The only reason that we had a fan going which was 15' away from our grouting with a propane heater was due to a couple off reasons, # 1 the in floor heat was not in this area and this is coldest part of the house # 2, I wanted to make sure that any water used in the grouting clean up did not sit on top ! I have had in the past, especially on floors an efferesence left in the grouting process from customs sanded grout. Also we used a hair dryer instead of the heat gun to show the owner that all grout would blend in if waited the full cure time, this dryer steped up the actual apperance, I know does not make any sense.

This area with the pebbles came out just fine, using the propane heater and acid washing this area twice and letting the grout cure worked. Just another note, we suggested that an Island stone for the pebbles be used and the owners went with a cheaper stone which took 30% more grout than what we are used too, the fact that the in floor heat was not installed and presented major problems. I had to return approx 500.00 dollars to the clients because of the time involved in getting this area to look perfect, this is a t/m job, what are you supposed to do. Weigh the balance of the work that still needs to be done and eat this minor glich.!!!!!! They are saving money compared to by the square foot for these areas. Also on the hard pack over ditra to fix the remainder of the floors as stated before, this system worked out better than I thought. We ended up with 3/8" average of hardpack and two yards to fix, than as stated before a diluted redguard solution only to insure that the hard pack would not deteriorate durring the installation of the marble, I think that this held together the hard pack.

Just an FYI for future installations with any radiant or electric under tile floor heat. They should NEVER be turned on before or during a tile/stone installation. As I have stated before, no extra heating or fans should ever be used during an installation.

Until full curing of thinset and grout has been achieved (approx. 21 days)no radiant systems should be activated.

Sorry to hear you lost money on this job. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The joys of contracting.

Done deal,Thank You for the information on the curing time for grout, we ended up using 150# natural grey customs sanded grout and needed to acid wash x 2 to secure the color because of the ditra over slab and the teperature conditions of this area were not right, cold part of the house. We still need to seal all work and will be using aqua mix gold and after set will put the floor machine on to clean up, and hopefully blend in the finish of the pebbles. Any advice on the final step would be welcome.