Why have grout lines

[johnryan]

i did this floor for my sister 2 years ago, and it's still in great shape. this was all laid on sand and cement, in her conservatory.


however, i was taking a bit of a chance with it as i wasn't sure about working with butt joints here. she said go ahead anyway, so i put it down like this. it's cheap vietnamese marble they sell at tile giant, but it still seems to be fine now, with no problems so far.

 

[White Room]

If you ever had a problem then you would'nt have a leg to stand on.

 

[Scott]

Im not sure the marble would cut your legs off?

 

[nybor62]

i learnt to tile in israel, and never saw a spacer till i came home. even ceramics are butt joint there. 80% of the work is cement work though, even the vertical work, and i think that plus no real change of temp through the year makes it ok. can't imagine there'd be any expansion/contraction due to hot cold temps. though jerusalem gets freezing in the winter, so maybe it's more to do with fixing the tiles with cement and sand.

edit; their marble, terrazzo and stone is mostly 20mm thick too.

i spent 4 months in israel in 1986 working on various moshavs, just thought id share this with you ,

 

[SR Tiling]

Also for waterproofing!

 

[GaryS]

yep waterproofing helps lol

 

[johnryan]

If you ever had a problem then you would'nt have a leg to stand on.

that's why i tried it at my sisters house. i explained to her about the potential pitfalls, but she said try it anyway, as i can always put a new floor down for her. she just wanted a floor with no grout joints in it, that was nice and shiny. it's been down over 2 years now, and it's still all good, with no problems so far. i'd never do it for a regular client though, for the reasons mentioned in this thread.
and nybor, which moshav were you in? when i first got there, i went to one in the south called pharan. i was picking peppers for 4 shekels an hour. stayed there for 8 months, and had a great time. moved up to the back packers hostels in tel aviv after, and started to get building work, and that's when i first started tiling. got taught by a turkish guy called jamal. one of the best tilers i've ever seen, he was.