Hi there, Our tilers have done a nice job of laying these big tiles in our kitchen / dining room. But due to the panelling being old and the house being listed we couldn’t remove the panelling and skirting before the tiles went in. So the tiles couldn’t be laid underneath the skirting and now there is a bit of a gap at the edge of the room. In some places this looks quite obvious and is a wide gap of up to 10mm and some places it’s narrower. The builders have said they’ll just mastic / silicone the edge. But I worry it’ll go grubby over time and collect dirt and so need redoing quite a lot and where there are bigger gaps I’m not sure they can or should mastic those! And i’m wondering if grout should go there instead is there a reason you don’t grout the edges? And if not what else can be done? Many thanks for the advice!
Grout will crack along the junction with the skirt board - same as wall tiles up to a door frame - always cracks where tiles meet timber Silicone is best option here, needs to be super neat and tidy otherwise looks a ‘mare, especially as needs a wide bead as you say, gaps of up to 10mm Hopefully your builders/tiler can do a neat job of this, some may sub this aspect of the job out to a mastic firm As to looking grubby - loads of colour silicon out there, doesn’t have to be white Ask what grout has been used with tiles, some brands have a range of colour coordinated grout and silicones - should look good
I’d grout the gaps, then run a neat bead of colour matched silicon around. Alternatively, you could use some sort of beading such as scotia and paint to match the skirting.
I'd grout too, presumably the grout could be pushed in under the skirting, so shouldn't get as much cracking as Dave suggested
Tile or grout matched silicone. One reason you wouldn’t grout to the edge would be “tenting” but this is only really an issue in a conservatory or with underfloor heating.
I’d grout the edges to fill in the space and then silicone over the top with the same colour as the grout. You could always run a quadrant wood trim around the edge of the room. And paint it the same as the skirts
Thanks all, what a brilliant community! I will ask them to grout the bigger gaps and then do the sealant like you suggest.