'4' on a tile query

[misterneil]

I was about to tile my new bathroom in Spain...... The tiles in the store were displayed on a wall panel, grouted white, 9.5 x 9.5 mm and looked like any others. When they arrived they were actually 200mm square each with 4 molded 9.5mm sq 'tiles' on each (see attached photo). My problem is how to grout them as the space between the molded tiles is a pinkish off-white. I had intended to use white grout but the depth between each 'tile' is only 2mm. Will I have to find coloured grout to match, can I apply a thin layer of white grout or heaven forbid paint the bloody gaps white! (I'm home in the UK now until next spring, the tiles arrived just hours before I came back last week!)
Hope someone can help, cheers, NeilC

[Alan.P]

Hi Neil, welcome to Tilers forums, just make sure that the grout joint between the 4 x 4 sheets is the same as the size on the sheet when fixing them, then just grout as normal using a grout float. I've done some similar over here except they had about 30 smaller 'tiles' to a sheet.

[misterneil]

Cheers Alan - can you just clarify that you'd use pinkish off-white grout between tiles upto the level of the smaller tile?

[Alan.P]

No mate, use a grout colour of your choosing ( white ) and go over the lot.

[misterneil]

Thanks for your help Alan - much appreciated!

[david campbell]

laura ashley tiles a few years ago were very similar to this! as alan says just grout all gaps as normal

[united]

I fitted some tiles that were like this just the other day, I just grouted over the tile itself and the 'official' grout lines so it all blends in just as Alan has said above

[Dave]

Yep.. just grout the whole face of them....

[doug boardley]

yep as all above, done loads of tiles of that kind, no probs just grouting over the lot.

[Colour Republic]

These tiles are similar, instead of individual tiles, each bank of 4 is one tile.

One thing to remember when installing these types of tiles is that, say the scored area is 2mm in width, then using a 2mm spacer between the tiles may not have the same effect. This is because most tiles will have a slight shoulder to them (the back of the tile is slightly bigger than the front) so when using a 2mm spacer pushed right to the back of the tile, by the time it is grouted you may end up with a 3mm grout line. I know this sounds such a small amount but it will show up, as your eye will mentally pick out each tile (in your case groups of 4) So instead try to keep the 2mm spacers near the front of the tile, this way you have a better chance of not creating a grid on the wall.

The other way to do this (and this is how this wall was done) is to use tile wedges and then a 2mm spacer as a guage.

linear mosaic.jpg

[tommyzooom]

Just grout over the false joints with white grout, the pinkish parts will be slighly rough and will "grip" the grout, dont press on too hard when washing off the grout. As has been said the key to this is getting the correct spacing between the tiles, your eye will deceive you until they are grouted. I would dry lay a row on the floor and then hold a tile with the false joint over a real joint and line up the tiles to give you the spacing you need.

[faithhealer]

seen these on display (a while ago now) only grouted between tiles. Loads of customers didn't know you grouted the whole face!