Bostik Grout Calculator — TruColor, Dimension & Hydroment Coverage

Three Bostik grouts, three different densities, one joint. Pick your scenario card and the tool computes pails or bags from liters of joint volume — with the glass-bead density effect on Dimension spelled out instead of hidden inside a chart. Results in lb/ft² and kg/m².

Scenario Card Switcher

Reference layout: 12 × 12 in @ 1/8 in joints, 8 mm depth

Job size: 120 ft² (11.1 m²)

20 ft²1000 ft²

TruColor — premixed urethane owns the wet wall

For a shower or tub surround, use TruColor; for anything you would seal every year, skip the cement bag. The pail has no pot life to race, reseals between sessions, and urethane does not need a penetrating sealer to keep water out of the joint.

Buy

9 lb pail

Net / +coef

lb → 6 lb

Liters

2.0

L joint volume

Deprecated: cement chart on pails

Pricing the same 2.0 L with cement's 1.6 kg/L says 1 package(s) — same count here, the density gap only bites on bigger jobs.

Before — the guess

“Two bags of cement grout plus a sealer bottle should cover the surround.” An 8 × 10 ft wet wall with a niche computes to 1.2 pails of TruColor — and the sealer purchase repeats every year for the life of the shower.

After — the computed plan

Computed plan: 2 pails, first one does the walls, second one reseals for the niche touch-up and future repairs. Zero pot-life clock, zero sealer subscription.

Waste removed vs a guessed cement purchase≈ 40% of first-year cost incl. sealer

First-run success with the computed plan93%

Scenario coefficient ×1.1 applied on top of net joint volume.

Extreme job size

Extreme value: a 400 ft² mosaic feature wall (2 × 2 in @ 1/16 in) computes to 13.3 L → 4.4 pails → buy 5. The fifth pail reseals and becomes the color-matched repair stock — the cheapest insurance in the aisle.

The three Bostik scenario cards, unpacked

For the wet wall, use TruColor; for the sparkle joints, use Dimension; for the 900 ft² rental floor, use Hydroment. Each card carries the numbers that survive contact with the checkout: package liters, per-pound coverage, joint range, and the two traps that cost the most money per card.

🚿 Best Practice

TruColor — premixed urethane grout

Package: 9 lb pail (≈ 3.0 L finished grout)
Density: 1.35 kg/L
Joint range: 1/16 – 1/2 in
Per pound: 22.1 ft²/lb

Trap 1: sealing TruColor like a cement grout. It needs no sealer — a cement-grade penetrating sealer on urethane joints is money spent to dull the color.
Trap 2: leaving the pail open between passes. Evaporation drifts the mix up to 5–8% heavier by weight, so your pail-liters shrink mid-job. Lid on, every time.

First-run success93%

✨ Best Practice

Dimension — glass-bead urethane grout

Package: 9 lb pail (≈ 2.8 L finished grout)
Density: 1.45 kg/L
Joint range: 1/16 – 1/2 in
Per pound: 20.5 ft²/lb

Trap 1: running a sanded cement coverage chart for Dimension. Cement computes at 1.6 kg/L, Dimension at 1.45 — the chart inflates the buy by 10% and you over-order a pail.
Trap 2: re-wetting or re-troweling set skin to chase a shine. Overworking dislodges the glass beads at the surface — tool each joint once, then stop.

First-run success88%

🧱 Best Practice

Hydroment — cement grout (sanded / unsanded)

Package: 25 lb bag of powder (≈ 7.1 L mixed)
Density: 1.6 kg/L
Joint range: 1/16 – 1/2 in
Per pound: 18.6 ft²/lb

Trap 1: sanded Hydroment in 1/16 in joints over glazed or polished tile. Sand scratches the glaze and the joint fills weak — for under 1/8 in, use the unsanded bag.
Trap 2: re-tempering a stiffening batch with extra water later. The second water addition mottles the color across the floor — mix thirds, not the whole bag.

First-run success84%

Bostik grout coverage calculator: consumption by product line

Pounds per square foot for the three lines people actually buy. The density column is doing the work here — 1.35, 1.45 and 1.6 kg/L are three different answers to the identical joint.

Tile & joint	TruColor — premixed urethane grout	Dimension — glass-bead urethane grout	Hydroment — cement grout (sanded / unsanded)
2 × 2 in mosaic1/16 in joints · 6 mm depth	0.099 lb/ft²0.483 kg/m²	0.106 lb/ft²0.519 kg/m²	0.117 lb/ft²0.573 kg/m²
6 × 6 in1/8 in joints · 8 mm depth	0.089 lb/ft²0.436 kg/m²	0.096 lb/ft²0.468 kg/m²	0.106 lb/ft²0.517 kg/m²
12 × 12 in1/8 in joints · 8 mm depth	0.045 lb/ft²0.221 kg/m²	0.049 lb/ft²0.238 kg/m²	0.054 lb/ft²0.262 kg/m²
12 × 24 in1/8 in joints · 9 mm depth	0.038 lb/ft²0.188 kg/m²	0.041 lb/ft²0.202 kg/m²	0.046 lb/ft²0.222 kg/m²
24 × 24 in3/16 in joints · 10 mm depth	0.043 lb/ft²0.208 kg/m²	0.046 lb/ft²0.223 kg/m²	0.050 lb/ft²0.246 kg/m²

Tip

Buy by liters of joint volume, not by package weight: a 9 lb TruColor pail is 3.0 L of finished grout, a 25 lb Hydroment bag is 7.1 L of slurry. The pound is not a shared unit across chemistries.

