Hello, I want to put up a small square of tiles behind my new sink, which will extend down to the skirting board. Are you meant to leave the same gap between the tiles and skirting as you do between the tiles themselves (and apply grout in the gap), or is it better to butt them right up to the skirting? If it helps, I'm using 10mm thick travertine tiles. Thanks.
Tiling to a skirting board
- Thread starter LadyM
- Start date
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You can certainly tile directly down to the skirting board and no gap is needed unless you want to provide one- but if you are going to do this, please ensure that its perfectly level as a starting datum by using a spirit level. Enjoy! Cheers John
i like to leave the same gap around by the skirting board, usually about 2mm as you want some where for the grout to grip and adhere to. bit like grouting kitchens on top of the work top. a lot of folk sit the tiles directly onto the worktop allowing the grout no where to stick to, thus falling out and cracking.
In cases like this, I tend to use the rubi wedges (or similar), which I guess gives me about 1.5mm or so.
Sean tiler, Is it not better to have a silicone joint against the worktop? The grout will always crack otherwise, despite the gap left.
Sean tiler, Is it not better to have a silicone joint against the worktop? The grout will always crack otherwise, despite the gap left.
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i personally dont like to see silicon around kitchen worktops, mainly because its hard to find a coloured silicon that will go with the worktops. i do offer both options to the customer though and leave the executive decision to them at the end of the day. i think that seeing silicon around the worktops looks a bit DIY ish, i tend to sit the bottom tile ontop of a
spacer and when grouting make sure to push the grout right into the back of the tile so it cant come back out. the main reason for the grout cracking in my oppinion is folk standing on them etc to fit new blinds. the other option is to fit trim which holds the bottom tile in place.
Clear silicone should be used, looks perfect especially with a darker worktop.
I used to do the Plumbing for a company in Ascot, the tilers always used clear, some of the Kitchens were £50k +. Not DIYish at all.
I used to do the Plumbing for a company in Ascot, the tilers always used clear, some of the Kitchens were £50k +. Not DIYish at all.
My spacers are 4mm will a bigger gap solve the cracking problem. I'm looking at it from both a practical and asthetic point of view, the sink would be silconed to the tiles at the top so wasn't sure if it would look right if they were siliconed to the skirting at the bottom.
Silicone always. I agree
Anyone who reccomends grout instead of silicone must be a DIY tiler.
Grout will inevitably crack in time
Silicone at the top, for sure - as for the gap where the tiles contact the skirting, grout or silicone would do. Maybe if the gap is a little uneven, grout would be easier to work.
yes where it asnt been done before by the kitchen fitter, i am very lucky in that the majority of people i work for are all very proffesional and they actually think about the next man on the job. another reason i always leave space to fit the grout apart from it having some where to go, is that you never know if the worktops have to be removed or replaced, in my method they can easily be removed with minimum damage to anything else.i can only assume that if the grout is crascking and coming away is that the tiles are set directly onto the worktop, in which case im not surprised.
The siliconing method means that the worktops can be removed too as a gap should be left before silicone is applied.
I still can't get my head around doing it this way, and still believe the grout is susceptible to cracking, so for that reason I am out.
Thanks for taking the time to explain though
I still can't get my head around doing it this way, and still believe the grout is susceptible to cracking, so for that reason I am out.
Thanks for taking the time to explain though
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