Joint at the bottom of tile baseboard?

[Stephen Tashiro]

When tile is used to form a baseboard over a tiled floor done over a concrete slab, is there supposed to be a grout joint between the bottom of the baseboard pieces and the floor tile?

In local tile jobs done over a concrete slab, I see a very thin line of grout or caulk along the bottom of the tile baseboard, but it tends to flake off, as if isn't down in a joint.

[Tom M King]

Use the little plastic wedges, sold for the purpose, to establish the size of the joint (of either filler you prefer) that you want as you set the tile.

[Wayne Lomman]

Yes there is supposed to be a gap for the grout to fill. Too close and the grout won't pack into the joint and it will leak. What you have seen is poor workmanship. Cheers

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Yes there is supposed to be a gap for the grout to fill. Too close and the grout won't pack into the joint and it will leak. What you have seen is poor workmanship. Cheers

Yes. You can also use color matching caulk if you think it may open up. TEC and Mapei both have full range of color matching caulk for their grouts.

[Ole Anderson]

Looking at tiling a bathroom, I would think the tile base should go on before the tile floor so you can do both in the same day? And yes, there should be grout between the two.

[Wayne Lomman]

Apologies Ole, but the floor tile must run under the skirting tile. It is much more water resistant. All construction standards make a point of this. Don't ask me to explain the physics... Cheers

[Paul F Franklin]

It should be caulk. Anytime you have a change in direction or a change in materials, a flexible caulk is called for. For example, the corners of a tiled shower are always caulked, not grouted.

I like to place a fairly heavy bead of urethane caulk in the corner of the wall/floor tile intersection as I'm installing the baseboard tile, pushing the tile into the bead of caulk. This will help keep water from penetrating the joint.

If a tile membrane is used, it should extended up onto the walls behind the baseboard tile a couple of inches.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Paul, there are instances where grout can be used instead of caulk, it depends on backer construction behind the tiles. Schluter also makes some transitions for that joint that work well.

[Paul F Franklin]

Unless you have a monolithic poured curb (floor and curb poured together) the wall and floor will have differential movement. That will crack grout. Caulk can handle a little differential movement.

Schluter does make transitions for floor to wall. They are flexible to accommodate the differential movement and work fine. But OP asked about using baseboard tile.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would use a spacer to develop a consistent gap and then use a caulk. Should there be any movements in the walls due to temperature or humidity changes, cracks could result if you use grout. Per a renowned tiling book and author, I even had gap between tiles on the walls and the floors in the showers I've tiled. I used a color matched caulk to fill that gap so that cracks don't develop within the tile in the showers.