to grout or not ?????

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:20 pm

Hello expert proffessional esteemed colleagues LoL i need advice on the following dilemma, The tiles we have agreed on for the kitchen splashbacks are a porcelain tile with a simulated mosaic pattern in them, comprising of grooves cut into the face approx 2.5mm deep. see attached picture. would you grout these grooves or would you just grout the joints between tiles?? i am leaning towards grouting them as i think it might look starnge if their not, but just wanted to get oppinions from you here. the tiles are a refin ceramiche futura carbonio mosaic , long name for an expensive tile LoL also what grout do you recommend that will take to the porcelain tile niceley prefrably a grey colour

Nick

panlid · Post by **panlid** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:55 pm

wheres the pic?

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:17 pm

cant seem to post it, i have it in a pdf file from the manafcturers, but when i click copy and paste it , i cannot seem to get it to post here.

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:26 pm

Cut'n'past to a jpg file then post.

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:36 am

how do i do that , i managed to get it into word, but cannot post it to my pictures it still shows up as a word document??? I can copy and paste the image but where do i go to convert it tinto a JPG file

Nick

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:15 am

Start/All Programmes/Accessories then select paint. Paste it into there and save as jpg. Or use any picture editing tool - I assume they would work

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:12 am

Hi Nick,

download this- http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/mwsnap.htm

It is great for snapping any picture, just open it up and then open the word document and then select the snap tool from within mw3 snap and drag a box over the picture and then click it with the left mouse key and the picture will be cut out and you can save it as a jpeg..

If you are struggling e-mail me the doc and I will do it for you

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:24 pm

Here are the pictures of Nick's Tiles-

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:32 pm

I don't think the groves are deep enough to grout. I think its designed to be left as is - personally speaking

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:31 pm

Hopefully one of the pro tilers will add to this.

I think they would look better if the lot was grouted or else you will be able to see that the tiles are infact large tiles and not mosaics.

The BAL grout seems to get a good rating from some of the pro's.

I'd test it out on a spare tile first, just to see how it looks

Mudster · Post by **Mudster** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:34 pm

The important factor is are the grooves glazed? If they are, don't grout.

If the tile looks like a very fine saw has been run through and the biscuit of the tile is exposed in each groove then it's designed to be grouted.

panlid · Post by **panlid** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:38 pm

from what i can see, i would say the whole lot would look better grouted. the lines dont look white (are they?). if not it will be very hard to match up the grout if you dont do them all. imo i would as someone has said, just try a bit of grout to see if it is ok. i would think it would be.

panlid · Post by **panlid** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:40 pm

im getting the impression at that depth they will be a flat base on the groves.

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:19 pm

no the grooves are not glazed, just as though a saw has been run through a glazed tile so the inside of the tile is exposed. the grooves are flat bottomed so i think grouting is going to be the way , does it matter what sort of grout you use on porcelain tile or are they all just multi purpose ?

Nick

bstyle · Post by **bstyle** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:34 pm

Use a Polymer modified grout like Bal superflex.

Or a standard Bal grout with the admix GT1