Here’s the Kind of Grout You Should Use For Backsplash:
Sanded grout provides additional strength and is prone to minor shifting or shrinkage while also being crack-resistant. However, they aren’t easy to put in narrow lines/gaps. Conversely, Un-sanded grout is best for vertical surfaces in kitchen backsplashes. They fill in narrow grout lines easily with more durability and crack resistance.
What Are The Types Of Grouts?
Grout refers to the thick paste that holds ceramic, stone, and other types of tiles together to form a consistent appearance, especially for the kitchen backsplash. The application of grouts varies from industry to industry, and it’s heavily used in the construction industry for attaching different components and compartments while also filling out narrow gaps. Grout generally consists of sand, water, cement, and various chemicals to fill gaps during construction or installation of a specific fixture or features such as kitchen tiles.
Repairing concrete cracks, waterproofing, soil stabilization, seam filling, and gap-filling are some of the most common purposes of grout. Sometimes, interior decorators and construction workers use grout to provide additional foundational strength to any structure that bears heavy loads. A lot of processes are involved with grout use, such as grating, etc.
If you’ve been worried about the type of grout you should use for your kitchen backsplash, you must consider learning about the most common types of grout first. Afterward, we will get to the main question about what are the most appropriate types of grout to fill the narrow/wide gaps in your kitchen backsplash.
Bentonite Grouting
This grout paste is specially formulated using sodium bentonite and hence, the name “bentonite grout.” It’s best suitable for water well grout, geothermal grout, monitoring well casing seal, and drilled-hole grout. Overall, it’s widely used in the construction industry, both commercial and residential.
Cement Grouting
When there are fractures in the rock/soil units or concrete, the cement grouting is used in the form of an injection to fill gaps left behind by the voids and fractures. Normally, cement grouting involves injecting cement with pressure under concrete structures or rock units to fill out any gaps or cracks that result from fractures.
Resin Grouting
When talking about cement-based mix grout, which is the traditional grout, you must know that it absorbs a lot of water content when it’s dry. It gets wet very easily and quickly, and hence, it’s not waterproof. That’s one of the major reasons cement grout gets more stains: it absorbs them easily through moisture. On the other hand, there is epoxy grout made directly from epoxy resins. They’re combined with a unique filler powder that makes it difficult for the grout to absorb too much moisture.
Bituminous Grouting
In the bituminous grouting method, professionals use grout that’s specifically made from hot and melting bitumen. Professionals inject hot and melting bitumen in medium saturated water. Right on contact, the melting bitumen turns into a highly sticky, elasto-plastic state and viscous material. It’s a smooth transition that takes place right when you mix water with melting bitumen.
Chemical Grouting
Chemical grouting isn’t something new. It involves the transmission from granular-level soils to huge sandstone-like masses. The huge masses have a low viscosity and are generally non-particulate matter. Professionals also apply this grout in the form of injection under pressure throughout the open ports. Once injected, the grout permeates and turns into hard sandstone-like masses.
What Type Of Grout Should I Use For A Backsplash?
When installing your favorite type of tiles in the kitchen backsplash, after you determent the right backsplash size for you, you may be worried about the right type of grout that you should use. Well, we’re here to help you out with just that. Here are the three most popular types of grout people use for their kitchen backsplashes.
·Sanded vs. Un-sanded Grouts
The sanded grout includes slightly larger sand particles that you can easily feel with your hands. The fine yet slightly larger sand grains can also be noticed when you take a closer look at them. When the grout seems to have a width of around 1/8 inches, the professionals recommend using a sanded grout.
The basic reason behind that is sand provides a relatively higher bonding power that’s helpful in preventing cracks in the tiles. However, professionals also recommend being extra careful when applying sanded ground near freshly polished tiles in the kitchen backsplash.
Can you guess why? Well, professionals suggest that being extra careful will reduce the chances of large sand grains scratching the polished tile surfaces. You can test the grout beforehand with a single piece of tile to see how it will hold together or if there are any chances for damage.
On the other hand, you can choose un-sanded grouts that have a smoother texture, and the mineral particles are extremely fine and powdery. There’s no noticeable grit in un-sanded grouts, whether you’re looking at it or feeling it with your hands. They’re also useful for filling up grout seems to be 1/8 inches in width.
Nevertheless, un-sanded grouts can help fill in grout seams that are 1/6 inches wide. With wider seams, un-sanded grouts don’t offer much bonding power because the gap increases the chances of cracks resulting in uneven tiles and breakage in rare cases.
Epoxy Grouts
There’s no need for Portland cement or water to mix epoxy grout. This type of grout has pigments, hardeners, silica fillers, and epoxy resins. It’s one of the best options for kitchen backsplashes since that’s where grease and other sticky materials are formed.
Cementitious Grouts
This is the traditional grout option that has been used for years in kitchen backsplashes. Cementitious grouts are used in residential and commercial applications. They come in multiple colors and can be applied easily once mixed with water using a trowel. The water-retention time of cementitious grouts helps in increasing the hardness and strength. However, the drying process is quite slow.
Which Is Better Sanded Or Un-Sanded Grout?
Since it actually depends on the grout seams you’re trying to fill, you must learn about the difference between sanded and un-sanded grouts to learn the answer (discussed further). For grout seams as wide as 1/8 inches, sanded grout is best, while for grout seams that are 1/6 inches thick, un-sanded grouts are best.
What’s The Difference Between Sanded And Un-Sanded Grout?
- Sanded Grout
Sanded grout comprises fine sand grains that are helpful in keeping the gaps tightly closed. However, the most important factor is that sanded grout is extremely cheaper. People who are DIY-ing their kitchen backsplash installation and require a cost-effective grout option mostly go with sanded grout. If you’re not using sanded grout with a modified formula, you must seal the grout right after installation.
- Un-sanded Grout
When you want to cover thin lines and gaps where you can’t use sanded grout, unsanded grout can help. It has no fine sand grains that would interrupt a tight lock in narrow fillings or gaps. While sealing is recommended, it’s not necessary when you’re trying to apply the grout to fill narrow lines between kitchen backsplash tiles.
How Do I Choose Backsplash Grout?
Here’s a list of the most important factors that you must consider before choosing grout for your kitchen backsplash. Make sure you discuss them with the professionals in detail to learn more.
- Cost Factors
- Width of Grout
- Intended Use/Purpose
- Tile Surface Recommendations
How Much Grout Do I Need For Backsplash?
Usually, a 25-pound dry grouting compound bag can easily grout approximately 200 square feet of ceramic tiles after being mixed with water. You must keep in mind that we’re talking about 4 ¼ inch-square ceramic tiles that have a ¼ inch thickness and 1/8 inch grout lines. 200 square feet of ceramic tiles is equally equivalent to nearly an 8-feet wall that’s also 25 feet wide.
Conclusion
Even the most difficult kitchen backsplash tiles can be installed with some DIY techniques. However, choosing to work with professionals is the best course of action if you wish to end up with the right grout type and save money. Choosing the wrong grout type can cost you money and a lot of time and energy on the side. Altogether, it can potentially prolong the kitchen backsplash installation process.
While you’re sifting through the designs and ideas book for kitchen backsplashes, you might as well consider checking the best type of grout for your chosen tiles type. By applying the right grout, you will get a consistent look, more durability, and strengthened tiles.
Reference Links:
http://www.civildailyinfo.com/engineering/types-of-grouting-materials-in-construction.html
