Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Sep 03, 2009 12:30 pm Hi all - has anyone gone for the smaller grouting between their tiles? We're having 500x500 porcelain rectified tiles and they offered the smaller (1.5mm) grout rather than 3mm. They didn't have an example on display so I could look at it and compare - also haven't had any luck looking for pics online Anyone have it? Worthwhile? DiLorenzo want to charge me $2700 for the privilege - which seems a bit steep! After 4 years - we're in! Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 2Sep 03, 2009 2:47 pm 1.5 mm looks much nicer (if you have rectified tiles). Don't see why it shoudl cost more for the same tile. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 3Sep 03, 2009 2:55 pm With quality rectified porcelain tiles, go for the narrower grout joints. Done well, it will look almost seamless. Its important that you are very discerning about who lays the floor. It requires impeccable attention to detail. For best results, have epoxy grout. Done right, you will have a beautiful floor! Cheers! Ash. Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 4Sep 03, 2009 3:02 pm Hey Casa - you know DiLorenzo & project builders - everything contains markup and costs extra Ash - thanks for the tip about grout - how much more should I be expect to pay for it? Lots (like thousands) or a little? After 4 years - we're in! Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 5Sep 03, 2009 3:07 pm Sorry, I have no idea. Suggest you arm yourself with direct questions, and shoot them at the contractor. If they say XX costs more than YY, ask them to qualify and justify their charges. If you are direct and assertive, and grasp the details fairly well, you can blow away the cloud of cow manure which some try to hide behind. Cheers! Ash. Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 6Nov 01, 2010 1:57 pm Hi i saw this topic as i am having trouble with Di Lorenzo tiles over my supposed 1.5mm floor grouting. i paid them $1500 to lay my glazed porcelan rectified edge tile with a 1.5mm joint only to find that once i took ownership of the house that all the joints dont line up and in some places the coners of the tiles are uneven and different sizes from 3.5mm to 5.0mm. They claim that because the tile has the slightest beveled egde i will never get a true 1.5mm finish. Is this crap or are they just trying to cover their tails and feeding me rubbish and hope i dont know the difference. Thanks Matt Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 7Nov 01, 2010 7:29 pm Having similar problems as Mattie. Have builders building our new house. We selected 600x600 rectified porcelain tiles which got delivered early last week. When we looked on the weekend, they had laid the tiles the way they would ceramic tiles; grey grout with 3mm grout line. Am devastated as we've just wasted additional $5,000 on rectified for huge living area to get the seamless look but the look is far from seamless. Can one expect professional tilers and/or project managers to know that if rectified porcelain tiles have been selected, that customer most likely want them laid at 1-1.5mm joint? Any advice or insight will be extremely appreciated. Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 8Nov 01, 2010 7:35 pm sorry for a stupid question but does anyone have any pics on what the difference between 1.5 vs 3mm.. we are currently trying to chose our tiles and didn't even know that you could chose smaller grout.. and didn't know that they charge extra for the privilege Project History Deposit - 20/4/2010 Land Settled - 20/8/2010 Council - 30/9/2010 Slab - 17/11/2010 Bricks - 28/01/2011 Roof - 5/02/2011 Gyprock - 4/03/2011 Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 9Nov 01, 2010 7:47 pm Hi qonyx, using photos from http://www.ctmtiles.com/inspiration_gallery.htm as examples. I'm certain I can get this right; anybody correct me if I am wrong. 3mm - http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg 1 or 1.5mm - http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 10Nov 01, 2010 7:53 pm thanks jan.. to me it looks like a no brainer to go for the 1.5mm grout (if you don't like the look of grout), however would it work with any tiles and does it actually cost all that much more? what is the approx cost sq/m to lay 1.5mm grout Project History Deposit - 20/4/2010 Land Settled - 20/8/2010 Council - 30/9/2010 Slab - 17/11/2010 Bricks - 28/01/2011 Roof - 5/02/2011 Gyprock - 4/03/2011 Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 11Nov 01, 2010 8:15 pm Hi qonyx - am no "expert" but will tell you what I know. We went for rectified polished porcelain so that the tiles can be laid closely together as to get the seamless look. Normal ceramic tiles cannot be laid as close. I believe ceramic tiles are laid at 3mm. I think it depends on the look you are after. The rectified porcelain also seem to always have a natural stone type pattern to it. Rectified porcelain are more expensive and also more expensive to lay but that is the price one pays for the more natural look as opposed to the hand-made ceramic look. To lay, just approx prices I would say $30 sq/m for tiles vs $60 sq/m for rectified porcelain but you better double check that. guys at CTM have been very helpful to us even thought we didn't buy direct from them; they are our builder's supplier. Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 12Nov 01, 2010 8:27 pm fantastic, thanks Jan. for someone that isn't an expert you did a good job of explaining... and a good source of information for other people that may be interested in understanding a little more Project History Deposit - 20/4/2010 Land Settled - 20/8/2010 Council - 30/9/2010 Slab - 17/11/2010 Bricks - 28/01/2011 Roof - 5/02/2011 Gyprock - 4/03/2011 Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 13Dec 22, 2010 5:56 am Hi JanFreeman/Mattie, How did both of you go with your tiling. As we are also going with DiLo and we are opting for imported italian porcelain I am tempted to go for 1.5m grout (even at the additional cost). How did you go with your options? Mattie - did DiLo sort you out with your issues? Project History Deposit - 20/4/2010 Land Settled - 20/8/2010 Council - 30/9/2010 Slab - 17/11/2010 Bricks - 28/01/2011 Roof - 5/02/2011 Gyprock - 4/03/2011 Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 14Dec 22, 2010 8:12 am We went with 1.5mm grout through DiLorenzo and it looks great - though if I ever build again, I'll do the tiling post-handover! The tiler who did our outdoor areas was fabulous and didn't charge extra for 1.5mm joins (he thought it was ridiculous that DiLo does it). As a guide - $45-50/m2 for sand & cement base and tiling (plus cost of tiles) - I reckon in the end we probably paid DiLo $75-80/m2 for tiling once you add on the "large format" charge and the "1.5mm joins" charge. After 4 years - we're in! Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 15Dec 22, 2010 10:33 am stonecutter1309 We went with 1.5mm grout through DiLorenzo and it looks great - though if I ever build again, I'll do the tiling post-handover! The tiler who did our outdoor areas was fabulous and didn't charge extra for 1.5mm joins (he thought it was ridiculous that DiLo does it). As a guide - $45-50/m2 for sand & cement base and tiling (plus cost of tiles) - I reckon in the end we probably paid DiLo $75-80/m2 for tiling once you add on the "large format" charge and the "1.5mm joins" charge. Hi stonecutter1309, Wodering if you would recommend your tiler (it looks like you would ) and send us his details? Did he do any internal tiling as well? Do you know the tiler's name/details who did your tiling via DiLo and was he as good as your own tiler? And could you show us a glimpse of your 1.5mm grout lines (both internal and external)? If it's not too much to ask My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 16Dec 22, 2010 1:30 pm Hi Lex This is the mob http://www.****/business/to ... est-hoxton Sam owns the business and his apprentice is his son. Super professional - they clean up as they go and didn't leave any mess what so ever inside. We had neighbours use DiLo post-handover and the bloody tilers cut tiles inside and left tile dust over everything. Our DiLo tiling was done by a Korean guy named Lee/Li (?). Apparently Lee is mostly booked on Wisdom Homes jobs. He was very good - but we would have got the same quality tiling for half the price with Sam. DiLo simply glue the tiles straight on to the cement slab. Sam charges about $35/m2 to do that. It does require the floor to be dead level. Not such an issue with regular tiles, but definitely a concern with rectified tiles. The best way is to have a sand, cement bed - cost is $45-50/m2. A pic of the interior tiles with 1.5mm joins Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And exterior (extra thick 15mm limestone pavers laid as tiles) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ After 4 years - we're in! Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 17Dec 22, 2010 1:47 pm JanFreeman Hi qonyx, using photos from http://www.ctmtiles.com/inspiration_gallery.htm as examples. I'm certain I can get this right; anybody correct me if I am wrong. 3mm - http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg 1 or 1.5mm - http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg http://www.ctmtiles.com/images/images_i ... %20pic.jpg Those 1-1.5mm join tiles look amazing Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 18Dec 22, 2010 8:33 pm guys - i'm getting the sense that even though you may pay extra for the 1.5mm joins that they don't always turn out that way.... is this more a factor of the tile.. or tiler? i don't really want to shell out 1000s extra only to find that they haven't really done a good enough job Project History Deposit - 20/4/2010 Land Settled - 20/8/2010 Council - 30/9/2010 Slab - 17/11/2010 Bricks - 28/01/2011 Roof - 5/02/2011 Gyprock - 4/03/2011 Re: 1.5mm vs 3mm grout joint when tiling 20Dec 29, 2010 7:32 am qonyx guys - i'm getting the sense that even though you may pay extra for the 1.5mm joins that they don't always turn out that way.... is this more a factor of the tile.. or tiler? i don't really want to shell out 1000s extra only to find that they haven't really done a good enough job I think it can be a combination of things - natural stone tiles often vary in thickness (as our limestone did) which means it's more tricky for the tiler to get the tiles laid level without any lipping - though a good tiler will have no issues. The variations in thickness will happen more with thicker 15mm tiles than 5mm tiles as well. Also - if you have very dark tiles and off white mortar - a poor job will be more visible than if your tiles were lighter in colour. That being said - my parents have 600x600 large format rectified tiles with 3mm grout but because they're light with a speckle - it doesn't look obvious that it's the larger grout. We've lived with dark charcoal tiles with off white mortar and it just didn't look right. You'd get more lines visible in the tiles we laid if we didn't have the 1.5mm join - makes the floor look more seamless. If you're going to pay extra for it through DiLo - I'd drop in a couple of times duing the tiling to see how they're going - they tend to be more careful when you'e watching! The best seamless finish possible comes from using a natural stone tile that they lay with a 1mm join - then they use a grinder over the entire thing - no grout at all - just polished to one completely smooth floor. Looks fantastic - on a sand cement bed, our tiler charges about $80/m2 for that option. After 4 years - we're in! This is one of the reasons I decided to go overseas for my double glazed windows. As the builder indicated, he's worked on many upmarket builds, these were the most well… 13 19236 To my understanding early saw cuts are to control shrinkage cracks, so doing them now would be pointless. Control joints may reduce ugly cracking during periods of soil… 3 9858 Hi all I need a guidance on how far I need to space expansion joints in the concrete driveway and its type (keyway/foam.) Contraction joints are at 3m max for a 125 slab. Thanks 0 10939 |