Grout for tile joints on a warm floor. Grouting joints between tiles. Which is better cement or epoxy? Porous tiles? There is a solution

Grout and grout mixes are building materials designed to bring facing work to perfection. They perform both aesthetic and practical functions.

Varieties of grout compositions

Modern grout for joints can have a cement and epoxy base. Products of the first group are distinguished by their lower cost, which explains their wide popularity. When using these materials, you can not save - the seams should be filled in excess so that no cracks and gaps remain.

If desired, a cement-based grout mixture can be used with one's own hands, without recourse to specialists. To do this, you need to prepare a solution of the required consistency, and the work itself should be done with glasses and a respirator that will protect the body from harmful volatile compounds.

Epoxy materials are sold ready-to-use. They are highly flexible and therefore easy to apply. The compositions will be a great solution for beginners to use. Their main disadvantage is their high cost compared to cement-based counterparts.

The choice of grout for difficult operating conditions

Particular care should be taken to choose the grout for filling the joints, which will fit in the bathroom. This is a special room that is faced with sudden temperature changes, as well as high humidity. The best solution would be a grout containing epoxy resins. This material does not absorb moisture and is highly adhesive. Therefore, it can be used for tiling, which is laid on the walls and bottom of pools, for finishing facades and cladding the interiors of public spaces.

Epoxy grouts have a high curing speed, so you need to work with them quickly. It is noteworthy that the material retains its original color for decades. It is sold ready to use.

How to choose grout

There are recommendations from experts who will help you choose the best grouting agent. For example, for a floor, it is preferable to choose a material with a darker shade than that of a tile. It is better not to use light colors - over time, due to exposure to pollution, they will darken and lose their aesthetic appeal.

It is preferable to purchase grout from well-known brands. They differ not only in excellent appearance, but also in excellent operational parameters. For example, they may contain substances that prevent the formation of fungus and mold. Our catalog includes products from the following brands:

Select grout by brand

We offer quality grout for joints at an affordable price. You are invited to visit one of our offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where you can experience the widest range of products live. At the same time, delivery is carried out throughout Russia: to St. Petersburg and other cities of the country. Call! We will provide detailed information about each product and help you choose the best option for your purposes!

Today, more and more people prefer the arrangement of a water-heated floor. If you are among this number, then, most likely, ceramic tiles have been chosen as the facing material.

This material has excellent technical characteristics. For example, tiles have a high level of thermal conductivity. Thanks to this, the heat does not linger, but quickly enters the room.

However, many are interested in the question of how tiles are laid on a warm floor. The technology is practically no different from laying on a regular floor. Moreover, laying tiles on an electric underfloor heating is similar to laying tiles on a water heated floor.

The only difference is that the water circuit is immediately hidden by the floor screed, and the electric heating can be open. Therefore, the tile is placed directly on the electric heating. In this article, we will tell you about the technology of this process.

Features of laying tiles

Installation on a warm floor tile requires knowledge of some points:

The height of the finish coat must match the floor level of the rest of the rooms. Similar calculations are performed at the stage of pouring the screed onto the warm floor.
Laying tiles on an electric or water heated floor requires compliance with the thickness of the tile adhesive. Ideally, the tile adhesive should be up to 10 mm thick. With a larger layer, thermal energy will not be dissipated over the entire area of the laid tile, but will be concentrated directly near the pipe or cable.
You need a special adhesive for tiles on a warm floor. It has to cope with sudden changes in temperature. On the packaging of the adhesive, the manufacturer must indicate information about the compatibility of the mixture with underfloor heating.
It is important to have a blueprint or photograph of the installed underfloor heating circuit. If you need to drill a hole in the field in the future, a photo will help you avoid making a mistake by breaking through the heating circuit.
The inclusion of heating when the tile adhesive dries is prohibited. The adhesive must dry at natural temperature. Masonry for water heating requires starting up and filling the system with pressurized coolant.
The heating circuit must be securely fixed to the floor. Pipes or cables must not extend from the base. The screed holds the pipes well, and the wires must be securely fixed.

These are the main nuances that are taken into account when laying tiles and making a warm floor with your own hands.

Tile laying instructions

A set of such tools is being prepared for work:

Level small and large.
Crosses to form the same seam.
Rule.
Three spatulas, notched, regular and rubber.
Yardstick.
A device for cutting tiles.
Chopping cord.
Drill or perforator.
Bucket for mixing tile adhesive.
Construction mixer for mixing glue.
Pencil.
Rag to remove adhesive from tiles.
Building corner.
Masking tape.
Tiled floor.
Brush for priming.

