needs of specifiers, this highly durable product boasts superb flank adhesion and hardness, as well as outstanding abrasion resistance. It’s also perfect for floor and wall installations in both indoor and outdoor environments – including pools, wet rooms, facades and balconies – making it an exceptional all-around for any commercial context.
Cleaner installation
While creating the product, Sika certainly kept the needs of installers front of mind. The product boasts Dust Less® Technology, which reduces the amount of airborne dust particles in the mixing process by an impressive 80%. This results in a tidier site and faster clean-up for the installer. At the same time, in drastically reducing the amount of airborne dust – which can be hazardous to a person’s well-being – SikaCeram® 690 Elite helps to promote a healthier and more sustainable work environment.
In addition, SikaCeram® 690 Elite’s advanced ingredients mix significantly reduces setting time, making freshly tiled floors walkable after just three hours. Such an efficient drying time can reduce any potential downtime between trades, helping the project stay on time – and budget.
Balancing performance, aesthetics and sustainability
This revolutionary grouting product surpasses conventional expectations not only when it comes to installation. SikaCeram® 690 Elite ensures a smooth and fine visual appearance, which – coupled with excellent water and dirt-repellent properties – ensures a consistent premium finish. The enduring beauty of Sika’s 18 colours enables designers and specifiers to create timeless environments that transcend fleeting design trends, minimising the need for tile replacement and reducing construction waste in the process. This benefit is further reinforced by SikaCeram® 690 Elite’s low shrinkage, excellent flexibility and efflorescence resistance properties – characteristics that enhance the durability and longevity of the product.
SikaCeram® 690 Elite’s stain resistance simplifies the cleaning process by ensuring a flawless result from the very first clean-up. The feature is certainly a convenient and efficient add-on – but it can also help preserve cleaning products and resources, such as water, in the long run.
Yet another aspect of Sika’s new grout product that is bound to benefit the users of the space for years to come is SikaCeram® 690 Elite’s very low VOC EMICODE EC1 PLUS composition rating. The EMICODE® EC1 PLUS label is the premium level of EMICODE®'s classification and it effectively defines the limit of what is technically feasible today. Utilising products with this type of label offers specifiers an opportunity to help create a healthier built environment.
Enhancing longevity
In order to further improve the performance and durability of the tiles surface, Sika also created the SikaTile® Secure System – a high-quality product range designed for enduring quality flooring.
The innovative range boasts products like an efflorescence inhibiting primer with Crystalline Technology, a fibre reinforced membrane for superior strength and safer, environmentally-advanced, Dust Less® dry mix adhesive with 0% Crystalline Silica. Compatible with SikaCeram® 690 Elite, the SikaTile® range enables specifiers to improve the performance and longevity of any tiled surface, and create even more enduring, environmentally-forward spaces.
With excellent durability, hardness and performance longevity, as well as revolutionary Dust Less® Technology and low VOC EMICODE EC1 PLUS composition rating, SikaCeram® 690 Elite emerges as the sustainable specifier's choice – and it further cements the environmental potential of tiled surfaces in commercial settings.
