Our kitchen floor tiles were once something that brought us a lot of joy and happiness, but quickly turned to something that we were annoyed with (sing it, joooyyy, and pain).
I’ve received a lot of emails over the last year inquiring about how we like them, how they’re holding up, etc., and for all the times that I’ve always been able to enthusiastically share that the vinyl resilient tiles themselves are holding up really well (are easy to clean, nice to look at, nice to walk on, add a lot to the room with their 12″x24″ span), I’ve had to disclose that the grout has been another issue.
The vinyl resilient special order tiles that we bought at The Home Depot were actually first used (tested, if you will) during our bathroom remodel. During that effort, we had done a lot of prep work to the bathroom floor in the way of installing subfloor in spots and underlayment all over. With it stapled within an inch of its life, we had a nice, solid even surface to be tiling on. While we’re having problems of mammoth proportions in the downstairs kitchen, the bathroom tiles and the grout have held up nearly flawlessly, which is kind of amazing considering that as our only bathroom, it gets a lot of foot traffic, and because it’s more inclined to get wet post-shower.
The main difference between the bathroom and the kitchen has to do with the condition of the floor, and more specifically, the bounciness of the floor. The kitchen, a wider span, has a definite case of the squeaks caused by gaps where the floor joists and the subfloor no longer sit together. The same can actually be said for the whole first floor of our home, and the bedrooms too. Squeaky place. Every little flex in the subfloor has had an impact on the condition of the grout in our tiles, because unlike the tiles themselves, the grout can’t flex without crumbling. And once it crumbles, it’s swept up and away, leaving me with… nothing except un-sweepable dirt in the gaps.
The damage is mostly in the areas that experience the most foot traffic, so it hasn’t been as bad in areas along the wall or near appliances. This is about as OK as it gets in our kitchen. When you aren’t so macro on it, it doesn’t look bad at all.
We’ve thought a lot about how to correct this. Our first mission (last fall, actually) was to do serious floor repair on the floorboards that we could access in the basement. Pete would stand in the kitchen and squeak the floors (he weighs more than I do and can make the squeaks happen more effectively) while I would stand in the basement with a piece of chalk and mark exactly where the squeaks were happening. I could usually see some bounce in the subfloor even if there wasn’t an audible sound. By making shims and installing them into the problem areas, we helped our squeak-and-bounce situation a lot, well enough to get through the winter without feeling so much compelled to repair our damaged grout, and probably well enough to keep the rest of the grout from loosening so easily, but not well enough to cure the problem entirely. And anyways, we had already lost a lot of grout by this point.
We talked about removing all of the grout and applying new, hopeful that the reduced bounce would serve us well and keep the floor in a better state, but that was before we were seriously talking about moving and hopefully renting the house.
Funny how something can change your course of action so easily, because now we’re talking about ripping the floor out entirely and replacing it with something that won’t be subject to grout crackage. Something cork, or something vinyl resilient that isn’t groutable.
Anyone else with groutable vinyl resilient tiles experiencing the same breakage that we are? Any tips for fixing that we haven’t thought of?
24 Comments
So irritating about the cracking grout! We used vinyl tile in our kitchen too, though it isn’t grouted like yours. Some of the tiles are slipping around a bit and leaving large gaps, which is annoying. We always assumed it was because we installed them in a hasty fit (after not being able to stand the soft, easily gouged faux marble tiles any longer), but maybe it’s because our house is off-grad as opposed to on slab.
I’ll be curious if you go the cork route, as I’m not a huge fan of cork flooring. Willing to be that if anyone can sell me on it it would be you!
Bummer about yours! Our tiles haven’t been slipping around noticeably, nor popping in the corners or anything; the tiles are non-groutable too, but I didn’t think I’d like the look of it since the edges bevel a bit like “real” tile. Seemed like it would be harder to clean every gap.
I hesitate with cork too. In theory, it would be great because it’s durable and easy to clean and such, but in almost every application I’ve seen it creates a lip at the thresholds upwards of a ridiculous 1/2″ that I feel like I would trip over constantly.
