Question about tiles/grouting.

[JoeHova]

Hi everybody-

 

My wife has done some volunteering at an elementary school in minneapolis for the past couple years and this year the kids did an art project where they all decorated a tile with permanent marker and then were going to make the tiles into a tabletop for the classroom.

 

Now, the teacher who had this idea said that she had a friend that would handle the grouting, so my wife assumed that she knew what she was doing. However, when the teacher talked to her friend, he said he couldn't grout the tiles, as that would ruin the artwork on them. I have no idea how this didn't get figured out before they did the art project, but whatever.

 

My wife and the kids are really devestated by this, so I was just wondering if anyone had any idea how or if this could be remedied.

 

Thanks!

[mothershipconnection]

Since the tile won't take the beating, traffic, and foundation shifting of being on a floor, all you'd need to do is affix it with a decent flooring tile adhesive and wouldn't need to space the tiles and lay grout.

[JimH5]

I may be talking out of my rear on this one, as I don't really know how marker ink would handle grout. . .BUT--

 

I used a grout product from Home Depot a few years ago that was made for delicate surfaces. I used it to grout glass tile that was installed as a kitchen backsplash, and the grout didn't have any real grit in it.

 

It worked fine, the end result was beautiful, the glass tile wasn't scratched at all. I used standard spacers (1/8 inch?).

 

A tile guy may know more about it than me, but I was able to do a pretty delicate tile project with a non abrasive grout.

[dadofandrew]

Joe, almost anyone at Home Depot, Menards, or Lowe's will find you something that will work. As mentioned, I do not know why an adhesive you put on the back would seemingly work fine.

[Chio151]

A couple potential solutions:

 

Seal the tiles first and then grout.

 

or

 

Just apply painters tape over them while you're grouting.

[fstorm1]

Having tiled and grouted our bathtub, I can tell you it wasn't a whole lot of fun, especially the grouting. But that was on a vertical surface, obviously, and we are still planning on tiling the bathroom floor and kitchen floor as well (not to mention any other tiling that my nice lady friend wants).

 

That said, I can tell you the whole messy point of grouting is that you essentially wipe it over the entire face of the tile, not just around the edges/gaps. We have glass tiles spaced around and the grout we used didn't damage those tiles, but I can see how that fella would say it'll destroy the artwork. The grout we used was not recommended for use on "delicate" tile.

 

As others have said, head to Depot and chat with more than one person about it (always good to have two opinions). Personally, I'd go the sealing of the tile route, then grout.

 

Good luck. All is not lost.

[Team Canada]

Good call on the tape, or some other material. As long as you cover the surfaces it should be ok, or if you seal them with something that'll work too.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

If it's a table then just glue them.

[JoeHova]

these are all great ideas guys. When you say seal the tile, do you know what you would use to do something like that?