Grouting quarry tiles, to top surface or lip?

smp50 · 1 Sep 2014

I have laid quarry tiles in my kitchen. Their cross section involves a profile on the edge with a first drop to a lip and then the main drop down the side of the tile:

Where should I grout to, right to the surface of the tile or just up to that first lip?

Thanks,

ree · 2 Sep 2014

I have never seen quarry tiles with that profile, plus some of your tile appears to be edging tile? Others will have more knowledge.

Where did you get the tile from?

I would grout up level with the field of the tile but that means the lip rim of grout will be very fragile.

The alternative is to grout to the lip but that will leave a recess for debris and moisture. If these tiles have been sealed maybe it will work.

Your call.

smp50 · 2 Sep 2014

ree said:
I have never seen quarry tiles with that profile, plus some of your tile appears to be edging tile?

They're all the same, maybe just an odd angle in the photo?

Where did you get the tile from?

http://www.wallsandfloors.co.uk/cat...-7573/11968/?gclid=cm3i7staw8acffohtaodpzuauq

I would grout up level with the field of the tile but that means the lip rim of grout will be very fragile.

The alternative is to grout to the lip but that will leave a recess for debris and moisture. If these tiles have been sealed maybe it will work.

Your call.

I had a go today in a small, inconspicuous area - mainly just to see if the grout will come off the surface alright afterwards (it did, with a few wipings) and it seems that it's best to grout high up to the top of the tile. As you say, this will leave a weak rim of grout, which is a shame. But the grout gets into the edge of the tile's lip bit anyway and there's no neat way to rub it back out so it's quite tricky to do it down to the lower level only. I will aim to grout them all to the top surface but the uneven levels of some tiles to their neighbours makes that a bit tricky in places.

tilerman · 3 Sep 2014

Hi, used these tiles plenty of times. You would find it impossible to grout to the 'lower' lip. Also, you will probably find that once the tiles have been grouted, the joint is going to look far bigger than you might have thought. For grout I usually use a silver sand/cement mix. Easy to work and rock solid once set. If you want to use grey grout make sure its a wide joint type. Mix it well and mix it stiff, to wet and you will have a terrible time! To get grout nice and flush with the edge of the tile, apply grout with a squeegee (I think that's how you spell it), then, throw dry grout over the whole floor and rub hard into the wet grout with a dry towel. Rub hard! Then with a damp sponge, or even better a washboy, wipe tiles over. Job done.

smp50 · 3 Sep 2014

tilerman said:
Hi, used these tiles plenty of times. You would find it impossible to grout to the 'lower' lip. Also, you will probably find that once the tiles have been grouted, the joint is going to look far bigger than you might have thought. For grout I usually use a silver sand/cement mix. Easy to work and rock solid once set. If you want to use grey grout make sure its a wide joint type. Mix it well and mix it stiff, to wet and you will have a terrible time! To get grout nice and flush with the edge of the tile, apply grout with a squeegee (I think that's how you spell it), then, throw dry grout over the whole floor and rub hard into the wet grout with a dry towel. Rub hard! Then with a damp sponge, or even better a washboy, wipe tiles over. Job done.

My grout says it's suitable for gaps up to 10mm and my "inner gap" here is 5mm, so hopefully that would be OK. Thanks for your experience and advice - I'm a bit worried about trying it, though - all that hard rubbing in the dry grout, into unsealed tiles? Or did you seal them first?

ree · 3 Sep 2014

Tilerman,
what advantage do these profiled tiles offer when laid in the field?

smp50,
Looking at the reference pic it shows a perfectly square edged tile - no profile, neither is there any mention of a profile?
Plus, your pic shows a smooth surface whereas the ref pic shows a faintly pebbled surface?

geraldthehamster · 3 Sep 2014

smp50 said:
all that hard rubbing in the dry grout, into unsealed tiles? Or did you seal them first?

It's my experience that any cement film left on the top of unsealed quarry tiles is a b*gger to remove.

Cheers
Richard

smp50 · 3 Sep 2014

geraldthehamster said:
smp50 said:

all that hard rubbing in the dry grout, into unsealed tiles? Or did you seal them first?

Click to expand...

It's my experience that any cement film left on the top of unsealed quarry tiles is a b*gger to remove.

Cheers
Richard

Aye, so I've heard. I managed to get the grout film off these ones without too much trouble so I guess they'd been factory sealed somehow? Also I made a lot of mess with the adhesive and that has scrubbed off even weeks later.

geraldthehamster · 3 Sep 2014

smp50 said:
Aye, so I've heard. I managed to get the grout film off these ones without too much trouble

It's not so bad if you wash it off thoroughly before it's dry. I'm not an expert on quarry tiles but I'd be surprised if they came factory sealed.

Cheers
Richard

smp50 · 3 Sep 2014

geraldthehamster said:
smp50 said:

Aye, so I've heard. I managed to get the grout film off these ones without too much trouble

Click to expand...

It's not so bad if you wash it off thoroughly before it's dry. I'm not an expert on quarry tiles but I'd be surprised if they came factory sealed.

Cheers
Richard

I always imagined that the first sponge-down dilutes the residual surface grout so far that it won't ever set properly anyway, is that what's happening?

geraldthehamster · 3 Sep 2014

smp50 said:
I always imagined that the first sponge-down dilutes the residual surface grout so far that it won't ever set properly anyway, is that what's happening?

Sounds plausible, remembering that we are talking about cement-based grout. But it will leave a film if you don't wipe it off thoroughly. I once did a whole back yard in (frost proof) quarry tiles, and ended up having to use brick acid to clean quite a lot of it afterwards.

Cheers
Richard

tpt · 3 Sep 2014

Seal the tiles before grouting (look at LTP, HG or Lithofin)

Use a wide joint grout rather than a sand cement mix, grout as normal to the top edge (you wont have any choice on that one anyway).
Sponge off as normal and let it mist over, then buff with a dry cloth.

You are very likely to then get the cement film residue but there are loads of products around to get rid of this, again look at the 3 manufacturers above. Ideally then seal them again afterwards.

smp50 · 3 Sep 2014

It's turning out to be quite hard to get the grout to the surface level, actually. It wears back to lip level on some edges, plus a messy line of grout stuck in the "corner", if that makes sense. Very annoying and will require extensive retouching.

geraldthehamster · 3 Sep 2014

smp50 said:
It's turning out to be quite hard to get the grout to the surface level, actually. It wears back to lip level on some edges, plus a messy line of grout stuck in the "corner", if that makes sense. Very annoying and will require extensive retouching.

Tilerman will probably hate my method of grouting quarry tiles. I normally use the same cement-based floor adhesive that I use to fix them (being happy with a grey grout). I don't so much grout them as point them, using a pointing trowel, then wipe off gently with a small sponge (of the washing up variety). When the grout has firmed up slightly I wipe it again then clean the surplus thoroughly from the tile. That way I can get the grout fairly flush with the top of the tile.

Cheers
Richard

tpt · 3 Sep 2014

you should be able to get it flush using the normal way TBH, but you may be sponging off too early and with too wet a sponge.

if you choose to point them, i'd use grout mixed a bit firmer rather than adhesive, the polymers are very different so addy is harder to wipe off

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Grouting quarry tiles, to top surface or lip?

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