We are lucky enough to have a full bathroom in the basement of our house,…
How to Grout Pebble Tile
In our house we are lucky enough to have a bathroom in the basement. Not exactly common in many houses, but since we have a laundry room down there and all of our tools and DIY supplies, it’s pretty handy.
We’ve been renovating this bathroom for three years.
Yes, I said it. Not all room makeovers happen in 48 hours like on tv.
We took this bathroom down the foundation and have since done tons of work on it, and we’re almost done. I’ll be super excited to cross this off of our DIY project list very soon.
One of the projects we did on our own was the tiling in the shower. This included the floor and walls. Dan installed the tile, I did the grouting.
My friends at Glass Tile Oasis were great in partnering with me on this project. I selected some of their tile to use in our shower area, particularly for the floor.
After looking through the many products that Glass Tile Oasis has, we picked the Onyx Black Pebbles and Stones Natural Tile for the floor to compliment the simple gray tile we had already purchased for the walls and bench. I went with pebble tiles to bring a little bit of a spa feel to the space.
They have a great way to shop of their site, by color, type of type and project. Plus you can get samples for only a few dollars (plus free shipping). After a lot of searching for tile for this project, Glass Tile Oasis’ prices were some of the lowest, so it’s a great idea to shop online for tile and have it shipped right to you.
Here’s what the tile looked like after we installed it.
If you’re not familiar with how tile like this works, it all comes on a mesh backing so it’s super easy to install. At first I was unsure about how to grout this type of tile, since it’s round and uneven, not flat and square like most tile. Here’s some quick tips on how to tile pebble tile.
After your tile is installed with mortar, the grout fun begins.
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Materials
- Grout – I used Polyblend Non-Sanded 10b Grout in Pewter
- Grout Boost – This is the liquid you mix with the grout instead of water so you don’t have to seal the grout.
- Grout Float
- Trowel
- Corded drill
- Mortar Mixer
- Bucket Scoop
- Grout Sponge
- Large bucket
- Water
Instructions
After securing your tile per the mortar instructions and drying time, you will mix the grout. Mix it according to the Grout Boost instructions. Usually you’ll mix the grout and liquid, wait and them mix it again before you can use it.
Grout should be the consistency of peanut butter and should not be pourable.
Use your bucket scoop to pick up some grout and lay it on the pebbles. You can kind of slop it on there and use the grout float to spread it around.
Since pebble tiles can vary in height from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch, you’ll want to make sure the grout is thick enough to fill in all of the cracks between the pebbles.
Most of the pebbles will be covered at this point. Since this was a 36″ square floor, I put the grout on the whole floor all at the same time.
You can wipe up as much excess grout as possible. Then you wait for the grout to dry. I found this was longer than what was indicated on the box, so I waited a few minutes longer, about 30.
The best way to remove the grout after you’ve waited for hard joints is by wiping the sponge flat against the surface of the tile. I found this was a key to removing the correct amount of grout and not taking out the grout from in-between the pebbles unnecessarily.
Repeat this many times until you remove as much grout as you’d like for the floor to look. For pebble tiles, you can leave most of the grout and clean off the highest surfaces. That way when the grout dries, it will feel comfortable on your feet, not bumpy.
Don’t forget to wipe off any excess grout from the walls.
Once the grout dries, you can buff the tiles with a dry cloth. I actually polished each of the tiles on this floor. It will take off the haze from the grout.
After that you are finished. Tiling pebble is not as hard as you might think and creates a great look for your bathroom.
Take a look at Glass Tile Oasis for your next tile project. They have a great selection and it’s so easy to find something perfect for your home. Plus they have customer service chat, I love when you can chat with companies about their products.
Many thanks to them for providing the tile for this project!
Disclosure: I was provided tile for this project by Glass Tile Oasis. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Nice Job! I did small tiles on the floor of a shower once, but have never tried pebbles.