For laying tiles on a warm water floor, the following material is required:

Ceramic tile.
Special tile adhesive.
Grout.

All work consists of several successive stages:

Surface preparation.
Markup.
Primer.
Glue preparation.
Tile laying.
Seam grouting.

The technology of laying tiles on a warm floor is no different from laying on a regular floor. Let's consider each of these stages separately.

Surface preparation

Make sure that the installation work of the warm floor has come to an end. The system is working properly and has been tested/tested. The base for the tiles must be dry and even.

Putting tiles on the screed is much easier. To do this, try to fill it in level. In this case, the tile layer will be minimal. Any contamination and sagging of the solution are removed.

The cleaned and prepared screed is covered with a primer. The use of a deep penetration primer is recommended. After two hours, the surface is primed again for better adhesion of the tile adhesive.

Important! Don't forget to turn off the underfloor heating. Otherwise, the glue will dry out abruptly and it will not hold the tile..

markup

Before laying tiles on a warm floor, marking is performed. It is necessary to decide on what scheme to lay it. For example, there will be a lot of cuts along the diagonal. Can be laid apart so that the vertical seams do not match. With normal masonry, all seams, vertical and horizontal, will match.

Important! The choice of laying scheme does not affect the quality of floor heating. Focus on personal preference.

Having decided on the layout scheme, markings are applied to the floor. With a chopping cord with paint, beat off the line of the first row. This guide will help lay out the entire tile evenly. If there is a pattern, lay the coating on the floor dry. This will help you mark up correctly.

Glue preparation

After marking, tile adhesive is prepared. The kneading is done based on the manufacturer's recommendations. Pour water into a mixing container. Add a mixture of a given proportion to it.

If you do the opposite, then the glue will be taken in a lump that is difficult to break. The tile adhesive is mixed with a construction mixer. The finished consistency should resemble a creamy mass.

Check the quality of the glue: put the mixture on the spatula, it should not drain or fall when the spatula is tilted. The mixture should be held on the spatula.

note

After preparing the tile adhesive, allow it to rest for 15 minutes. After this time, re-mix the adhesive.

In the absence of practice, the speed of laying tiles will be small. Therefore, do not knead the glue in large volumes. Calculate the batch for 30 minutes of work. During this time, the glue will not dry out and a crust will not form on it.

Tile laying

The prepared adhesive is applied with a notched trowel onto the tile and base.
The resulting grooves will give better adhesion.
Apply glue to the floor immediately on 1 m2 with an even spatula in a thin layer.
The adhesive mass is applied to the tile with a notched trowel.
The edges and middle are well smeared.
Apply the tile to the floor according to the markup.
With little effort, press the tile to the floor.
Be sure to apply the level. The level measures the tile in all positions: horizontally, vertically and diagonally.
Lay a few more tiles nearby. Expose them strictly horizontally.
Between the tiles place crosses that form a uniform and identical seam.
When you press the tile, part of the glue will go into the seam. It must be removed immediately.
If the adhesive has got on the front side of the tile, remove it with a damp cloth.

note

A gap of up to 20 mm is left between the wall and the cladding. It is needed as an expansion joint.

After laying the tiles and curing the glue, all the crosses are carefully removed. While the adhesive has not completely set, make sure that there are no residues of the mixture in the seams. Otherwise, the grout will not hold well.

When laying near walls, pipes and other elements, pruning is necessary. For cutting, a manual or automatic tile cutter is used. All cuts must be straight and without burrs.

Grouting

For grouting, a special mixture is used. For the floor, it is recommended to purchase a moisture-resistant grout. With the prepared mixture, evenly fill all the seams. Do not leave sagging on the front side of the cladding.

After drying, it will be difficult to wash it off. After 30 minutes, the surface is washed with a damp cloth and cold water. The floor must be free of stains and other contaminants.

On this, laying tiles on a warm floor can be considered complete. This coverage:

tolerates numerous cleaning cycles;
does not change color upon contact with chemicals;
complies with the hygiene rules established by the norms;
evenly distributes the thermal energy of the warm floor over the entire area.

When the lining has dried, you can turn on the warm floor. The drying time of the adhesive mixture can be determined by the instructions on the bag from the manufacturer.

Conclusion

So, from this article it was possible to learn how the installation of tiles on a heating surface is carried out. With all the tips in this article, you should be able to do a great job.

We hope that you have received useful food for thought. Share your experience in the comments at the end of the article. Your experience will be useful for beginners.

