Unhappy with upgrade tile grout line width

I

irvinetabby

New member
Not sure if I'm being super picky... I upgraded floor tiles for all the bathrooms (white tile with white grout, silly me), and was very disappointed to see the grout line looking super wide. To make matters worse, since the grout is white, it's already very dirty from the construction. IP CS said it might just be the uneven colors of the grout. In any case, I'm not sure if I can get the discoloration out.

Does this grout line look super wide to you? Tile size is 12x24. It looks weird to me, and dirty (not in this picture but it does have many dark patches throughout). :(
 

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This is deja vu for me.  I had the same thing with my builder a couple years back. 

From my experience, the builder won't guarantee their tile setter contractors using anything less than 3/16" spacers.  Ideally you want floor tiles to use 1/16" spacers but takes a very experienced tile setter who is good at his trade to accomplish this. 

In the end, I just had to live with the 3/16" spacing, but in the future if you contract other work, make sure you agree upon the tile spacing with the contractor and don't settle for 3/16".  Even 1/8" is better than 3/16" but 1/16" is ideal. 

Unfortunately for you, I'm sure there's no documentation stating the required spacer amount (if anything there is documentation saying they cannot guarantee it), so you're probably stuck with it.  You'll need to seal it often or get used to it being unevenly dirty.
 
Just like aquabliss said. You want to go with 1/16 if possible, but even that might be tricky on the larger tiles. The groutline are used to compensate for slight misalignment in tiles. The fewer tiles you have, the less error you can tolerate. With 12" wide tiles and 1/8 grout lines it takes a LOT of attention to detail to do this right on a wall. These suckers are not light. A wall at 1/16 with large tiles is gonna be very hard to do right. Floor doesn't have gravity fighting you, so it should be more realistic to get 1/16 on it.

One more thing to consider is tolerances on your tiles. We had issues with slight variations in width that become problematic. A wider grout line can "hide" these. This is not something that I had expected when a picked my tiles.

If you want 1/16, you'll have to get tiles that match to better than that and be prepared to pay for the labor it takes to put in tiles with the required level of precision.
 
Anytime I have gotten tile thinner grout lines are another upgrade.  They should have explained that to you and offered thinner grout lines.  They Also should have protected it after installation to keep it from getting dirty.
 
irvineshadow said:
Anytime I have gotten tile thinner grout lines are another upgrade.  They should have explained that to you and offered thinner grout lines.  They Also should have protected it after installation to keep it from getting dirty.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did tell the designer when ordering the upgrade, that I would like 1/16" line, or 1/8 the most. She said she will relay that to the team. No mentioning of additional thinner grout upgrade  :-\

Also, the floor is really dirty. Not just the grout (gray patches throughout), but the white tiles actually have quite a bit of marks on them. Then the grout by the toilet is all yellow. Gross! I can't believe they didn't protect the floor. I asked the CS if they can clean it up, but he says it might just be the grout's color being uneven. How do I make sure they clean it all up before we move in (this Friday)?

Thanks!
 
irvinetabby said:
irvineshadow said:
Anytime I have gotten tile thinner grout lines are another upgrade.  They should have explained that to you and offered thinner grout lines.  They Also should have protected it after installation to keep it from getting dirty.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did tell the designer when ordering the upgrade, that I would like 1/16" line, or 1/8 the most. She said she will relay that to the team. No mentioning of additional thinner grout upgrade  :-\

Also, the floor is really dirty. Not just the grout (gray patches throughout), but the white tiles actually have quite a bit of marks on them. Then the grout by the toilet is all yellow. Gross! I can't believe they didn't protect the floor. I asked the CS if they can clean it up, but he says it might just be the grout's color being uneven. How do I make sure they clean it all up before we move in (this Friday)?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

They should have a cleanup crew come in before you walk thru (unless you already have had it). Maybe it will be all cleaned up????

Did you get anything on your upgrade sheet noting the spacing?
 
Ready2Downsize said:
Did you get anything on your upgrade sheet noting the spacing?
Click to expand...

THIS.

If you have it in writing on the upgrade sheet then you got them, they'll have to re-do it.  If it was just verbal then, as Qwerty would say "Buena Suerte"
 
In my case during selection of tiles and grout, the designer alerted to the min. grout line they could offer and helped to chose a tile patter and grout color that helped minimize the issue.
During walk-thru found a few tiles we did not like because the pattern did not match, the builder (taylor morrison) removed them and installed new ones, no question asked.
I would say complain to the builder until you are satisfied.
 
When we upgraded our tile, the Taylor Morrison design center rep said that the smallest grout line they will do is 1/8" and only with rectified tile. Rectified tile is baked and then cut to size, so each tile is exactly the same size.  The rep said that normal porcelain tile can vary from piece to piece; hence the use of a wider grout line.  We have 18x18 tile and the 1/8" grout lines look nice.
 
I don't know why but I have not see many builder offer anything less than 1/8".  However larger tile usually will make the grout line looks thinner.  And it the grout line in stained during the construction, builder can easily redo them.


 
I'm pretty sure this grout line is larger than 1/8"  :( I think probably 3/16", or possibly even 1/4".

I reviewed the contract, and unfortunately I didn't insist the designer to write the grout line width in there. I reached out to the CS rep asking them to at least clean up the grout. He said he will.

Kinda bummed that I paid for the upgrade and ended up with not so attractive floors. Actually I was also surprised by the quality and workmanship throughout the house. If I ever buy new again, I think I'll do most upgrades later. I already knew the price would be better if we do it post-close, but I didn't know the workmanship would also be better. Had my condo remodeled before and the contractors did a much better job.
 
One thing I notice is that the standard free 6x6 white shower tile are installed with 1/16" grout line and all the upgrade more expensive tile are installed with 1/8" or wider grout line. What gives?
 
This was also my conclusion from buying a new house. The workmanship and quality of upgrades is very low. It's much better to research a good vendor and do them later yourself. I had the same issue with tiles upgrade. Luckily, I didn't do rest of flooring through them.

The paint upgrade is ridiculous too. The paint quality looks pretty low. Some spots are done very poorly/lazy.
 
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