Tile & Grout

[Omaha Red Sox]

I bet it's what's underneath your tile and grout, not the grout itself. What size of concrete board did you use or did you use any at all?

Yeah, we used 4x4 (does that sound right?) concrete board, screwed down real tight.

[Metroid]

I bet it's what's underneath your tile and grout, not the grout itself. What size of concrete board did you use or did you use any at all?

Yeah, we used 4x4 (does that sound right?) concrete board, screwed down real tight.

I think he means how thick.

I imagine it was probably like 1/2 inch, also did you tape the seams and use Thinset to stick each tile down?

[whodey#9]

I bet it's what's underneath your tile and grout, not the grout itself. What size of concrete board did you use or did you use any at all?

yeah Id bet on that too.

as for your basement do not put any laminate there.... if it gets wet it will start warping.... not good..... would be better to put Tile or Vinyl.... if you get stuck on something send me a pm and Ill call my buddy up that does this for a living

[dream_017]

Also, our basement was carpeted last spring but we got some slight water damage and I removed all of the carpet down there (that sucked). My wife would love to put lament wood flooring down there, but I'm not so sure if this is a good idea with the possibility of more water damage. I do believe the water damage was due to clogged water drains which I'm going to either clean out more regularly or get those gutter helmet systems installed. Would the slightest bit of water damage lament wood flooring enough to justify not putting that in? And, if so, would tile be the way to go down there too? It's smooth concrete right now.

Any advice or suggestions on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

We had our carpet in the basement ruined last fall. We ended up replacing the 3/4 of the basement with carpet again and tiled the other 1/4, near the sump pump that caused the water damage. Not sure how your basement is laid out, but it might be something to think about if you liked the carpeted look.

[Metroid]

Two words for your basement...tile and area rug. OK that was three words(4 if you count 'and')but thats what I would suggest.

[Omaha Red Sox]

I bet it's what's underneath your tile and grout, not the grout itself. What size of concrete board did you use or did you use any at all?

Yeah, we used 4x4 (does that sound right?) concrete board, screwed down real tight.

I think he means how thick.

I imagine it was probably like 1/2 inch, also did you tape the seams and use Thinset to stick each tile down?

Doh!

It was 1/2 inch. And we used the mud, can't remember brand, style, etc., to lay the tile down. I don't believe we taped the seams, just used a lot of mud.

[Omaha Red Sox]

We had our carpet in the basement ruined last fall. We ended up replacing the 3/4 of the basement with carpet again and tiled the other 1/4, near the sump pump that caused the water damage. Not sure how your basement is laid out, but it might be something to think about if you liked the carpeted look.

I like the carpet in the basement because the floor gets rather cold down there, especially in the colder months. But Met's suggestion about tile and rug(s) is a good one and one that I will have to run by the boss.

[Metroid]

I bet it's what's underneath your tile and grout, not the grout itself. What size of concrete board did you use or did you use any at all?

Yeah, we used 4x4 (does that sound right?) concrete board, screwed down real tight.

I think he means how thick.

I imagine it was probably like 1/2 inch, also did you tape the seams and use Thinset to stick each tile down?

Doh!

It was 1/2 inch. And we used the mud, can't remember brand, style, etc., to lay the tile down. I don't believe we taped the seams, just used a lot of mud.

The mud is really sticky and seems to stay on everything, taping isn't really all that important. It sounds like you did everything right. The only other thing I can think of is maybe you didn't make the grout wet enough so the joints didn't completely fill that can sometimes cause cracking. Really man I don't know what you can do....maybe call a tile guy.

The great thing about tile and rugs is that you can always roll up the rug and clean underneath it, also if you do have some water come into the basement you can rescue a rug.

[Omaha Red Sox]

I bet it's what's underneath your tile and grout, not the grout itself. What size of concrete board did you use or did you use any at all?

Yeah, we used 4x4 (does that sound right?) concrete board, screwed down real tight.

I think he means how thick.

I imagine it was probably like 1/2 inch, also did you tape the seams and use Thinset to stick each tile down?

Doh!

It was 1/2 inch. And we used the mud, can't remember brand, style, etc., to lay the tile down. I don't believe we taped the seams, just used a lot of mud.

The mud is really sticky and seems to stay on everything, taping isn't really all that important. It sounds like you did everything right. The only other thing I can think of is maybe you didn't make the grout wet enough so the joints didn't completely fill that can sometimes cause cracking. Really man I don't know what you can do....maybe call a tile guy.

The great thing about tile and rugs is that you can always roll up the rug and clean underneath it, also if you do have some water come into the basement you can rescue a rug.

My brother and me were the tile guys.

I do believe the consistency of the grout had something to do with the cracking. A great deal actually, because I regrouted once and the second lay had significantly less cracking than the first. I think the sealant might actually help with the cracking too.

[Metroid]

My brother and me were the tile guys.

D'oh!

I meant maybe you could contact a tile guy and ask what they think.

I do believe the consistency of the grout had something to do with the cracking. A great deal actually, because I regrouted once and the second lay had significantly less cracking than the first. I think the sealant might actually help with the cracking too.

You know how as you start pressing the grout into the joints with those rubber grout floats and the grout starts to dry out? If you continue to press that dryer grout into the joints you will for sure get cracking. We always made our grout VERY wet and once it became difficult to press into the joints we'd scrape it up and discard it.