Grouting internal corners, ceiling joins etc.

[mike004]

When finishing off a fully-tiled bathroom, should I use a bead of silicone for these places:
* Internal corners
* Places where tiles meet door frames
* Window reveals
* Top of the wall, round the ceiling
* Bottom of the wall, where the tiles meet the floor

Is it acceptable to grout some of these areas? The window surround I will definitely use silicone for. Can I use acrylic builders caulk for some of these areas -- I have a spare tube knocking around.

The accepted wisdom is that grouting these areas will result in cracked grout as the tiles expand. But the old tiles were grouted where they met at internal corners and showed no such problems.

Thanks
Mike

 

[NickStone]

Do tiles expand? In my experience, grout tends to crack where the tiles have been laid on two different surfaces - boxing in, for example, or where a plastered wall meets a wooden floor. Also if you have hot pipes running through your boxing-in, the ply of the box will expand/contract and that may crack the grout. (I once used flexible filler on that to good effect.) I've just looked in my bathroom and, like you, can find no cracks on internal corners.

 

[gcol]

Ceramic tiles will certainly expand and contract with variations in heat and moisture. Not much I'll grant you, but certainly enough to pop a tile off the wall if no grout joint is allowed for.
I'd only usually silicone around bath/shower/sink and any internal corner around the bath/shower. I'd grout everywhere else.
You could silicone the floor/wall joint if you like but I'd only be doing that if I knew there was going to be quite a bit of water sloshing about - i.e. around a bath/shower area.
If you use decorators caulk instead of silicone, it'll get grubby quickly - don't do it unless you want to paint it.

 

[NickStone]

If you use decorators caulk instead of silicone, it'll get grubby quickly - don't do it unless you want to paint it.

That's a good point, gcol. Worth paying the extra for something that does the job.

 

[mike004]

>f you use decorators caulk instead of silicone, it'll get grubby quickly - don't do it unless you want to paint it.<

I might use decorators caulk for the tile ceiling joins. I will be giving the ceiling a coat of emulsion anyway, so I can paint the join...

Mike

 

[NickStone]

And no-one will notice up there anyway.

 

[mike004]

>And no-one will notice up there anyway. <

Exactly!

Mike