What is the best grout for porcelain 18" x 18" tile over laminate counter in kitchen? From U.S., HomeDepot recommended OmniGrip adhesive to adhere tile; but, need advise on which grout would be best and easy.

Geri

Welcome to our Forum Geri, we have a few statesite members who are probably more familier with your brands of grout over there. I ve pm'ed 'rob' to read your post. In the meantime Geri are your tiles 'Polished' in which case I would seal before grouting.
Regards John

Hi Geri,

It's an easy target to start slamming what the folks at HD tell DIY'ers because they are so frequently very, very wrong. In this case, OmniGrip should NOT be used under the 18" X 18" porcelain (regardless of what Custom Building Products and Home Depot employees have to say about it). Instead, use Custom Flexbond thinset. This is a high quality, latex modified thinset which will work well in your application.

Also, the tiles should not be set directly over the laminate of the counter. It would be a much better and durable installation if you installed 1/4" cement board (Wonderboard is the type sold at HD) over the laminate, following Custom's directions that are found on their website.

As for grout, I have had problems in the past with Custom grouts, and so have a lot of tile setters I know on internet tile forums. I would instead use (especially because it is a countertop) Laticrete Spectralock grout. It is sold at most Lowe's stores-do you have one near you?

Spectralock is an epoxy-type grout, and this initially scares people away from using it. I assure you that it is quite user-friendly and I will be here to help you with advice if you choose to use it.

As Faithhealer mentioned, let's know more about your porcelain tiles so we can advise whether they should be sealed before grouting, and if you decide to use a cement grout then you will want to seal that, as well.

Two top brands are Miracle sealers and Aqua Mix. You can search on their websites for information about retailers near you. The Custom TIlelab stuff is not good.

I'll check in later when I get home from work.

They are glazed tile. What adhesive and grout should I use for backsplash 1"x1" glass sheet tile? Again, HD recommended the OmniGrip.

Good grief, HD is recommending mastic to set glass tiles.

I would probably use the Flexbond in white to set the glass tiles (are they paper-face mounted?) and then grout with Spectralock. Normally, epoxy grout is a no-go on glass tiles, but for small 1X1's it will be OK.

If you do not want to use the Spectralock, I encourage the use of any Laticrete or Mapei cement grout. These brands are widely available around the US. TEC is also another qualtiy brand. If you have access to Laticrete products, I can make specific recommendations.

How wide are the joints on the sheets of glass tile, how thick are the glass tiles, and are the tiles such that the color of the glass goes all the way through or it there a white "bisque" on the back of the glass?

1/8" spacing on clear glass 1" tile with amber to brown bisque on back in 12" x 12" mesh back (no paper face) 1/4" thick.

Thank you for all your help.