sealing tile

[brian lanning]

One of the first projects I did was a table for the little kids with tile set in the top. I used the normal tile mastic to attach it to some plywood, then used normal tile grout. Years later, it looks pretty bad, especially the grout. My wife has requested a new kitchen table with a tile top. But I'm worried about the grout. She requested something like bar top over the tile but I think this would look wrong. So I'm looking for alternatives.

What about epoxy instead of mastic and grout? It would sure make the tiles stick. And I could make the epoxy whatever color I wanted. I'm thinking I could make a form with glass or something in the bottom of it, then position the tiles face down, then pour the epoxy over the backs of the tiles. The epoxy would fill in the "grout" lines, maybe helping out the bubbles with a heat gun. If the tiles have a curved edge to them, I might have to sand them square, cut off the curves, or find tiles with sharp corners.. Can anyone see a problem with this?

Or maybe there's a sealant I can put on the grout after grouting that would make it easy to clean? I'm thinking the normal rough texture of grout would be difficult to keep clean.

Any other ideas?

brian

[Nancy Laird]

Brian,

I bought a table with a tile top, and LOML recently built a smaller one just for the two of us in the same style.

MVC-004S (600 x 450).jpg

The tile is attached to some 3/4 MDF with floor-tile mastic, with 1/8" spacers. We filled in the spaces with a colored silicon caulking to match the tile.

The purchased table was done in the same fashion, and has been in pretty constant use for about 10 years, and still looks as good as the day we bought it.

The smaller table is now used nightly and shows no signs of wear or dirt. You might have to lay in two layers of the caulk to bring the level up to the tile, smooth it out with your wet finger, and you're set. No grout to clean or break down.

Nancy

[Steve Schoene]

There is epoxy grout made specifically for such applications. It's more difficult to apply than regular grout, but undoubtedly much less difficult than trying to use a epoxy resin as glue and grout combination.

The other thing is that with regular grout you need to seal it regularly, again with products designed for the application. That can help keep stains away.

[Homer Faucett]

As Steve noted, SpectraLoc epoxy grout is available at Lowes. The SpectraLoc Pro is what most recommend as being easier to use, but you have to hunt for it elsewhere.

[Nancy Laird]

Agreed that epoxy grout will work in this application, BUT it still needs to be sealed to be used on a tabletop and will break down (or up) eventually. The silicon caulk in our purchased table looks just the same now as it did ten years ago when we bought it. Epoxy grout is also considerably more expensive than silicon caulk.

N.