Installing Travertine Tile Without Grout Lines

Here s why you need grout.

Installing travertine tile without grout lines. Grout is a necessary and integral part of many tile jobs for several reasons. The best thing to do is use the smallest grout line your particular tile will allow and get a grout that closely matches the tile. This natural stone is cut to size leaving honed flat edges that make great grout less joints. It is breath taking when you see the natural beauty of a joint less counter top or shower produced with this veined stone.

In most other tile i will use 1 16 or 1 8 inch lines. There is also the argument that groutless tile installation simply looks better and makes the work seem more compact or put together. Make sure you still grout it to fill all of the voids. Set the next piece of tile adjacent to the first piece being sure to repeat steps 2 and 3 for every marble or travertine tile you install.

For most granite and marble tile i install i use either 1 32 or 1 16 inch grout lines. Just talked to a tile guy today and he did his house with travertine without a grout line. Travertine is an outstanding example of tile that can be installed without grout lines. He said that it is no issue and is a cleaner look less of a chance for crap to get in the grout line and discolor.

It keeps moisture out of the substrate helps keep tile lines straight and. I try to use the smallest grout lines the tile will allow. I looked up the idea of no grout lines using travertine and someone said you must have a grout line at least a penny wide. As long as the travertine tiles are well bonded to the substrate that you cut open the joints so they are about 1 8 inch wide that you clean the joints thoroughly and let them dry and then if you install a polymer modified cementitious grout meeting ansi a118 7 per the manufacturer s directions it should perform well.

Do not use tile spacers. Don t do a groutless tile installation. Still experienced contractors will tell you that this isn t a good option and even the thinnest of grout lines can make a big difference. How to lay tile without grout lines.

The most common tools used to install travertine tile or most tile for that matter include a tape measure a rubber mallet a power drill and mixing paddle a marker or wax pencil a level a tapping block a torpedo level a chalk line tile spacers a margin trowel a notched trowel and a wet saw.