Installing ceramic, porcelain, or stone tiles completely without grout lines—a practice known as tight-joint or butt-joint tiling—is generally not recommended for standard residential installations. Without expansion joints filled with flexible grout, shifting structural loads, thermal expansion from temperature fluctuations, and moisture absorption cause rigid tiles to press directly against one another, leading to catastrophic chipping, cracking, lifting, and tenting across the floor or wall surface. While certain specialized rectified tiles with perfectly squared edges can be installed with extremely narrow joint spacing, completely eliminating grout altogether removes vital protection against moisture infiltration and structural movement.
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