Just wanted to chime in that we LOVE our cork floor. Granted we’ve only had it for a month, but I have two boys, a dog and tons of construction traffic on it so far and not a sign of wear! If there were any damage, I can easily replace one tile. You can see our floor here: http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2013/04/installing-cork-tile-flooring-in-the-kitchen.html
We looked at vinyl tiles for our kitchen floor but decided to go with porcelain tile for two reasons – One, our floor is not level everywhere despite putting in a new sub-floor, and two, we felt that porcelain would be more durable and last longer. The floor went in, in 2006 and is still holding up great, grout and all. There is less shifting and grout cracking when you go with a floor product that is rigid such as ceramic or porcelain, whereas vinyl being a semi-flexible product, I think you can expect it to shift some. Wood-frame walls and floors shift through changing seasons, despite our best efforts – Its the nature of the beast :) .. I recall that there are flexible grouts available for vinyl tile products but some will be better than others. Traffic Master is one at HD. There is also QuartzLock which is supposed to be superior although I am not sure this one can be used with vinyl tile.
Re. cork, while it is a nice-looking alternative, I don’t think I’d go there for a kitchen floor for the reason that it wouldn’t be as durable in the long run and is probably harder to keep nice, than stone floors. Just my two cents. :)
Were you worried about the porcelain cracking at all? That was one of our concerns; it was that bouncy when we started.
Both you and Brittany in the below comment have mentioned the grout with the polymere additive, which is apparently something I’ve overlooked in all of my grout-related trips to the hardware store. I will be looking into this, and hopefully testing in a small area to see how it works! Now that the floor is more reinforced, I have a good feeling that it might be flexible enough to work.
Re. cracking of our porcelain, yes I was initially and expected that we might encounter problems, but, so far so good. The Porcelain has proven to be one tough tile! :)
Re. the re-do of your grout, I think if you go with the polymer-modified (or) a latex-based additive which should produce the same results, you should be in good shape. Good luck with this.
So sorry for the grout problem! Boo. Have you seen the cork floor that John and Sherry of YHL did in their kitchen? I thought it turned out really well, and it had edges that hooked together so that might help with the sliding around. When we redid our kitchen we found hardwood floors underneath so we re-finished them. I’m pretty thankful because our house is also not perfectly level for tile. I suppose if you did leveling, then backerboard and then tile that would help with the stretch/bounce in the floor? But so much work. *_*
I would kill for hardwoods in our kitchen. Period.
We considered redoing all of the subflooring and adding the backerboard but were still worried that there would be too much bounce and crack or loosen the placement of the tiles in heavy traffic areas. Not to mention, the layers and the inevitable tile height would put us with a bit of a threshold, and unless we removed the cabinets, the files would butt up against the bases oddly. I hope if other people are finding this post, they’re learning a bit about the trial and error and other peoples experiences with cork, grout, and vinyl tiles!
Wow Emily. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this. I am so relieved that we ultimately decided against the groutable vinyl tiles. I had randomly read an article by Mike Holmes who warned of this happening. And since our kitchen floor is very bouncy, I’m sure this would have happened. I’m wondering if you used the grout with a polymere additive if it would flex more? Not sure how to help you, but I’m so sorry you are going through this.
Freakin’ Mike Holmes. I must have missed his PSA. In the tiles defense, it does still look great in the bathroom, so I don’t regret the decision (good product, great price) but a solid house or room is key! Thanks for sharing the link to your floor; they look great. And as I mentioned to Brenda above, I must have always overlooked the polymere additive at the store… I think that’s worth a try before we start from scratch with something new! Thank you!
Emily, I used a product called Simplegrout with my vinyl tile, which was premixed. It did dry very hard – not like a ‘sandy’ caulk texture or with any flex that I can see – but so far so good in the front foyer. I wouldn’t say it’s bouncy though (that would be the kitchen, where we did a laminate that looks like porcelain.) I would definitely try a more flexible grout since the tiles themselves are holding up so well.
