Why You Can't Have Tight Grout Lines

We are often asked to install tile with really tight grout lines for Ceramic, Porcelain, Natural Stone and other types of tile. Usually this is for flooring but I have installed a lot of big tile in showers and tub surrounds too installing what is provided. But, what exactly determines grout line widths? Click on photos to enlarge.



You would be surprised to learn that we spend a lot of time jacking tile around just to make it fit properly and look good. I frequently will set a tile, then pull it, turn it 90 or 180 degrees and try it again. There is a reason for that. I will also frequently just pull a tile and use a different tile to fit a space. That is why at the end of a job you might end up with some extra tile with adhesive still on the back of the tile but was unused. It could very well be it was too big, too small, warped, or so out of square you couldn't make it work.



This is all in a days work and isn't usually is not an issue unless the customer want's a tight grout line and you are real close on available tile for the install. We can run out of good tile that would effect a tight grout line.  

You see, when tile is formed and fired it is impossible for each and every tile to come out of the oven in the exact same size and shape. When I open a new box of 12x12 Porcelain or Ceramic tile no two tiles will be alike except for color perhaps. We try to get as close as we can but after setting 3 or 4 tiles we can determine the general condition of the tile. Even with spacers it can be difficult to keep a narrow straight line and sometimes we may need to push a tile here and there to make everything look uniform.

If you want close tight grout lines you need to buy "Rectified" tile. Rectified tile is tile that has been sized or sorted that fit some very narrow dimensions and it will cost you more for a better fit.

Now let's take a look at Natural Stone.

Natural Stone is cut at the stone manufacturer. Natural Stone is produced with hard rock diamond and water cutting systems. It's rough and there are a number of aspects of the manufacturing process that effect the quality and thus size and dimension of the tiles.

First, the width can vary due to the type, size, quality, and sharpness of the blade cutting the slab. Second, the type and sharpness of the blades, calibration of the saws and tables that cut the Natural Stone Tile to size. Generally the tile is polished to a specific stage and then cut into square and one would think they would all be exactly the same size but you would be wrong, unless again the tile is "Rectified" or sorted into into tight tolerances.

Generally, when a customer requests a tight grout line I pull out a few tiles and check them for size and square to see how it can be used but ultimately, it's the tile that determines the grout line width. I have been known to saw off a 1/2 blade width of tile here and there but it is common practice to just use a reasonable grout width  and push the tile as needed to make it work and it generally does.

And another thing,

As with anything else, quality costs money. If you want better quality tile and tight grout lines we can get real close but you probably will not find it at the big box stores. You will also need to save more tile than normal to replace damaged tile because it is common to damage adjacent tile in a replacement situation especially with Marble and tight grout lines. Save an extra box and store it somewhere.