Hardwood vs. Wood Looking Tile

bones said:
That grout is amazing!  So why can't builders do the same grout?  Is it a labor issue or a product offering issue?

product offering maybe? we were told it the tile would crack if there's not enough grout used
 
GH said:
bones said:
That grout is amazing!  So why can't builders do the same grout?  Is it a labor issue or a product offering issue?

product offering maybe? we were told it the tile would crack if there's not enough grout used

Lol, that's not true, who ever told you this does not know tiles.  The main purpose of grout is just to filled the voids and seal joints between tiles. 

The guideline for regular porcelain tile's grout width is 1/8" and for natural stones is 1/16".  For rectified porcelain tiles, you can do 1/16".  I think the builder like to keep with standard 1/8" grout line because it's cheaper, easy to do, and easy to hide imperfections.

For anything less than 1/16", your porcelain tile or natural stone tiles need to have very consistent dimension, very precise cut, and very high quality, otherwise lippage will occur.  Also when the grout line are 1/16" or thinner, it take a very experience installer to do a good installation.  It's very labor intensive and more expensive to do a grout line 1/16" or less. I think OpenSky got an incredible deal for his tile. 
 
lnc said:
GH said:
bones said:
That grout is amazing!  So why can't builders do the same grout?  Is it a labor issue or a product offering issue?

product offering maybe? we were told it the tile would crack if there's not enough grout used

Lol, that's not true, who ever told you this does not know tiles.  The main purpose of grout is just to filled the voids and seal joints between tiles. 

The guideline for regular porcelain tile's grout width is 1/8" and for natural stones is 1/16".  For rectified porcelain tiles, you can do 1/16".  I think the builder like to keep with standard 1/8" grout line because it's cheaper, easy to do, and easy to hide imperfections.

For anything less than 1/16", your porcelain tile or natural stone tiles need to have very consistent dimension, very precise cut, and very high quality, otherwise lippage will occur.  Also when the grout line are 1/16" or thinner, it take a very experience installer to do a good installation.  It's very labor intensive and more expensive to do a grout line 1/16" or less. I think OpenSky got an incredible deal for his tile.

Sadly we both don't have much experience with tiles to know better. My wife complained about it (thought it was BS), but since she never liked the design studio experience from the get go I just thought she was being biased. We did check the tech specifications of Daltile and it does say minimum grout required is 3/16". So maybe partly it has something to do with the product too.
 
I did a small test on my tub area and sealed the grout lines. Tomorrow I will attempt to seal more grout lines and then my kitchen back splash. Not fun at all. :(
 
Chairman said:
I did a small test on my tub area and sealed the grout lines. Tomorrow I will attempt to seal more grout lines and then my kitchen back splash. Not fun at all. :(

OpenSky probably don't have this issue since his doesn't  have a grout line. ;)
 
Regarding to grout line width, there's nothing wrong with 3/16 or 1/8.  Some time the wide grout line is part of the "look" of  the floor.  It's just that for the wood looking porcelain tile, you want the look of hard wood floor and the benefit of porcelain tile, thin grout line is a must in order to successfully mimic the look of hard wood floor. 

I often see it in the model home with very nice wood-looking tile but the wide grout line just kill the effect and instantly reminds people that it is not real hard wood.
 
Our grout on the tile floors was not sealed and bathroom shower tile grout were not sealed by the builder. We had them sealed on the day we got the keys. Groutzilla did it, took about four hours.
 
Back
Top