Kitchen Backsplash project

[patrick_here]

Do a test board if you're worried about scratching the tiles. Most likely you won't.

Dave and anyone: here's the thing I don't understand: I've always considered sand to be an extremely hard substance ...and fine and often sharp. So I don't understand how it could be that sanded grout is used with so many tile types successfully without scratching? Also I'm worried that I might try it on one sample and not see scratches but that later I could discover (after it's too late) that scratches are present. But perhaps someone could say something about the physical properties of the sand used in grout that could put my mind at ease about all this.

Bear in mind that the grout joints are 1/8" only. Is it still okay to use sanded on 1/8" joints?

Buba thanks for that explanation - extremely helpful.

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Both Permacolor and Prim use smaller, more rounded sand than your average sanded grout...so they are both less likely to scratch. With a test board, what you see is what you’re going to get. Unless you’re light and dainty on the test board, then turn into He-Man for your finished product....what you see is what you’re going to get. Tile is amazingly durable. And to handle a little sand under the pressure of a float is not a lot.

If you make a test board, grout half of it “regular”, and half of it pressing overly hard. Then examine the finished board in bright light. That should put you at ease.

[patrick_here]

rounded

...hmmm ...I was wondering about that. That helps enormously Bubba. Thank you!

[Davy]

Also, the sand in those two grouts are finer than some other grouts and is why you can use them in 1/16 joints. I just used Permacolor Select on marble and it showed no scratches. Using unsanded can be tricky, the Polyblend from Home Depot tends to be splotchy at times, depending on the color. With 1/8 joints, if you mix it too thin, it will shrink and crack.

[patrick_here]

Thanks again Davy, Bubba, Dan and CX for all the advice. It's finished now - photos attached. The grouting was a bit more tricky than normal, I think, because of the 3-dimensional nature of these particular Porcelain tiles (adjacent edges almost never align) and also because the faux-weathered-woodgrain surface that is characteristic of these tiles (glad I didn't use an epoxy-based grout). The Prism grout certainly does seem to be very high quality. For the 45-degree wall I mitered the joint with 22.5-degree miters and I'm glad I did because I was able to squeeze the grout in there rather nicely as a result.

For now I'm leaving the switchplates as white but undoubtedly there's also an option to paint them some color so that they would play nice with the tile colors - not sure if that's the best way to go.

Couldn't have done it all without your help!!

[ss3964spd]

Nice work, Patrick, looks great. Good call taking the extra time to do those 22.5's.

Head over to Lutron's website. The have a pretty wide range of colors, and a few different textures for switches, receptacles, and cover plates. Also receptacles that incorporate USB type A and type C connectors.

www.lutron.com

[Davy]

Nice job.