Laying tiles on a warm floor - video

Ceramic tiles are an excellent finishing material. Possessing a huge number of advantages, it has been and remains one of the materials that are always very popular. Of course, this is a very beautiful surface finish, which, however, is quite easy to spoil with carelessly made seams. So how do you properly grout the seams between the tiles on the floor?

Grout mixtures are intended for filling tile joints. They are divided into the following groups according to their composition:

Cement-sand grouts
Polymer-cement mixtures
Epoxy compounds
Epoxy cement grouts
Polymer blends

So, cement-sand grout mixtures are used for decorative grouting of joints between tiles indoors, characterized by gentle operating conditions, for example, moderate air humidity. At the same time, it is important and necessary that the base is not subjected to deformations and is durable, brick or concrete. Such grouts are made from white cement, to which pure fine-grained sand is added.

Polymer cement grouts are suitable for the same conditions as the previous ones, they are also made of white cement, however, in this case, polymer additives are used to give the composition strength and moisture resistance, and to avoid such a defect as cracking.

Epoxy and epoxy-cement mixtures are used for interior and exterior facing works. Due to their special chemical properties, they easily endure the most severe operating conditions, such as exposure to aggressive environments, a deformable base, and high humidity.

Polymer compositions are made on the basis of silicone. They are used in the "seamless" laying of stone or porcelain stoneware, which are subsequently polished. The high elasticity of polymer grouts ensures their resistance to sudden changes in temperature, which is why they are often used when facing rooms where warm floors are laid under tiles. Polymer mixtures are injected into the joints using a special syringe, which is commercially called "joint filler".

When choosing a grout, pay attention to both its chemical composition and the following factors:

Cladding material
Compatibility of the mixture with the adhesive you use when laying the tiles
Coating operating conditions
Width of spaces between tiles
Facing color

Let's look at these options in more detail.

Cladding material

The vast majority of these mixtures are intended for a wide range of facing materials. An exception may be grouts for those types that tend to enter into a chemical reaction with some of the components of the grout compositions and change color (dolomite, shell rock, marble). Epoxy mixtures, for example, are used to fill tile joints in materials such as glass or porcelain stoneware (that is, with low water absorption).

Adhesive mix compatibility

As a rule, the tile manufacturers themselves recommend which adhesive is most compatible with which grout. For example, cement grout is perfectly correlated with a cement-sand mortar. This, by the way, is a very important parameter, and you should not neglect it, since some people have a habit of taking those materials that are available or in the first store they come across, not paying attention to whether they are compatible with each other. Although almost any hardware store usually has a wide range of grouts.

Coating operating conditions

So, when choosing a grout mixture, it is important to take into account such points as: floor or wall tiles are laid, whether we are talking about external or internal cladding, what are the temperature and chemical conditions characteristic of a given room.

The scope of the composition is usually indicated on the packaging. Accordingly, for floor tiles, you should select a grout designed specifically for this option.

Width of tile joints

The maximum allowable joint width is indicated on the packaging of the mixture itself.

The principle is as follows: the wider the seams, the more susceptible they are to aggressive factors, that is, the grout composition must also be more durable, plastic and moisture resistant.

There are mixtures that can be used in the range of 2-20 mm, they are called universal.

Facing color

The seams should be slightly darker than the main background of the tile. Thus, the strict geometry of the tile is emphasized and the dirt in the seams themselves is masked, that is, a kind of plaque that is characteristic of wet rooms and those places where there is a lot of tobacco smoke.

When the seams are rubbed with a white mixture, after a certain period of time a yellowish coating appears on it, and it is far from always amenable to household detergents. If they are sealed with a dark fugue, then you will wash them no more than once every 2 or 3 months. Grouts, in essence, are a mixture of cement and various mineral additives, which gradually, over time, “fade”. Therefore, the darker the color of the grout, the longer your joints will retain their original appearance.

But, of course, for many, the color of the grout is a category more aesthetic than practical. So, quite often the composition is selected in accordance with the artistic concept and color of the facing material. To date, there are no restrictions on the choice of grout with a given color.

The most popular grout mixtures

Cement mixtures are among the most inexpensive and popular. But they are susceptible to aggressive liquids and high humidity: a characteristic coating quickly appears on them. Therefore, manufacturers do not recommend using them, for example, for kitchens.

This does not apply to cement compositions with polymer additives. They can be used in any conditions. So that the spaces between the tiles do not deform, do not crack or crumble under the influence of water or high pressure, it is worth choosing grouts reinforced with artificial components.

