Marble tiling and grout?

Wibbs

Just a quickie from a newbie. I'm going to tile my bathroom in marble. Do I need to have grout lines between the tiles? I want it to look less broken up and more like a single slab, so can I just run the tiles end to end? They're are dark tiles so... Thanks for any advice in advance.

jj1310

Ask shop can tiles be butt-jointed. Basically no Gap between them. They'll explain better

Wibbs

Thanks for that. I'll ask them, but sadly I've found all too often "expertise" is a term that varies with the place and whomever you're talking to.

rungmc

Tiles need grout joints; sorry, but thats fact. The ony tiles that dont are what are known as RECTIFIED tiles; hugely accurate tiles that can have a 0.5-1mm grout lne.

the reason tiles need grouting is to allow for the tolerance of the sizes of tiles; say your marble is sold as 60 * 40cm, the tiles can vary by 2mm each way. A good tiler can keep this so you dont notice the tolerance, bt you still need grout.

In marble, there is no such thing as rectified, only in the more expensive porcelains! So my advice would be to pick a grout as close to the colour of your marble, to achieve an even look.

Avns1s

The primary reason for grout is to enable you to seal the tiled area preventing water ingress.

There are loads of tiles that have perfect edges and dimensions that could be butted together but before long they will fall off as most wall tile adhesive is not waterproof.
On the floor, while the adhesive is generally cement based you will have water getting into the screed and causing damp patched from spills etc if you haven't grouted.

You really need to have 2mm between the tiles to allow for adequate grouting that won't be sucked out the first time you vacuum the floor!

You could dye the grout the colour of the tiles so it won't stand out so much. Personally, I like the look of the groutlines and they tell a lot about the capability of the tiler!!

builditwell

Hi Wibbs

I have to agree with Avns1s, the main reason for grout joints is for sealing and to prevent water penetration. The industry standard in Ireland is from 2 - 5mm on walls and anything from 2 - 25mm on floors depending on the tile used. In your case it would be 2 (as with most straight edge stone) but it is up to you how thick or thin the joint should be,get advice from shop assistant and tiler befor cemmencement of work and with a suitable colour grout close to the tile shade. There are tiles which are manufactured to a high standard available and this allows them to be placed extremely close together with a liquified grout substituted for normal bag product. This applies to floors only.

Also the term rectified refers to a tile which has been resawn after the initial construction of it to enable a finished edge and to increase accuracy(not to allow them to be butt jointed). An example of this would be polished porcelain in most sizes where the edge has been chamfered as you look along it. This allows the tiles to be placed very close together and also to maintain an aesthetic look with a very neat grout joint.

Regards
Builditwell