Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Grout/sealer problems in new shower

Hello all,

:eek: I am new here & if I did not post in the right area, I would greatly appreciate the guidance to where my particuliar problem will be best addressed. I & my husband have two problems: we recently finished installing a shower in our attic; the attic has sloped ceilings; the shower and bench is covered in 12x12 ceramic tiles over hardibacker boards; we do have a shower pan that consists of a rubber liner and 3" slab of concrete; we applied three coats of high gloss sealer to the shower; soon after the completion, my husband noticed cracks along the grout line where the wall that has the showerhead meets the sloped ceiling and throughout the corners of the shower(no cracks noticed on the floor or the bench); we also notice that the sealer is "peeling" off the tiles throughout the bathroom(not just the shower) & the grout in places along the shower appear "wet", even after 3 coats of sealer; we did not regulate the temperature of the attic during the building of our attic and completed it after the cold started; my husband also stated that he did not tape any of the walls in the shower and was wondering if he should've done that? The grout he used is sanded with joints approx. 1/4" apart.Any advice on these problems would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hello all,

:eek: I am new here & if I did not post in the right area, I would greatly appreciate the guidance to where my particuliar problem will be best addressed. I & my husband have two problems: we recently finished installing a shower in our attic; the attic has sloped ceilings; the shower and bench is covered in 12x12 ceramic tiles over hardibacker boards; we do have a shower pan that consists of a rubber liner and 3" slab of concrete; we applied three coats of high gloss sealer to the shower; soon after the completion, my husband noticed cracks along the grout line where the wall that has the showerhead meets the sloped ceiling and throughout the corners of the shower(no cracks noticed on the floor or the bench); we also notice that the sealer is "peeling" off the tiles throughout the bathroom(not just the shower) & the grout in places along the shower appear "wet", even after 3 coats of sealer; we did not regulate the temperature of the attic during the building of our attic and completed it after the cold started; my husband also stated that he did not tape any of the walls in the shower and was wondering if he should've done that? The grout he used is sanded with joints approx. 1/4" apart.Any advice on these problems would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

By now, given the time of this post you have found out that your husband should of taped the joints. Also a product called Red Gard should be applied.

This post should have been in the tiling forum, that is prolly why no one responded till now.

Any place where a wall meets another adjoining wall, i.e. corners, a caulking needs to be used and NOT grout. It's too late to apply RedGuard at this point without destroying the shower.

Typicaly, a vapor barrier should be used between the backboard and the joints to prevent moisture build up.

What size backboard did you use? Should be 1/2" for walls, and 1/4" for floor if used.

I will move this thread to the tiling section.