Flooring Tile - Confused about re-grouting.
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rjc116
01-16-05, 08:28 AM
Although I have never done it, I have heard all my life that when the grout in a shower or tub surround starts to crack and fall out, you should saw out the loose grout and re-grout. I was just about to do that in a shower (marble with tile floor) until I read one of the treads in this site. This guy had my exact situation, cracks at the corner (and some other places too) and cracks where the walls meet the floor. There are also spider cracks between some floor tiles. The solution posted by a couple people was to remove the cracked areas and use a caulk that matched the grout. Should I do that? And how do I find the right color caulk. I didn't do the original job so I don't know the grout mfg. Thanks for your help.
Tileguybob
01-16-05, 10:07 AM
Cracks occur due to movement. It could be a one time thing like some settlement or lumber drying out or it could be a recurring situation. That should be determined first because patching a crack does not fix the problem, it hides a symptom.
In the case of the cracks in the corners and along the base you could get away with just caulking and observe if the caulk cracks or breaks away over time. 99% of the time it wont. To prepare the wall seams properly, clean out all of the old grout in those seams, wipe down the tiles in the corners with a cleaning agent like TSP to get the soap scum off, then pack in the new caulk. To get a color match take a chunk of the grout you raked out and go to a tile retail store in your area. Tell them you want to match the grout color to a caulk. It may not be an exact match if they dont by luck carry your grout but it should be close enough.
The cracks in the floor are of more concern. Tell us more. What size are they, how long have they been down, are the cracks spreading, are they all in one area, anything to paint a picture of what you are looking at
In the case of the cracks in the corners and along the base you could get away with just caulking and observe if the caulk cracks or breaks away over time. 99% of the time it wont. To prepare the wall seams properly, clean out all of the old grout in those seams, wipe down the tiles in the corners with a cleaning agent like TSP to get the soap scum off, then pack in the new caulk. To get a color match take a chunk of the grout you raked out and go to a tile retail store in your area. Tell them you want to match the grout color to a caulk. It may not be an exact match if they dont by luck carry your grout but it should be close enough.
The cracks in the floor are of more concern. Tell us more. What size are they, how long have they been down, are the cracks spreading, are they all in one area, anything to paint a picture of what you are looking at
rjc116
01-17-05, 07:26 AM
The progression has been that the perimeter where the floor meets the walls started cracking first and there are areas 1/2" to 1' long where the grout is gone. Then we noticed very small cracks in the floor between the wall with the shower head and the drain. We assume that is because it is the area that constantly get bombarded with water. They are very small and went un-noticed except of the discoloration.