I used NuGrout Colorant to color the grout in my kitchen. My floor looks fantastic! The best part is I saved a bunch of money since I didn’t have to re-grout the tiles. My wife LOVES the outcome! You can find out more about these products at http://www.nugrout.com.
Hi Emily,
I came across your blog researching the grout-able vinyl tile floors we’re considering for an upcoming overhaul to a new home we just purchased (considering for the kitchen/dining/hall/laundry & a bath flooring update). I am curious if you re-grouted the floor and if it is holding up now? Also, I have been reading a bunch of reviews on these floors and it seems like the grouts have evolved over the years and more so since the products’ initial debut; how long ago were the floors installed and grouted in the kitchen?
One last thing, in your spaces with this floor, do you have any chairs (bar stools or dining chairs), or pets/kids – if so, how has the finish of the floor held up under the sliding of the chair legs, and with the abuse given by pets claws or kids in general?
I appreciate your time!
~Lynn
Hi Lynn,
The condition of the tiles has held up really well, considering the potential wear and tear from kids, our 100 lb. dog, us wearing shoes and work boots over it constantly. We have not had chairs on the surfaces to see how it holds up with the legs sliding.
The original grout showed signs of distress after a few months, and I installed them in early 2012. The grout has been holding up well since I replaced it in the spring of 2013, but I accredit a lot of this to the work that went in to repair bouncing in the joists. If your floor is the least bit springy, you may incur cracking in the grout. I have not yet found a grout product that seems flexible enough to handle bouncy floors :(
Hope this helps!
This could be a crazy idea but what about using a tinted silicone or a product like PL? Mask off the tile edges and wipe the product into the voids with a damp cloth or sponge. Just bought a new home with vinyl tile, grout failure a d don’t want to rip it up. It’s new and looks great aside from the missing grout.
Interesting idea, Darryl! I wouldn’t be opposed to testing that out in an area… I wonder if it would grip as well as grout beneath heavy foot traffic.
From what I read….if the floor is bouncy….you could expect both vinyl or hard tile grouting to fail (if not the hard tile itself).
I might be a “dollar short and a day late” but Lowes now has vinyl grout for the groutable vinyl tiles. We are planning on putting it down in a home we are purchasing and I’ve been doing research and ran across your post.
I put in the slate grey vinyl rectangles from Lowe’s in a new bathroom and chose to do the grouting instead of putting them butted up against each other. It looks great but right near the shower it has crumbled a little (and comes out) I have had to send my handyman in to replace flaking/cracked grout during the past 18 mos since he installed. I am about to use the same type of tile again for another project (Pearl color tiles this time) and am debating whether I want it grouted or just skip that and install them butted up to each other. I am intrigued by this “vinyl grout” comment. My experience was with the sanded grout that is made for porcelain tiles, probably was not a good match.
I came across your website this morning and just had to comment. I have had vinyl tiles in my large kitchen, main hall way, powder room and laundry room snce 2006 and they still look great, no cracking in the grout. We had a great installer put them in and he used an acrylic grout. We are now planning to redo our two bathrooms the same way.
How’s your floor feel beneath them? Bouncy at all or super solid? Just curious. Happy to hear you didn’t have issues and will keep acrylic in mind!
Our kitchen floor is quite large. I believe the installer put in extra screws all over and also made sure the floor was as level as possible before installing the floor. Sorry, I can’t be more specific with details as this was done 9 years ago.
That’s good to hear. Ours must have been a bit bouncier then (home was built in ’41). I had to replace the grout twice.
The original vinyl tiles in my bathrooms must have shrunk, so as a stop-gap I added straight up caulk to the maybe 1/32″ gaps near the tubs. They have held up surprisingly well though took a while to apply as I couldn’t just rub it off with a grout float – I had to apply it to every line like cake decoration and then smooth it out. Perhaps you could do this for problem areas. I am about to install groutable vinyl tiles and notice that vinyl grout doesn’t seem like caulk and in fact has some sand-like substance in it so I’m wondering if it’ll be effective or not. No bouncy floors though.