Something came-up as I just reviewed my tiling of our new bathroom.... what happened is that we used a border using fancy glass mosaic tile turned 90 degrees for a diamond-accent effect. Then half-cut standard 4.25" tile was placed between the turned glass sections...to finish out the border which was about 6 inches wide. Bottomline: the gaps in these border tile were considerable...partially because the glass mosaic was 4 separate pieces already meshed/masked together....and the masked pieces had a large gap already (1/8 - 3/16"). So interestingly, I finished the remaining wall tile and grouted a lot so that the borders on the tile were closer to the width of the grout lines on the border. Now I wonder if I should have used 1/16" spacers in the remaining wall tile that would have eliminated the need to grout almost to the surface of the tile to get a wider grout line ? Anybody with me on this ? Since then, I've reviewed many commercial installations of tile (Schools, etc), and noticed the grout lines are quite "shallow". With my "deep grout" technique, you get a pretty attractive contrast with the colored tile (and I have been complimented on it), but the look is "flat" as the rounded edges of the tile no longer show. Did I make a huge beginners mistake here or is this a preference issue ?

Our d.y.i tile kitchen floor was down for about 8 months when we heard a loud, sickening, crack. The floor is installed on the diagonal. The crack that developed runs parallel to the wal for approx 10 feet in a straight line across the tiles, and right in th emiddle of a high traffic area between the cabinets. It is a new house and the tile is installed under the cabinets and island. The tile is installed in thinset over 3/4 plywood, screwed to a 3/4 plywood subfloor. Backerboard wasn't used on the advice of the local hd guy. (Bad advice I guess) The installation was done in high humidity in the summer. There is radiant heat under the subfloor and the crack happened in February. Maybe shrinkage of the plywood caused the crack? Spaces were left around the walls. Anyway, the question is what to do now? If we can find more of the same tile should we take up the damaged ones (14 or 15) and reset new. Or is the subfloor not sufficient. Can the floor be salvaged or do we have to start over and re-do the whole kitchen? How do you remove the tile if that is what has to be done? What about the tile under the cabinets and island? Really discouraged. :(