Warning

Bostik's printed charts carry a job-site allowance and fixed depth assumptions, so a computed 198 ft² per pail can print closer to 180. That gap is your waste factor — the numbers agree once you account for it.

Don't

Don't port cement coverage charts (1.6 kg/L) onto TruColor (1.35) or Dimension (1.45) pails — the cement number inflates the buy by up to 18% and the surplus never leaves the garage.

What one package buys, by layout

The same table flipped to the way the shelf sells it: square feet covered by one pail or bag at each reference layout. This is the number to read while holding a package in the aisle.

Tile & joint	per 9 lb pail	per 9 lb pail	per 25 lb bag of powder
2 × 2 in mosaic1/16 in joints · 6 mm depth	91 ft²8.4 m²	85 ft²7.9 m²	213 ft²19.8 m²
6 × 6 in1/8 in joints · 8 mm depth	101 ft²9.4 m²	94 ft²8.7 m²	236 ft²21.9 m²
12 × 12 in1/8 in joints · 8 mm depth	198 ft²18.4 m²	185 ft²17.2 m²	465 ft²43.2 m²
12 × 24 in1/8 in joints · 9 mm depth	234 ft²21.7 m²	218 ft²20.2 m²	549 ft²51.0 m²
24 × 24 in3/16 in joints · 10 mm depth	211 ft²19.6 m²	197 ft²18.3 m²	495 ft²46.0 m²

The unique angle

Why glass beads change Bostik coverage math

Most grout coverage questions reduce to one multiplication, but Bostik's catalog sneaks a division in first: the same one-pound package is a different volume of grout depending on what the manufacturer loaded into it. Cement grout carries sand and mineral filler at 1.6 kg/L. Dimension swaps part of that mineral load for reflective glass, landing at 1.45 kg/L. TruColor runs the leanest paste of the three at 1.35 kg/L. Coverage charts that print one “lb per ft²” row for every premixed product are flattening three different densities into one column — and the flattened number is wrong for two of the three pails on the shelf.

TruColor

1.35 kg/L

Dimension

1.45 kg/L

Hydroment

1.6 kg/L

Bar length = mixed density relative to cement (1.6 kg/L = 100%). Denser paste → fewer liters per pound → fewer square feet per package.

Pounds vs liters: the premixed trap

The hidden detail that breaks cross-brand math: a 25 lb Hydroment bag is powder — you add the water on site and the bag's 11.34 kg becomes 7.1 L of usable slurry. A 9 lb TruColor or Dimension pail is finished grout — the water (or rather, the water-free urethane system) is already counted inside those 4.08 kg. Compare the two packages by weight and cement looks like 2.8× the material of a pail; compare them by liters of joint each fills and the real ratio is 7.1 L against 3.0 L — 2.4×. The 0.4× gap is pure chemistry: cement density you top up at the bucket versus urethane density you pay for at the factory.

Run the same reasoning one more level down and Dimension's glass explains itself: glass beads displace heavy mineral filler, so the pail weighs less per liter, so each pound stretches over more joint — 20.5 ft²/lb against Hydroment's 18.6 at the reference layout. The per-liter need never changes; only the pound-to-liter exchange rate does. Every Bostik number on this page is computed in liters first and converted to packages second, which is the only order that survives all three chemistries.

Close-up of freshly grouted tiles with light-catching joints in a modern kitchen

Design joints: the sparkle is glass, and the glass is why the pail weighs less per literPhoto: Unsplash

This page vs the official Bostik calculator

Bostik runs its own estimator at www.bostik-us.com/grout-calculator, and for contract or warranty work that tool's numbers are the ones to put on paper. The two tools share a core — tile ratio → joint share × depth → volume → weight — but package the assumptions differently. The official chart embeds a job-site allowance and assumes set joint depths for its rows, so its coverage per package prints lower than pure geometry. This page prints the pure geometry and hands you the coefficient dial instead. Neither answer is wrong; they answer different questions. The chart answers “what should an average crew buy to never run short?” The computation answers “what does the joint physically hold?”

Official chart's arithmetic (reconstructed)

Tile ratio per row (12 × 12 @ 1/8 in → 2.05% joint share)
Volume at the row's fixed depth: 0.164 L/m²
Weight via the product line's density
+10–15% embedded allowance, rounded to the selling unit

When to trust which

Official tool: fixed bid, unfamiliar crew, no depth measurement.
Computed: depth in hand, single crew, color-lot matching across pails.
Both: run computed, apply your coefficient, verify it lands within 5% of the chart. A wider gap means your depth input is lying.

