Just out of idle curiosity, why grout for floor tile?
- posted
15 years ago
Grout
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- posted
15 years ago
"HeyBub" wrote in news:asednUtXnaN0ONTUnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
Pure guess. Wear resistance? In itself it's very hard. Sanded grout of course has sand...which is hard. Also, bonding properties to tile.
All pure speculation.
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- posted
15 years ago
You have to fill the gaps between the tiles with something. What did you have in mind besides grout?
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- posted
15 years ago
You could use caulk, but it would be time consuming, and probably harder to clean. What alternatives are you thinking might be a better idea?
JK
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- posted
15 years ago
Good point. What got me going on this idea was the notion that one doesn't grout self-sticking vinyl tile!
As an experiment, I laid nine ceramic tiles (3x3' area of 1-foot tiles) in a doorway by gluing them to the concrete slab. I couldn't slip a piece of paper in the crack between adjacent tiles!
Nevertheless, I applied an itty-bitty seam of caulk to the almost invisible gap just to prevent dirt or water from infiltrating the space.
It's been that way for about a year now, and still looks and functions swell. Admittedly, this doorway doesn't get much use and I'm about ready to repeat the treatment for a more active entrance. So I thought I'd tap the combined wisdom of the thousands here who've messed with floor tiles more than I.
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- posted
15 years ago
To fill up the joints so dirt doesn't. What's that you say? Lay the tiles "tight" so there is no joint? Good luck in doing that - even if the tile has straight, 90 degree edges.
When I lived in Mexico my apartment had a floor laid like that (as did many other residences). Actually, it wasn't tile in the normal sense, it was what is called "mosaica". That is like terrazo made into uniformly sized pieces and is laid like tile but "tight". Looks like hell. There were always a fair number of offset pieces either horizontally or vertically. The fix was to fill any gaps with white cement (the mosaica was made with white cement). After filling it still looked like hell.
The grout joint also helps firm up the tile by helping to prevent rocking should the tile not be totally supported on the bottom. Some of us also find the pattern from the joints to be esthetically pleasing.