Brick slip mortar vs grout, this may seem like an odd subject but in reality it is one that causes some debate and confusion.
Both mortar and grout are used extensively in both building work and tiling, as our products bridge these two areas of construction it is worth pointing ”mind the pun” out the differences.
The key similarity of these two products is that they fill the joint, and can look similar. This is where the products similarity ends, both are used for entirely different purposes.
Mortar
Using bricks, masonry and even brick slips requires the individual units to be joined together. Traditional mortar and gun injection mortar does this. Workable and dense, mortar creates a solid and stable joint which when used with brick slips is easy to point in using a gun injected mortar and a mortar pointing gun.
Mortar can be either cement based or lime based, both products are for use with real clay bricks, brick slips and masonry.
A skilled tradesman would be able to post point a brick slip wall using the above method or by hand. When pointing by hand it is usually better for the mortar do me more stiff and dry, this allows it to be worked into the joints by hand using a trowel and jointer.
Grout
Grout is primarily used for manufactured tiles and engineered porcelain and ceramic products. Grout is a filler and is intended to flow into the joint. Most tiling applications allow for grout to be screeded into the joint and then the surface cleaned post screed.
This is obviously something which cannot be done with brick slips due to the texture and nature of the product.
We would not advise using standard grout for use with brick slip installations.
Brick slip Mortar vs Grout – Verdict
Mortar must be used when jointing brick slips, it sounds simple but I feel the question was worth answering in a short blog post as I do know new products and methods of building can create confusion.
Our advice if you are attempting to install brick slips as a DIY project would be to use the gun injected pointing mortar. It is easy to use and works great with all of our brick slip products.
what about vice versa? Can you use mortar to fill the gap between porcelain tiles?
Hello, can you use cement instead of mortar?