Tiling without spacers

kam3qnwvebf4jh

Am having a problem with some kitchen wall tiles I bought recently. The tiles are 10x10cm square, but they aren't square if you know what I mean. The side of each tile is kind of like a wavy line. When I rang the guy in the tile store, he said that you just have to use your eye when spacing them out as you cant use spacers ?

Anyone have experience putting up these type of tiles ? Is it just a matter of judging the space and the line yourself ?

Hellrazer

Same thing here.I used matchsticks as they could be cut to size where you wanted to line them up.

Hard to explain but you could say put the matchstick in the best "position" along the "edge" of the tile to line it up whereas the spacers are like cross shape and wouldnt allow the wavy line to fit neatly in the intersections of the "cross".

dools

Hi,

We just got our kitchen tiled last week with those wavy tiles. The tiler did use spacers, but he put them in point first and had them sticking out between the tiles (like the way you'd have a pole stuck in the ground) at the widest 2 points on each side . They were not laying flat, buried into the adhesive.

This gave the spacing distance between the tiles. When the adhesive had dried a bit,he just plucked them all out to use again. He said he always does it this way so (a) he can use them again and (b) the grout goes on better as there are no spacers buried in the adhesive and sticking out in places

Hope it makes sense

D

Borzoi

Hellrazer wrote:

Same thing here.I used matchsticks as they could be cut to size where you wanted to line them up.
.

Better again is to use the spacers, but not flat + on the wall, but at right angles, into the wall. You can if you want break the spacers into 4 pieces to do this.

This is the way I tile because it's very easy to remove the spacers afterwards, to get a good even level of grout everywhere

dools

Borzoi - I was trying to say the same thing as you! You're better with words than me!

D

Borzoi

dools wrote:

Borzoi - I was trying to say the same thing as you! You're better with words than me!

D

Thanks for that - I'll get a big head. We must have been writing at the same time!

squire1

I put up the same type of tiles a couple of years ago myself. Didn't bother with spacers, just butted the tiles up against each other. The wavy/irregular lines means you can still grout. They still look the business. Try a couple of rows like this and see how they look. You can always remove and restick using spacers if you think they are not going to look well.

GreeBo

Borzoi wrote:

Better again is to use the spacers, but not flat + on the wall, but at right angles, into the wall. You can if you want break the spacers into 4 pieces to do this.

This is the way I tile because it's very easy to remove the spacers afterwards, to get a good even level of grout everywhere

:eek: I didnt know there was another way
Took me ages to figure out what you guys meant by "flat on the wall".
I've only seen/used them sticking out of the wall.

On another note, I'm thinking of tiling my kitchen floor but I think it will look much better with no gaps, is there any reason why I shouldnt butt the tiles together?

ctrl-alt-delete

GreeBo wrote:

On another note, I'm thinking of tiling my kitchen floor but I think it will look much better with no gaps, is there any reason why I shouldnt butt the tiles together?

the purpose of it is to seal them, water getting under in any way will eventually lift the tiles

charlesanto

why I shouldn't butt the tiles together?

The grout is water resistant, remove it and your tiles are no longer water resistant.

Except - Marble tiles are usually fitted without grout. I don't know how they resist water, but i guess that the adhesive is different ie water resistant !

GreeBo

Hmmm hadnt thought of that
so now I have a problem....the tiles are matt black but I reckon it will be impossible to get a grout that wont stand out, and the missus doesnt want that.
Any idea?
Butt them with some black silicone between the joints?

charlesanto

I've wavy tiled a few years ago - used the spacers sticking out the way. Also used coins where a different space was required - wave op. wave

kam3qnwvebf4jh

Thanks for all the replies.

I did consider butting them together but I am a bit worried about not being able to grout around the whole perimeter
of the tile.
Is there a chance that moisture could get in behind the tile(where the tiles only touch each other) and loosen it eventually.

The only other way I guess (like advised) is by picking the outermost point of each tile and sticking a spacer upright beside it (for each of its sides!)

charlesanto

Spacers are less inportant on the floor (the space is important). Tiling a wall without spacers is tough because the tiles will slide down into the space.

kam3qnwvebf4jh

Just found the solution to my problem..........Beer mats...
Placed perpendicular into adhesive, they will keep the tiles each side parallel to each other.

Is there any problem beer can't solve ?

squire1

GreeBo, was in a house recently that had matt black tiles on the kitchen floor and he had grouted them as normal and then hand painted the grout with a black paint. It took ages to do but the results were worth it.

If your tiles are for the floor, I wouldn't use silicone as it wouldn't wear very well.

tcs

Have seen different colours in grout (various shades of blues, beiges, greys etc.) so assume that black/dark grey should be obtainable. As with everything a little bit different you'll pay extra for coloured grout than you would for white.

GreeBo

Might be time for a magic marker

CJhaughey

Use a length of orange builders string as a spacer, flexible and just pulls away when finished.