What grout color should I select for my slate tile?

[Deleted]

Decorating question!

We are starting to pick out the flooring (!!!!!) for our basement. I need some advice & opinions on the grout color that you'd select if you were using the slate tile below.  This is in the area surrounding our wood stove, so we are going for a cozy / rustic vibe there.



Here are the grout options we'd likely be selecting from, if anyone wants to be specific...but general advice is welcome, too!  

community.homedepot.com/howto/DiscussionDetail/What-color-grout-should-I-choose-for-my-tile-9065000000005ur

[gogreengowhite]

I'm terrible at decorating so I won't give advice, but I'm so excited you are to the finishes/decorating part!

[mainelyfoolish]

I'd pick something gray. Lighter color grout always ends up gray anyway, no matter how well you clean.

[Deleted]

I would match the tile or a shade darker.

[compassrose]

I'd go the color of the darkest tile. Light grout only ends up looking bad down the road.

[MrsE]

Jan 10, 2015 9:57:08 GMT -5 compassrose said:

I'd go the color of the darkest tile. Light grout only ends up looking bad down the road.

This.

[scout8]

I like it when the grout matches the tile closely. So, I would go with a dark gray that is similar to the tile color.

[UnderProtest]

Another vote for dark gray. Either the dove gray or natural gray depending on which has more blue tones to it (I can't tell on the computer).

[urbancowgirl]

I vote for dark gray, too. Our slate has light grout and it's darker in places that get a lot of traffic. Drives me nuts. Are you going to seal the floors? Ours are not sealed and are so difficult to clean.

[msmerymac]

Definitely dark. I don't think a contrasting grout would look good in the setting you described. Plus I abhor white grout.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2015 10:35:53 GMT -5 urbancowgirl said:

I vote for dark gray, too. Our slate has light grout and it's darker in places that get a lot of traffic. Drives me nuts. Are you going to seal the floors? Ours are not sealed and are so difficult to clean.

We keep going back and forth on sealing....when I hear feedback like yours I think yes.

What are the downsides to sealing??

[Deleted]

I like the idea of matching or going darker....I am leaning towards slightly darker....thank you all for the input!

[mich1]

Another for matching the tile or going darker. This is what I did on our entryway.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2015 9:04:56 GMT -5 gogreengowhite said:

I'm terrible at decorating so I won't give advice, but I'm so excited you are to the finishes/decorating part!

Meeeee too! ;D

We have several weekends of construction in front of us....but also at the point where we need to plan for our finishing....LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!!!

[thumper55]

would pick the darkest gray because it's the closest match. I like grout to be visually minimized, not contrasted.

edited grammar

[urbancowgirl]

Jan 10, 2015 10:51:03 GMT -5 @shoegal said:

Jan 10, 2015 10:35:53 GMT -5 urbancowgirl said:

I vote for dark gray, too. Our slate has light grout and it's darker in places that get a lot of traffic. Drives me nuts. Are you going to seal the floors? Ours are not sealed and are so difficult to clean.

We keep going back and forth on sealing....when I hear feedback like yours I think yes.

What are the downsides to sealing??

A friend if mine has sealed slate floors and they look a little shiny. (I prefer the matte look of our floors.) But maybe different sealants have different finishes? I want to get our floors professionally cleaned and then look into sealing them. 

[Susie]

I would choose a medium gray (Delorean?) but I'd put the tiles quite a bit closer together than in the PIP above so the grout lines are thinner.

[craftyone]

Check with your installer. We had an additive added to the grout to help with staining.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2015 15:09:52 GMT -5 craftyone said:

Check with your installer. We had an additive added to the grout to help with staining.

THANK  YOU - I didn't know that was an option, since we are the installers  I will be adding some grout research to my google time this weekend!

AND - I will be studying up on the staining & benfits of sealing thanks to the tips here (thank you urbancowgirl).  I also like the matte look - that's part of why we are leaning towards natural slate vs. slate-colored porcelain tile.

We have a travertine tile that we installed in our upstairs guest bath that we did NOT seal since it gets VERY light traffic.  It looks so beautiful left naturally.

