Tile & Stone · Nashville, TN
Grout Expectations
Shower pans, grout lines, lippage and stone care in Middle Tennessee homes, from the setters who do the work.
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Notes on grout, thinset and stone
Written by Michael Blair, owner of Nashville's Tile and Stone, from the trade’s own practice.
October 8, 2026
Restoring a Travertine Floor, in the Right Order
A travertine floor that looks pitted, dull and patchy is usually a floor that needs its holes refilled and its surface brought back, in that order. Here is how the work goes.
Read itSeptember 28, 2026
Porch and Step Tile Before the First Freeze
A loose tile on the front step in October is a missing tile by March. The weeks before the first frost are when outdoor tile and stone are worth a close look.
Read itSeptember 21, 2026
Tile That Lifts, Tents or Pops Off the Floor
Tented tile is dramatic and it is not random. The floor expanded, the bond could not hold it, and the tile went the only direction it could. The repair starts with why.
Read itSeptember 14, 2026
Waterproofing a Shower Before the Tile Goes On
A tiled shower that leaks was almost never a tile problem. It was what went behind the tile, and by the time it shows there is a ceiling to repair as well.
Read itSeptember 7, 2026
Heated Floors Under Tile in a Nashville Bathroom
The decision has to be made before the tile goes down, and it is one of the few comfort upgrades people never regret paying for.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Why Grout Cracks and What It Means
Grout in an inside corner will always crack, because grout is not designed to accommodate movement and corners move.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Sealing Tile and Grout, and What Needs It
Sealing porcelain tile achieves nothing. Sealing the grout between it achieves quite a lot.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
What Goes Underneath Floor Tile
Tile is rigid and unforgiving, so the floor beneath it has to be stiffer than most Nashville subfloors are.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Large Format Tile and Why It Is Harder
The larger the tile, the flatter the floor has to be, and most floors are not as flat as people assume.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Natural Stone in a Nashville Bathroom
Natural stone in a shower is a commitment to maintenance that porcelain simply does not ask for.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Regrouting or Starting Again With the Tile
Regrouting is one of the cheapest transformations in a house, and pointless if the tiles beneath are loose.
Read itService area
Where our tile setters work in Middle Tennessee
Our setters work in Nashville and 64 additional towns in 12 counties. If the job is in Middle Tennessee and no more than about an hour’s drive from Nashville, it is in our area.
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Planning a tile floor, shower or backsplash?
Send Nashville's Tile and Stone the room, the tile you have in mind and the square footage; the written estimate spells out the substrate and the waterproofing along with the tile.