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Installing Travertine Tiles

Hi Tom,

I am getting ready to put travertine on my bathroom floor and shower wall. I have 16? square tiles. I am thinking of cutting some of them to 16 x 8 and 8 x 8 inch pieces for a more interesting look. I would rather put them tight together. Do I need to have a grout line between them, or will this create a sealing problem?

Thanks,

Mike

Hello Mike,

I think your idea sounds like a very nice idea but you need to know that you are embarking on a larger task then you think. First of all, yes, you need to leave a grout joint of 1/8″ because you need to install grout. If you do not install grout, water will seep through and create mold at joints. Also, creating a joint with a multi size pattern actually looks pretty good and give an ‘old-world’ feeling. Tight joints also make it very difficult to avoid noticeable lips between tiles because there is not grout transition.

Secondly, do the math. You want the cut tiles to line up so you must create a joint that is the same width as the blade you use to cut the tiles. For example, Cut a 16″x16″ tile in half. Now you have two tiles that are 16″x 7 15/16″. This means that you need a 1/8″ joint to align them with the 16″x16″ tile. Same goes for cutting them again to smaller sizes. This assumes that your blade is 1/8″ wide, which is typical.

Best Wishes,
Tom Cordova

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Answers to Travertine Questions..., Installation Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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3 Questions Recently Posted:


  1. October 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 pm

    i’ve seen a nice effect like this when a master pro tile setter cut grooves on the surface in the full size tiles to simulate smaller tile, but did not cut them into separate pieces. while the grooves were slightly smaller than the grout joints it was hardly discernible.


  2. January 20th, 2009 at 9:05 am

    I am getting ready to install travertine tiles as a fireplace surround. These will reface an existing brick fireplace. The travertine will be used on both the vertical surfaces and the horizontal surfaces. The tiles are 3/8″ thick with the largest horizontal tile 16×16 and the largest vertical tile cur down to 12×8. I’m am planning to use marble and granite thin-set adhesive. What size/shape trowel should I use? Also, should the title be back buttered in addition to the thin-set bed?

    Thanks,
    Steve


  3. September 15th, 2009 at 3:08 am

    Its good for using Travertine Tiles. As u think for cutting it into 16 x 8 and 8 x 8 inch pieces . it will not create ant problem.