But, this area would be near the basement walkout & near the stove (and our small indoor wood storage), so I imagine needing to sweep up there quite a bit...

[Deleted]

@shoegal this is going around your wood stove? We LOVE our wood stove, it's surrounding by traditional red brick with beige grout. The grout is already blackened in several places from random embers from the stove. So I vote for a dark grout. Like "mushroom " or "earth" or "pewter gray" from the link you posted.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2015 15:28:49 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

@shoegal this is going around your wood stove? We LOVE our wood stove, it's surrounding by traditional red brick with beige grout. The grout is already blackened in several places from random embers from the stove. So I vote for a dark grout. Like "mushroom " or "earth" or "pewter gray" from the link you posted.

YES!  Right up by our super duper cozy stove which is keeping me toasty right now as I type

Thank you so much for the advice, that makes a lot of sense - we have just started using it, but I can totally see how there may be some natural darkening!  In other news, do you have one of these ecofans (I assume you would given you are supergreen!)?  I LOVE IT!!!  Giant pic

[UnderProtest]

@shoegal

Check with the tile people about the grout width. Certain tiles need more or less distance between tiles (therefore larger or smaller grout lines) due to the material of the tile. I can't remember about slate, but I know our tile installers knew too.

[dirtyred]

Jan 10, 2015 9:57:08 GMT -5 compassrose said:

I'd go the color of the darkest tile. Light grout only ends up looking bad down the road.

Ditto.

[pink]

Can you share the details on that tile? We're picking new floors for our reno and I love that. I would also go for a darker gray to match.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2015 16:17:59 GMT -5 @shoegal said:

Jan 10, 2015 15:28:49 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

@shoegal this is going around your wood stove? We LOVE our wood stove, it's surrounding by traditional red brick with beige grout. The grout is already blackened in several places from random embers from the stove. So I vote for a dark grout. Like "mushroom " or "earth" or "pewter gray" from the link you posted.

YES!  Right up by our super duper cozy stove which is keeping me toasty right now as I type

Thank you so much for the advice, that makes a lot of sense - we have just started using it, but I can totally see how there may be some natural darkening!  In other news, do you have one of these ecofans (I assume you would given you are supergreen!)?  I LOVE IT!!!  Giant pic

Happy to help! We LOVE our wood stove. It's cut down our electric heating bill quite a lot, we use it all the time. If you need to keep kids/pets away from it, I can recommend a really nice hearth gate. Next up is I need to learn how to cook on it!

Yes we have two of those fans!

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2015 20:22:52 GMT -5 pink said:

Can you share the details on that tile? We're picking new floors for our reno and I love that. I would also go for a darker gray to match.

Hi pink!  Absolutely - we found it online at Build direct, and just received samples.  We love it, but it's VERY expensive to ship, which raises the cost about $1 / sq ft - still not hugely expensive, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around nearly $300 in shipping for under 200 sq ft.  Eek.


www.builddirect.com/Slate-Tile/Midnight-Black/ProductDisplay_6947_p1_10099303.aspx

[everafter07]

I'd go with slate gray from that color palette. Your slate is blueish but the slate gray grout is more gray, but the sameish hue. We have gray grout and love it.

[craftyone]

Jan 10, 2015 15:25:58 GMT -5 @shoegal said:

Jan 10, 2015 15:09:52 GMT -5 craftyone said:

Check with your installer. We had an additive added to the grout to help with staining.

THANK  YOU - I didn't know that was an option, since we are the installers  I will be adding some grout research to my google time this weekend!

AND - I will be studying up on the staining & benfits of sealing thanks to the tips here (thank you urbancowgirl).  I also like the matte look - that's part of why we are leaning towards natural slate vs. slate-colored porcelain tile.

We have a travertine tile that we installed in our upstairs guest bath that we did NOT seal since it gets VERY light traffic.  It looks so beautiful left naturally.

But, this area would be near the basement walkout & near the stove (and our small indoor wood storage), so I imagine needing to sweep up there quite a bit...

www.mapei.com/US-EN/Tile-&-Stone-Installation-Systems/Grout-Additive/Grout-Maximizer

we used this with the Mapei grout