Resin mixtures are very durable, but, of course, they are more expensive than cement ones. Such grouts do not fade for a long time, are not susceptible to the appearance of fungus, withstand the influence of aggressive detergents and are famous for their even surface.

The composition of the resin grout includes a paste and an active substance, they are mixed immediately before work. The process regulator is poured into a certain container with the base of the mixture and mixed with an industrial mixer until a uniform, thick mass is obtained. Be careful and remember that chemically reacted grout can only be applied for an hour. So, even before starting work, you need to calculate the approximate amount of the mixture that you will need for one approach. Without violating certain proportions, mix the components, and then get to work.

How to sew seams?

In the process of grouting, a small elastic rubber spatula 6-8 cm thick can be very useful to you. But before you start work, you should carefully clean the seams. An ordinary, sharply sharpened awl is quite suitable here. Be careful not to damage the icing with the hard edge of the tool. You can also take special kits designed just for cleaning and grouting.

After cleaning, the spaces between the tiles must be thoroughly rinsed with a sponge dipped in water. After making sure that there is no excess glue left between the seams, you can dilute the mixture.

As a rule, 0.4-0.6 kg of grout is sufficient. We dilute all this in a small amount of water using a paint mixer, it will not take much time. When you get the consistency of rustic sour cream, you should wait 5 minutes, mix thoroughly - and the composition is ready! Immediately before grouting, you can moisten the seams again with a sponge on a surface of 1-1.5 sq.m. Now get started.

15-20 minutes is enough to process 2-3 sq.m of the floor. After that, with a damp, not wet, sponge, carefully walk along each of the seams. In this case, they are smooth, even, of the same depth and width. Remember that ideal seams are always slightly recessed relative to the plane of the tile itself, which emphasizes its geometry.

You can also form a seam using a special spatula, which is a piece of dense rubber cord. Although a piece of an ordinary white antenna cable, a round handle of a spatula, a plastic lighter, etc., will also work. Such options are suitable if the edges of the tile are smooth and it is laid correctly. If the edge of the tile is sharp or the glaze is uneven around the edges, grouting with a similar spatula can ruin the whole picture, because the seams are deep, and the sharp edge of the tile becomes visible. Here you should use a sponge. Ideal seams, in any case, can be achieved, but I must say that this work is not easy, and requires special skill.

After grouting, it takes 10-12 hours for the composition to harden, then the entire tile must be washed with a sponge, removing excess composition from the surface. When the tile dries, it is worth carefully wiping it again with a soft cloth. If you do everything correctly and accurately, then your floor will look just amazing.

How to clean old grout?

Sometimes situations arise when the initial grout acquires a not very presentable appearance over time, spills out somewhere and exposes the seams. What to do? There are two options - either partially wipe the problem areas, or do it all over again with a better and more modern mixture. Of course, it’s easier to restore the crumbling areas after all, if the grout that you used last time remains. But if not, then redo everything again.

At the same time, the most time-consuming and responsible part of this event will be the cleaning of the old grout. To be honest, this work should be left to a professional tiler, since if you clean it yourself, you will probably damage the glazed edges of the tile, that is, ruin the entire cladding.

Fortunately, there are many compounds and washes on the market today designed to soften old grout in joints containing a solution of acetic acid. But if you want, try softening the seams with plain water, but this will not be as productive.

When you treat a plot of 0.5-1 sq. m, then proceed directly to cleaning. Here again, a sharply sharpened awl or a special scraper will do. The main thing in such jewelry work is to act slowly and very carefully. After cleaning, each area should be passed with a dry brush, thereby cleaning out dust and small particles. This is really painstaking work that requires much more effort than grouting itself.

After the entire surface is ready, you can take on a new seam treatment, which was already mentioned above. Just try in this case to use a mixture that is more resistant to external influences.

To have beautiful floors, tiles and tile joints must look neat and aesthetically pleasing, so try to finish the surface exactly following the recommendations of specialists.

02.07.2019

Hello, I'm going to level the floor on the loggia, I will use the litoliv basis equalizer. There is metal on the loggia and the question is: is it possible to fill the entire floor with a continuous layer and will there be cracks at the junction of the metal and the screed with an average equalizer thickness of ~ 3 cm. Thanks

Good afternoon.
Whether a crack occurs or not depends on the contact area of the LITOLIV BASIS screed with the metal part. Information or a photograph is needed in order to understand what this metal part is, where it is located and how it is attached to the balcony slab.

21.06.2019