This is so beautiful and looks a lot easier than I would have thought it would be! We are planning our master bedroom remodel for the next couple months and I’m definitely going to consider this route for the shower
Jessica, sorry but I have to speak up here. I’ve tiled many, many things. I actually have done two of those pebble tiles in two different bathrooms. First off, why on earth did you use non-sanded grout??? The grout spaces are way to large to warrant that. Sanded grout has larger bits of aggregate in it to hold the grout in place in larger spaces. Non-sanded should be used for space under 1/8″ or for tiles that are prone to scratching (glass, i.e.) You might have issues down the road.
#2. when laying those types of tiles on mesh, you should stagger the placement so you can’t see the obvious squares. I actually took off the stones around the edging and hand placed a bunch of them so as to get a random field.
#3. Sealing/staining. Trust me on this one, an epoxy type grout should be used for these on the shower floor. Mine have discolored badly over the years. Yes i used the grout “sealant”. doesn’t work. (don’t use bleach products either. It will leave pits in the grout that actually attract more dirt). Epoxy type grouts are stain resistant. That stuff you add to the grout mix? uh, no.
To make grouting easier, I used a color enhancer/stone sealer on each pebble. Only coat the tops, not the sides. If you get that stuff down the sides of the pebbles, grout will not adhere to it. The reason to do the tops before hand, is to make the grout clean-up a lot easier. Once that grout begins to harden on the unsealed pebbles, it;s very difficult to clean off.
I don’t mean to come at you with these digs, it’s just that if anyone reads this and decides to follow your instructions, they may have some negative effects. Your pebbles haven’t been installed long enough for you to notice any problems. And if this is a bathroom that is used infrequently, you might not have any. But if it’s used daily, you will notice some issues down the line. Just my two cents. I’m surprised the tile place didn’t advise you on the correct way to set these pebbles. If you want further info about these, you can always search away at JohnBridge Tile Forum. Its a tile forum for pro tile setters and DIY’ers.
Hi Beth,
Many thanks for all the tips and information. I believe we used non sanded grout for this because it was recommended for this product. Looking back, we should have staggered the tile, however when we laid it out to try placement, the spacing was not as obvious as it is in in the floor now. This bathroom will be used very infrequently, especially for showering since it is in the basement.
Thanks again!
Hi Beth,
I found your post extremely insightful as I have done a bit of research and found out same things mentioned by experienced tile professionals.
I have a question for you, where do you buy the top sealer color enhancer before epoxy?
Where do you get epoxy grout?
Lowe’s, Home Depot and local tile companies all stopped carrying it
Thanks so much
Also I want to thank Jessica for the post. The shower does look amazing
Shu
Your absolutely right about using sanded grout, we did and yes its better. However, after one year we noticed some grout coming off, not much, just a little. We did not use the “stone/tile sealer from Rona” we used urethane base seal on the pebbles that we laid out. So this is what i have planed to correct the grout issue. Use a non chlorine cleaning product to clean the pebbles, then let it dry and mix a small amount of sanded grout to fill in the little voids. Let set as per company recommendations and seal it with “Clear-Seal Acrylic Urethane Coating”.. let it cure a day or two, most likely two days. then enjoy the shower again and do a follow up seal once a year…any comments would be most appreciated…
Wonderful! I love the idea of pebble on the bathroom floor. I’ve always wanted to stepped on a pebble with my bare foot coz its relaxing. It’s stress free for me. 🙂 Thanks for this inspiration!
I have laid tiles for my bathroom and I was wondering how peebles will look like if I lay it down.I have seen your blog and the peebles looks good on the bathroom.But I think you could have used sanded grout.Grouting is an important part of laying tiles and it should be done carefully.
Im trying to understand your drain there. Is that a kitchen sink drain with a strainer?? ive never seen that in a shower, it is sitting above the pebbles and looks like you could catch a toe on it.
Hi Dave,
This is the drain that came with the tile ready base that we put in the bottom of the shower. It is not on top of the pebbles, it is about half way up their height so the water drains. It’s not a strainer, it’s a shower floor drain. The base is a brand actually called Tile Ready. Hope that helps.
I think it looks great. We used pebble tile behind our stove top, only issue is they look hazy so going to see if we can find s product to remedy this.
How much grout did use on the floor?
Hi Mike,
I believe we used two boxes of grout for the floor. Hope that helps.