Grout Spacing

[Bonwit]

I’m getting ready to lay a porcelain tile shop floor. Any recommendations on what grout thickness to go with? I’m thinking 1/8”. The tiles are 12x24. Also, I’m planning to use a leveling system. Any recommendations there? I see there are many different ones available on Amazon.

Thanks!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Does the manufacturer recommend a spacing ?

If not, go buy a couple packs of spacers in different sizes. Do a layout with the different spacers, which one do you like better ?

When in doubt, sometimes you ask the wife. yeah seriously.

 

[rlitman]

Is the porcelain rectified? If not, be careful with too small a spacing. Even if so.

I recently did a bathroom with rectified porcelain walls and floors. The shower tiles were flawless, and flat as could be, which worked well with a nice and thin grout line. The wall tiles were nowhere near as perfectly rectangular, which led to weird issues. My tile guy was AMAZING, and knew how to hide the gaps in the right places, but a wider grout line (we were going to minimal on the walls) would have made things easier, but looked far worse.

 

[BigGarage]

I’m getting ready to lay a porcelain tile shop floor. Any recommendations on what grout thickness to go with? I’m thinking 1/8”. The tiles are 12x24. Also, I’m planning to use a leveling system. Any recommendations there? I see there are many different ones available on Amazon.

Thanks!

I put down 11"x 11" porcelain tiles in my garage bathroom several years ago and I used 1/4" spacers. I liked it so I used them again when I redid the 2nd floor 1/2 bath but I used marble & granite for that. I have no pics of the garage porcelain tile on this computer but here are a couple of the other tiles to give you an idea.

Dennis

 

[Bonwit]

Is the porcelain rectified? If not, be careful with too small a spacing. Even if so.

How would one know if a particular tile is rectified? I assume by rectified, you mean it is dimensionally square?

 

[rlitman]

How would one know if a particular tile is rectified? I assume by rectified, you mean it is dimensionally square?

Correct. It should say it on the box, but you can also see the effects of grinding on the edges.

 

[FANTM58]

On the floor you’ll want sanded grout, and the mfg has min reconditions .
I think 3/16” but the grout package will clearly state the specs..

 

[jkeyser14]

I went with 1/4" on my 12x24 tiles.

 

[Angelfire]

I too installed 12x24 and mine was rectified. I went with a 1/8" grout line. Was just too frightened to go any smaller.

Don't use a leveling system. Flatten your substrate instead. Levelling systems in general, will decrease your overall bond to the floor below (ie. they lift the tile up, thereby creating a void). You need 100% bonding coverage on the tile to ensure you don't end up with cracks, etc.... Inside a home, it's not a bother but if you are anticipating working in the garage, skip the levelling system.

Cheers.

 

[johnnyradiant]

Having gone into a couple jobs that had a leveling system used I can say I was taken aback by how many and how large the voids were.

 

[Justind97]

I've begrudgingly helped my dad with a few bathroom tile installs using a leveling system. NEVER AGAIN.

He thought it was the best thing since sliced bread... until it was dry and 3 of the tiles popped off with ease. The look on his face...
Plus the added headache of breaking the clips off and dealing with whatever sticks up is a severe pain in the ***.

As others have said, spend the time to level the substrate.

As for your original question. I would personally go with 3/16 spacing with such big tiles. But it's personal preference. so grab a bag of each size and lay it out.