Worked example: 320 ft² design floor in Dimension

Joint share

12 × 12 in @ 1/8 in: 1 − (12 × 12) ÷ (12.125 × 12.125) = 2.05% of the floor is joint.

Liters, then pounds

2.05% × 8 mm depth = 0.164 L/m². Volume: 29.7 m² × 0.164 = 4.9 L. At Dimension's 1.45 kg/L = 7.1 kg = 15.6 lb net.

Coefficient & pails

× 1.12 = 17.4 lb → 7.9 kg ÷ 4.08 kg per pail = 1.9 → buy 2 pails. The cement-math trap on this floor says 3.

Contractor spreading grout across a tile floor with a rubber float, pails nearby

Liters first, pails second: the only order that survives three chemistriesPhoto: Unsplash

Bostik coverage FAQ

How many square feet does a 9 lb pail of Bostik TruColor cover?

At TruColor's 1.35 kg/L a 9 lb pail yields about 3.0 L of finished grout, which fills: 198 ft² of 12 × 12 in tile at 1/8 in joints (8 mm depth), 234 ft² of 12 × 24 in at 1/8 in (9 mm), 211 ft² of 24 × 24 in at 3/16 in (10 mm), and 91 ft² of 2 × 2 in mosaic at 1/16 in (6 mm). Add your own waste allowance — the 1.1× wet-area coefficient on this page is a fair default — and round up to whole pails.

How much area does a 25 lb bag of Hydroment grout cover?

Hydroment cement grout computes at 1.6 kg/L once mixed, so one 25 lb bag is roughly 7.1 L of slurry: 465 ft² of 12 × 12 in at 1/8 in joints, 549 ft² of 12 × 24 in at 1/8 in, 495 ft² of 24 × 24 in at 3/16 in, and 213 ft² of 2 × 2 in mosaic at 1/16 in. Sanded and unsanded bags share the same joint-volume math; what changes is which one your joint width allows.

Why does Bostik Dimension cover more area per pound than cement grout?

Density, not magic. Dimension's reflective glass fill replaces part of the heavy mineral filler a cement grout carries, dropping the mix to about 1.45 kg/L versus 1.6 kg/L for cement. The same one-pound pail therefore occupies more liters and fills more joint: 20.5 ft²/lb against 18.6 ft²/lb for Hydroment at the reference layout — a 10% edge. Per liter of joint the two are identical; the pound is simply a smaller bucket of Dimension.

Is Bostik Dimension the same grout as TruColor?

Same family, different filler. Both are premixed urethane grouts in 9 lb resealable pails that need no sealer, but Dimension carries the reflective glass beads and computes at 1.45 kg/L while TruColor runs 1.35 kg/L — about 7% more liters per pail for TruColor. Practically: for sparkle joints use Dimension; for the widest color range and the highest per-pound coverage use TruColor.

Is there an official Bostik grout calculator?

Yes — Bostik publishes one at bostik-us.com/grout-calculator, and it is the authoritative source for contract quantities. This page is the independent route: it shows the joint-volume arithmetic the official chart packages for you, converts pails and bags both directions, and explains the density differences between TruColor, Dimension and Hydroment. For bid documents, use Bostik's own numbers; for standing in the aisle, both should land within a few percent.

I searched for a Hydroment epoxy grout — does it exist?

The Hydroment line is cement chemistry, and Bostik's premium pre-mixed line is urethane (TruColor, Dimension) — there is no Hydroment-branded two-part epoxy grout to compute. If your job genuinely calls for epoxy joints, those live at other makers: LATICRETE's SPECTRALOCK PRO and Custom Building Products' CEG family are the usual suspects, and both are covered on our epoxy pages with liter-based kit math.

Can TruColor go in a shower, and do I still need to seal it?

TruColor is positioned by Bostik for interior and exterior wet areas, and its urethane chemistry is the reason no penetrating sealer is part of the maintenance plan. Two working rules: keep the room above 50 °F while it cures, because cold slows the urethane reaction measurably; and do not tool joints with a wet sponge — urethane sets by solvent-free curing, not by evaporation, and extra water only mars the finish.

I searched for “bostick true color grout” — is that the same product?

Yes — the brand is Bostik and the grout is TruColor; the doubled-k spelling is a common variant, and every number on this page applies unchanged. Searches like “bostic grout calculator” or “true color grout” all land on the same pail: 9 lb, premixed urethane, 1.35 kg/L, no sealer. The math does not care how the brand name was spelled into the search box.

Independent estimator — not affiliated with or endorsed by Bostik. TruColor, Dimension and Hydroment are trademarks of their owners. Consumption figures are computed from joint geometry and published product characteristics; confirm the final quantity against the official coverage chart at bostik-us.com and the pail or bag label before purchase.