I want to put up a wainscoting of slate tile about 3 feet high on one wall in my TV room.Because of the "look", I'd like to install the tiles with the edges butting up to each other instead of having a grout line between.
Can this be done or is the grout necessary for strength or?
Any drawbacks with doing this?
Willi snipped-for-privacy@frii.com
Yes/No...grout is only cosmetic, not structural...
Not if you want the open look...
Slate is often uneven in thickness and you may need the grout to make up the difference in surface texture or edge imperfections. If you can find slate with uniform thickness and perfect edges you should be able to butt it up as close as you want. Make sure to use a strong cement backer board and polymer modified thinset for maximum strength (slate is heavy). You still may need to use a very thin grout line.
I recently did a slate foyer floor and chose a grout that was on average the same grey as the tiles but later decided that a darker grey would have been nicer to set off my pattern. I took weeks to decide on a grout color.
The grout's just cosmetic. You'll want to get polished slate though because slate doesn't usually have a uniform thickness, which grout helps to conceal. The only problem I can see is that it might make the wall look a bit like a blackboard. But that could be a nice look too.
Steve Manes Brooklyn, NY
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